the Number of the dead is multiplied so suddenly, that it appears
impossible to carry them off in Carts to the Pits without the Town;
because the Carts cannot well go to the upper Quarter of St. _John_,
nor to several others of the old Town, the Streets of which are narrow
and steep, and yet the greatest Number of dead Bodies lies in those
Streets, which are inhabited by Multitudes of the meanest People; and
besides, it is so far from thence to the Pits without the Walls, that
there is no doing so much Work without falling into the Inconvenience
of leaving many Bodies behind, which would poison the Air, and breed a
general Infection.
Upon this and other perplexing Difficulties, which require the Advice
of a Number of judicious Persons, the Marquess _de Pilles_, and the
Sheriffs desire the General Officers of the Gallies, to assemble
with them at the Town-House, and give them their Advice: It is there
resolved,
1. That for the Reasons above specified, and for avoiding the
Inconveniencies which 'tis apprehended might be fatal, the Dead
shall be buried in the Pits without the Walls, and also in the
Vaults of the Churches of the _Jacobines_, the _Observantines_,
of the Grand _Carmelites_, and of _Loretto_; that these Churches
being situate in the upper Town, where is the greatest Number of
dead Bodies, and where the Carts cannot easily pass; a kind of
Biers shall be made, on which the Slaves, shall carry off those
Bodies from thence: that at each Church, Heaps of Lime shall be
laid, and Barrels of Water placed, to be thrown into the Vaults,
and when they are filled, they shall be closed up with a Cement, so
that no Infection may exhale.
2. That a trusty Person with some Guards on Horseback, shall march
at the Head of the Carts, and with each Brigade of Slaves, to make
them work diligently, and prevent their losing Time in stealing.
3. Lest the Pits and the several Church-yards in which the Dead
are buried, should exhale the Infection, for want of being filled
up and covered with the necessary Quantity of Earth and Lime; a
general and exact View shall be taken, and sufficient Heaps of both
shall be laid there.
4. Several Parishes and Quarters being destitute of Commissaries,
who have fled, and Persons to supply their room not being to be
found, each Convent shall be obliged to furnish Monks to act as
Commissaries in those Quarters where they are wanted.
5. For preventing Communication, the Bishop shall be desired to
cause all Divine Service in the Churches to cease.
6. To keep the Populace in Awe and obedient to Orders, Gibbets
shall be set up in all the publick Places.
The 21st, the Sheriffs acquainting the Council of Marine with the
Increase of the Contagion, desire them to allow all ordinary Business
to remain suspended for the future, that they may apply themselves
entirely to what regards the publick Health only.
When the Plague rages thus in a City, every one looking on himself as
at the Point of Death, is no longer in a Disposition to apply himself
to any thing, but what tends immediately to his own Preservation.
In the mean while every thing is grown scarce in the Town, even such
things of which there is ordinarily the greatest Plenty: Linnen cannot
be had for covering the Mattresses in the Hospitals, tho' Search is
made for it by breaking open all the Warehouses and Shops. The Report
of the Plague keeps out whatever used to be brought daily into the Port
from all Parts of the World: The Sheriffs are obliged therefore to
write to the first President, to desire him to send what Linnen can be
had at _Aix_, and also Shooes for the Slaves, there being no Shooemaker
at _Marseilles_ to make them.
Were it not for his Attention to the Wants of the Sheriffs, and his
Care to supply them, they would be in a thousand Perplexities: Twice
or thrice a Day they take the Liberty to write to him, and always with
equal Goodness he exerts himself to answer their Demands, condescending
to give Directions in Matters beneath the Functions of his Ministry;
and as if it were not enough to employ his own Care and Pains Night
and Day, for saving this unfortunate City, he extends his Concern for
it yet further, by chusing to be represented here by M. _Rigord_, his
Subdelegate, who acts with so great Application and Zeal, that tho'
the Plague has ravaged his House, tho' he has seen his Lady perish by
his Side, and all his Family, Clerks, and Servants swept away, these
Horrors have not shaken him, nor drawn him aside one Moment from his
continual Labours for the Relief of the Town.
This Day, upon Information that several Bakers to conceal their
Desertion, have committed their Shops and Ovens to the Management of
their Servants, who appear there only for Show, but do nothing; an
Ordinance is published at my Instance, enjoyning them to return and
look to their own Business, forbidding them to absent themselves again
on Pain of Death. Another Ordinance is issued, to oblige likewise the
Intendants of Health, those of the Office of Plenty, the Counsellors
of the City, and all other municipal Officers, to return within 24
Hours, on the Penalty of a Fine of 1000 Livres, and of being declared
incapable of all municipal Offices.
