them; as the Contagion communicates it self with extreme Quickness;
as the Danger is almost equal to him that suffers, and to those who
approach him; and as those who tend and help him have no other Prospect
than that of following him in a few Days; they take at first the
barbarous Resolution, either to drive him out of the House, or to fly
and desert it themselves, and to leave him alone without Assistance or
Relief, abandoned to Hunger, Thirst, and all that can render Death the
more tormenting.
Thus Wives treat their Husbands, and Husbands their Wives, Children
their Parents, and Parents their Children: Vain Precaution, inspired
by Love of Life, and Horror of Death! By that time they take their
Resolution, they have already catch'd the subtle Effluvia of the fatal
Poison they would secure themselves from; they are soon sensible of
its Malignity, a speedy Death is the Punishment of their Cruelty and
Baseness: Others have the same Hardness of Heart towards them; they are
forced into the open Street in their Turn, or are left alone in their
Houses to perish without Help.
Hence proceeds that infinite Number of Sick, of each Sex, and of every
Age, State, and Condition, who are found lying in the Streets and
publick Places. If all are not cruelly driven out of their own Houses
by their Relations or Friends, they prevent that Cruelty; and lest
they should run the Hazard of being left alone at home, by the Flight
of those Relations or Friends, when they are become quite helpless,
they repair to the Hospitals; where not getting Entrance, nay, not
being able to get near the Gates, by reason of the Multitudes of Sick,
which have got thither before; and who finding them already full, lye
down on the Pavement, and stop up all the Avenues; they are obliged
to seek room for themselves farther off, among the putrified dead
Bodies; the Sight and Stench of which serve to hasten their Death, the
only End of this Distemper. These Extremities put the Sheriffs upon
double Diligence, to get the New Hospital in the Alleys of the _Mall_
finished: In the mean time, they cause large Tents to be pitched upon
that _Esplanade_ without the Town, which is between the Gate _des
Faineants_, and the Monastery of the _Capuchins_, where they order as
many Mattresses to be put, as the Tents will hold. No sooner are those
Tents up, and the Mattresses placed, but they are filled with so many
poor Infected, that several throw themselves upon one Mattress: A
greater Number is requisite to supply them all; and the Misfortune is,
that there is neither Straw nor Linnen to be had to make them with.
The 1st of _September_, the first President having been pleased to
write to M. _de Rancé_, and _de Vaucresson_, desiring them to let
the Sheriffs have a hundred Galley-Slaves more; they are presently
sent to them, and a more vigorous Use of them was never made: For M.
_Moustier_, incited by the Extremity to which things are reduced,
immediately puts himself at the Head of these Slaves, with 11 Carts,
and while they are able, makes them carry off above 1200 dead Bodies a
Day.
The 2d, for making this Labour the more easy, as the Bodies in the
Houses occasion the most Loss of Time to the Slaves to fetch them away;
and besides, being putrified by being left there long, they cannot draw
them out with Hooks, but by Pieces; as also for preventing Robberies by
the Slaves, who finding no Person in the Houses, steal all they can lay
their Hands on; an Ordinance is published at my Instance, importting,
that as soon as any one dies in a House, those belonging to that House
shall be obliged to convey the Body down into the Street, using all
proper and necessary Precautions.
The same Day an Arrêt is issued by the Chamber of Vacations, injoyning
all the Rectors of the _Hôtel Dieu_, _de la Charité_, of Foundlings, of
the Houses of the Penitent, and of Refuge, the Captains of the City,
the Physicians appointed for the Hospitals, and all Sorts of Intendants
and municipal Officers, to return to their Duty at _Marseilles_;
otherwise declaring them incapable of Publick Offices, and fining them
1000 Livres.
The 3d, the Sheriffs repair to the Town-House almost by themselves,
with M. _Capus_, Keeper of the Records, his eldest Son, so
distinguish'd by his Merit and his Virtues, who, from the Beginning
of the Contagion, has assisted him to go through the Multiplicity of
Business in his Offices; M. _Bouis_, Cashier; and my self; having no
longer any Guards, Domestick Servants, or other Person under Command.
The Ravages the Plague has already made in this great City, may be
judged by the Number belonging to the Town-House only, that have been
carried off, which, is above 500 Persons, _viz._ 30 Guards wearing
the Shoulder-Belt, all the Guards _de la Police_, all the Captains of
the City one excepted, all the Lieutenants except two, almost all the
Captains Lieutenants, and Guards of the Five Brigades _du Privilege du
Vin_, all the Sergeants of the Nightly Watch or Patroll, 350 Men of the
Companies of the Guard, and all the City-Yeomen appointed to attend the
Magistrates, who are now become destitute of all Servants.