The same Day the Bishop, to whom the Marquess _de Pilles_ had notified
the Resolutions taken in the Assembly the Day before, sets forth to him
in a Letter several Reasons against burying the infected Dead in the
Vaults of the Churches of the Convents chosen for that Use.
Whereupon the Marquess _de Pilles_, having invited the General Officers
of the Gallies to meet again at the Town-House, with the Sheriffs, and
some other good Citizens: After the Reasons urged in the said Letter
had been well considered, and weighed against that which had determined
them to pass the Resolution for burying in the Churches, which is, the
absolute and indispensible Necessity of doing it; they unanimously
conclude that the said Resolution shall stand, but that the Execution
of it shall be forborn 24 Hours, to see whether in that Interval
the Mortality shall happen to decrease, so that it may be dispensed
with; but that in the mean time, without any Delay, the Vaults in the
Churches shall be got ready, and all the Lime and Water necessary
carried thither.
* * * * *
The 23d, when this Work was setting about, the Monks of those Churches
shut up the Doors, and refused to open them. M. _Moustier_ repairs
thither, causes them to be forced open, and all the Lime and Barrels of
Water requisite to be brought thither by Carts. As for Biers, for want
of Joyners, he puts the first Persons that come in his way upon making
them as well as they can: The Publick Services in Cases of Extremity
are dispatched, where Magistrates know how to direct and command, and
will see themselves obeyed.
This Day, the Mortality is so far from decreasing, that near 1000
Persons dye; and it being evident there is no room to hesitate about
burying in the Churches, seeing otherwise the dead Bodies would become
gradually too numerous to be carried off, all Dispositions are made
for setting about it to-Morrow Morning every where at once, and the
Officers of the Gallies are pleased to furnish for this Purpose 20
Slaves more.
* * * * *
The 24th, that all Dispatch might be made, and a Work which disheartens
Men by the visible Danger and Terrors of Death not slackened, M.
_Moustier_ appears in Person, animating and urging on the Slaves, as
well by his Intrepidity and Courage, as by his Actions; and when the
Vaults are filled, and the Lime and Water thrown in, he takes care to
have them well closed up, and Cement laid over every Hole and Crevice.
The Marquess _de Pilles_, and the other Sheriffs are as active in the
mean time to put in Execution all the other Things resolved on.
They appoint the most trusty Persons they can find, to go on Horseback
with Guards at the Head of the Carts, and of each Brigade of Slaves;
but those Persons do not hold out long in so perilous an Employment,
and they are soon obliged to act themselves in that Station.
* * * * *
They have no Occasion to go to desire the Bishop to cause Divine
Service to cease in the Churches, they are generally shut up already:
There are hardly any Masses now said any where, no Administration
of the Sacraments, not so much as the tolling of Bells, all the
Ecclesiasticks are fled, and even some of the Parish-Priests.
As for Monks, they cannot possibly find any to act as Commissaries
in the Quarters where they are wanted; some have deserted, others
are dead, and not a sufficient Number of them are left, to confess
the Sick; Father _Milay_, a Jesuit, is the only Man of them all, who
to satisfy that Holy Zeal, and fervent Charity, by which he has been
always actuated, comes voluntarily and offers to be Commissary in the
Street of _Lescale_, and thereabouts; an Employment which none else
durst take, because it is the Part of the Town where the Plague makes
the greatest Havock, and which is barricaded with _Corps de Garde_ at
the Avenues, that no Person may enter, or stir out of it; the Sheriffs
make him Commissary there, where from the Beginning of the Contagion
he has confessed the infected. He performs Acts of Piety surpassing
any thing called Heroick; but the Plague does not spare him long, it
snatches from the Faithful this new Apostle.
They go to take a View of the Pits and Churchyards; a horrid Spectacle,
dangerous to approach, the vast Number of infected Bodies but lately
thrown into them, lying all uncovered, heaped by Thousands on one
another.
Formerly Governors and Consuls during all the Time of Contagion, used
to keep shut up in the Town-House with very great Precaution; all who
have formed Rules for Towns visited with the Plague, have prescribed
that Conduct, judging that the Magistrates ought to be more careful
than all others, to preserve their Life and Health.
Here, the Marquess _de Pilles_, and the Sheriffs, think only of
preserving the Life and Health of others, exposing their own without
any Concern; and are Night and Day in the open Street, wherever they
see Danger deter others.
The Marquess _de Pilles_ has so little Regard for himself, that
at the first he lets the principal Pest-House (which is that _des
Convalescens_) be settled within 4 Paces of his own House. M. _Estelle_
goes all Night long, so void of fear, to see the dead Bodies carried
off the Street _Lescale_, that slipping on the Pavement he was within
a Finger's Breadth of falling full upon a dead Body that lay on the
Ground before him: M. _Moustier_ sets so light by Dangers that make
others tremble, that a Plaister reeking with the Corruption of the Bubo
of an infected Person thrown out of the Window, lighting on his Cheek,
and sticking there, he takes it off perfectly unconcerned, and only
wiping his Cheek clean with his Spunge dipped in Vinegar, proceeds on
the Business he is about. The others behaved much in the same manner.
* * * * *
The 25th, the Plague has spread into the four Corners of the City,
and exercises its Rage on all Sides: From this time to the End of
_September_ it rages with the same Violence, it strikes like Lightning
every where, sweeps all before it, and carries off above a Thousand
Souls a Day.
Its Violence now attacks by Crowds only, and its Fury gives a Thousand
Deaths at once. In Consequence, the Pest-Houses established are
insufficient to receive all the poor Sick; it is resolved to make a new
one, large enough to take in any Number; and there not being without
the Town, nor in it, a Building capacious enough for that Purpose,
it is resolved to erect one (as the Physicians of _Montpellier_ had
advised) in the Allies of that spacious Piece of Ground used for
playing at Mall, which is without the Gate _des faineants_, contiguous
to the Convent of the Reformed _Augustines_, with Timber-Work to be
covered with Sail-Cloath made of Cotton: This is a new Difficulty for
the Sheriffs, to have such an Hospital to build, without being able to
reckon upon the Assistance of any Person, and even without any Workmen,
for they are generally fled.
* * * * *
The 26th, the Chamber of Vacations being informed that almost all the
Bakers of _Marseilles_ have deserted, and being desirous to prevent the
Extremity to which the City will be reduced, if at such a Conjuncture
sufficient Quantities of Bread should not be made; they publish an
Arrêt, commanding all _Bakers_ and their Foremen who have withdrawn, to
return on Pain of Death; and enjoining the Consuls of the Places where
they may have taken Refuge, to deliver them up, on the Penalty of a
Fine and other Punishment.
All the Shops of Retailers being shut up, so that People have no
whither to go to buy common Necessaries, an Ordinance is published at
my Instance, to oblige the Retailers to open their Shops within Twenty
Four Hours, otherwise they shall be broken open.
* * * * *
The 27th, the Chamber of Vacations commiserating the Condition of
_Marseilles_, and the Sufferings of its Inhabitants, publish an Arrêt,
enjoining all Artificers, Tradesmen and Wholesale Dealers, to open
their Shops and Warehouses within Twentyfour Hours, on Pain of Death.
This Day the Marquess _de Pilles_, who from the Beginning of the
Contagion has been continually at the Town-House, or wherever his Zeal
called him, that is to say, where was most Danger and Difficulty,
without any Care of his own Safety, sinks at length under the Weight
of his Fatigues, and falling sick is unable to stir out of his House;
The Fear of losing a Governor, whose Merit and Person are held in
Veneration at _Marseilles_, gives a general Alarm.
* * * * *
The 28th, the Plague redoubles its Ravages, and the whole City is
become a vast Church-yard, presenting to the View the sad Spectacle of
dead Bodies cast in Heaps one upon another.
In this deplorable State, a thousand Things are to be done, a Thousand
Wants to be supplied, and yet there is no Person to have Recourse
to for Relief; the People of the Territory are deaf to all Demands,
they cannot by any Order issued be wrought upon, to bring in so much
as Straw for the Mattresses in the Hospitals, and Hay for the Horses
belonging to the Carts: The Sheriffs seeing nothing is to be done but
by Force, desire the first President to procure them the Assistance of
some Hundred Men of regular Troops.
They apply next to the Officers of the Gallies, remonstrating to them,
that the common Safety is at Stake; that almost all the Slaves they
have already granted them are dead, and that the Number of dead Bodies
the City is fill'd with is so exceeding great, that they cannot be
carried off, unless they will be pleas'd to let them have a sufficient
Number to make a strong Effort.
* * * * *
M. _de Rancé_, Lieutenant-General, commanding the Gallies, M. _de
Vaucresson_, Intendant, and all the General Officers, are moved with
the miserable Condition they see _Marseilles_ in; they make too
noble and eminent a Part or it, not to be thoroughly concern'd to
see it wholly perish; they have shewn, on all Occasions, their good
Intentions; and in this, there is not one of them, who, to help to
save the City, would not hazard his own Life: But not having received
Order to the present Purpose from the Council of Marine, they make a
Difficulty to grant so great a Number of Slaves as is requisite, and
will part with but 80; and this with a Protestation, that they shall be
the last.
* * * * *
This Protestation obliges the Sheriffs to exert themselves more than
ever, to make these Slaves do all the Service that is possible: M.
_Moustier_, not satisfying himself with the toilsome Care of providing
them Lodging and Subsistance, and of going every Morning to see them
harness the Horses, and get to work with the Carts, puts himself at
the Head of the largest Brigade, leads them to the Places that are
least accessible, where lye the greatest Heaps of putrified Bodies, and
encourages them to carry them off, either whole, or by Pieces.
* * * * *
In the mean while a Letter is written to the Council of Marine, most
humbly to intreat his Royal Highness to be pleased to give Orders for
supplying the Town: Which wanting all Things, there being no Meat to
make Broth with for the poor Sick, and Famine destroying those whom the
Plague might spare, his Royal Highness is earnestly besought to order
the neighbouring Provinces to send in the necessary Provisions for
subsisting the People.
The 29th, several Ordinances are issued, at my Instance.
1. All the Rakers, and others employed under the Scavengers to
clean the Streets, having deserted since the Beginning of the
Contagion, for fear of being made use of as Buriers of the Dead:
the whole Town since the Second of this Month, is full of Dunghils
and Poisonous Filth, which stagnates on the Pavement: They are by
an Ordinance commanded to return on Pain of Death.
2. From out of the Houses, the Quilts, Straw-Beds, Bed-Cloaths,
Apparel, and Rags used about the Infected, are thrown into the
Streets; so that there is no passing them. An Ordinance forbids it,
and enjoins that all such Things be drawn to the publick Squares,
and immediately burnt, on Pain of Imprisonment.
3. For want of Porters, the very Corn, which the Boats bring
up from the Barrier of _Lestaque_, cannot be carried into the
Store-Houses; those Porters are all engaged in the Service of
private Persons in the Territory: An Ordinance commands them to
come and work as usual in the City, on Pain of Death; and private
Persons are forbidden to detain them, on the Penalty of a Fine of
3000 Livres, and of Imprisonment.
4. For want of those who used to ply with Asses, the Bakers cannot
get the Wood carried with which the Town furnishes them; and all
private Persons are under the like Inconvenience: An Ordinance
charges those Ass-Keepers to return with their Beasts, on Pain of
Death.
The Chamber of Vacations being informed, that the Intendants of Health,
and the Commissaries appointed in the Parishes and Quarters, who
have deserted, do not obey the Ordinance of the Sheriffs and return;
that Chamber issues an Arrêt this Day, commanding them all to return
forthwith to their Duties, on Pain of Death.
* * * * *
All these Arrêts and Ordinances are duly proclaimed by Sound of
Trumpet, and affixed at all the Corners of the Streets, and in all the
Quarters of the Territories, but to no manner of Purpose; the Dread of
the Plague is so strong and terrible, that nothing can overcome it. It
is indeed impossible for the Heart of Man to bear up against all the
frightful Spectacles that present themselves every where to the Eye in
this unhappy City; the dire Effects of a raging Pestilence, which seems
to threaten not to be asswaged by the Death only and general Extinction
of all the Inhabitants, but by rendring the Place it self a vast Sink
of Corruption and Poison, for ever uninhabitable by human Race.
* * * * *
Which Way soever one turns, the Streets appear strowed on both Sides
with dead Bodies close by each other, most of which being putrified,
are unsupportably hideous to behold.
* * * * *
As the Number of Slaves employed to take them out of the Houses, is
very insufficient to be able to carry all off daily, some frequently
remain there whole Weeks; and there would remain longer, if the Stench
they emit, which poisons the Neighbours, did not compel them for their
own Preservation, to overcome all Aversion to such horrid Work, and go
into the Apartments where they lye, to drag them down into the Streets:
They pull them out with Hooks, and hawl them by Ropes fastened to the
Staves of those Hooks into the Streets: This they do in the Night, that
they may draw them to some Distance from their own Houses; they leave
them extended before another's Door, who at opening it the next Morning
is frighted at the Sight of such an Object, which generally infects
him, and gives him Death.
The Ring, and all publick Walks, Squares, and Market-Places, the Key of
the Port, are spread with dead Bodies, some lying in Heaps: The Square
before the Building called the _Loge_, and the Pallisades of the Port,
are filled with the continual Number of dead Bodies that are brought
ashore from the Ships and Vessels, which are crowded with Families,
whom Fear induced to take Refuge there, in a false Persuasion, that the
Plague would not reach them upon the Water.
Under every Tree in the Ring and the Walks, under every Pent-House
of the Shops in the Streets and on the Port, one sees among the Dead
a prodigious Number of poor Sick, and even whole Families, lying on
a little Straw, or on ragged Mattresses; some are in a languishing
Condition, to be relieved only by Death; others are light-headed by the
Force of the Venom which rages in them: They implore the Assistance
of those who pass by; some in pitiful Complaints, some in Groans and
Out-cries which Pain or Frenzy draw from them. An intolerable Stink
exhales from among them: They not only endure the Effects of the
Distemper, but suffer equally by the publick Want of Food and common
Necessaries: They dye under the Rags that cover them, and every Moment
adds to the Number of the Dead that lye about them. It rends the Heart,
to behold on the Pavement so many wretched Mothers, who have lying by
their Sides the dead Bodies of their Children, whom they have seen
expire, without being able to give them any Relief; and so many poor
Infants still hanging at the Breasts of their Mothers, who died holding
them in their Arms, sucking in the rest of that Venom which will soon
put them into the same Condition.
If any Space be yet left in the Streets, it is filled with infected
Houshold-Goods and Cloaths, which are thrown out of the Windows every
where; so that one cannot find a void Place to set one's Foot in.
All the Dogs and Cats that are killed, lye putrifying every where among
the dead Bodies, the Sick, and the infected Cloaths; all the Port is
filled with those thrown into them; and while they float, they add
their Stench to the general Infection, which has spread all over the
Town, and preys upon the Vitals, the Senses, and the Mind.
Those one meets in the Street, are generally livid and drooping, as if
their Souls had begun to part from their Bodies; or whom the Violence
of the Distemper has made delirious, who, wandring about they know not
whither, as long as they can keep on their Legs, soon drop, through
Weakness; and, unable to get up again, expire on the Spot; some writhed
into strange Postures, denoting the torturing Venom which struck them
to the Heart; others are agitated by such Disorders of Mind, that they
cut their own Throats, or leap into the Sea, or throw themselves out
of the Windows, to put an End to their Misery, and prevent the Death
which was not far off. Nothing is to be heard or seen on all Sides but
Distress, Lamentation, Tears, Sighs, Groans, Affright, Despair.
To conceive so many Horrors, one must figure to one's self, in one
View, all the Miseries and Calamities that Human Nature is subject to;
and one cannot venture to draw near such a Scene, without being struck
dead, or seiz'd with unutterable Horrors of Mind.
The 30th, those Heaps of dead Bodies which are in every Quarter of the
City, are increas'd by new ones; every Night adds a thousand Dead; and
now none of the Slaves are left to work, they are all dead, or sick of
the Distemper; nor can more be demanded, after the Protestation made by
the Officers of the Gallies.
What can be done in Circumstances so full of Desolation? The Sheriffs
have Recourse, as usual, to the First President, and intreat him
to dispatch a Courier for them to the Court, to sollicit his Royal
Highness to send Orders for their being supplied with as many
Galley-Slaves as they shall have occasion for: They desire him also to
write to M. _de Rancé_ and _de Vaucresson_, to persuade them to grant,
in the mean while, at least a Hundred.
The 31st, it is impossible for the Hospitals to receive the Number of
Sick who crowd thither: As soon as one Person in a House is seized with
the Distemper, that Person becomes an Object of Horror and Affright to
the nearest Relations; Nature instantly forgets all ordinary Duties;
and the Bands of Flesh and Blood being less strong than the Fear of
certain Death, shamefully dissolve in an Instant.