Men are become only Shadows; those who are seen well one Day, are in
the Carts the next; and, what is unaccountable, those who have shut
themselves up most securely in their own Houses, and are the most
careful to take in nothing without the most exact Precautions, are
attacked there by the Plague, which creeps in no Body knows how.
The 4th, nothing is more deplorable, than to see the vast Number of
Sick and Dying which are spread over the whole City, deprived of all
spiritual as well as temporal Comforts, and reduced to the lamentable
Condition of dying almost all of them without Confession.
There wanted not, indeed, Servants of the Lord, as well of the Secular
as Regular Clergy, who devoted their Lives to the saving of Souls,
and assisting and confessing the infected; there wanted not even holy
Heroes, (for by that Name we ought to call all the Capuchins and
Jesuits of the Two Houses of St. _Jeaume_; and of the holy Cross, and
likewise all the Observantins, and the Recollets, and some others) who,
with more than heroick Courage, and indefatigable Charity and Zeal, ran
about every where, and rushed precipitately into the most deserted and
most infected Houses, into the Streets and Places that were thickest
strow'd with putrify'd Bodies, and into the Hospitals that reeked most
with the Contagion, to confess the infected, assist them in the Article
of Death, and receive their last contagious and envenom'd Breath, as if
it were but Dew.
But these sacred Labourers, who may well be look'd upon as true
Martyrs, (seeing those of _Alexandria_, under the Prelacy of St.
_Denis_, who had the Charity to assist the infected, were honour'd
with the Glory of Martyrdom) are almost all taken away by Death, in
the Time of so great a Mortality, when their Help is most wanted:
Forty two Capuchins have already perished, Twenty one Jesuits, Thirty
two Observantins, Twenty nine Recollets, Ten Barefooted _Carmelites_,
Twenty two Reformed _Augustines_, all the Grand _Carmelites_, the Grand
Trinitarians, the Reformed Trinitarians, the Monks of _Loretto_, of
Mercy, the _Dominicans_ and Grand _Augustins_ who had kept in their
Convent: besides several Secular Priests, and the greatest Part of the
Vicars of Chapters and Parishes.
In so great an Extremity, the Bishop recalls those, who, by their
peculiar Character, and by the Nature of their Benefice, are under the
indispensible Obligation of confessing and administring the spiritual
Remedies to the Dying; but who being struck with shameful Terror, have
basely sought their own Safety by Flight, without troubling themselves
about the Salvation of others.
Had their Concern to discharge their proper Duty been too cold to light
up in their Hearts that Fire of Charity with which they ought to glow,
the Example of their holy Prelate should have excited them: In vain,
from the Beginning of the Contagion was he pressed to leave the City,
to endeavour to preserve himself, for the rest of his Diocese; he
rejects all such Counsels, and hearkens only to those which the Love
the Sovereign Pastor has inspired him with for his Flock, suggest to
him; he tarries with unshaken Fortitude, determined to lay down his
Life for the Good of his Sheep, if God is pleas'd to require it.
* * * * *
He is not satisfied with prostrating himself at the Feet of Altars,
and lifting up his Hands to Heaven to beseech God to mitigate his
Wrath; his Charity is active; he is every Day in the open Streets,
through all Quarters of the Town; he goes up to the highest and worst
Apartments of the Houses to visit the Sick; crosses the Streets among
the dead Bodies; appears in the publick Places, at the Port, at the
Ring; the poorest, the most destitute of Friends, those afflicted the
most grievously and hideously, are the Persons to whom he goes with
most Earnestness; and without dreading those mortal Blasts which carry
Poison to the Heart, he approaches them, confesses them, exhorts them
to Patience, disposes them to die, pours celestial Consolations into
their Souls, representing to them the Felicity of Suffering and of
Poverty; and drops every where abundant Fruits of his generous Charity,
distributing Money where-ever he goes, and especially in secret to
indigent Families, whom holy Curiosity prompts him to seek out and to
relieve; he has already given away Twenty five thousand Crowns, and
takes up what Money he can upon Pledges, to enable him to distribute
more. But I should not blaze abroad what his Humility is careful to
conceal, it ought to be left under the Veil which that Virtue throws
over it.
Death has spared this new _Charles Borromeo_, but has continually
surrounded him, and almost mowed under his Feet: The Plague gets into
his Palace, the greatest Part of his Officers and Domesticks are struck
with it; he is obliged to retreat into the House of the first President
at _Marseilles_; the Plague pursues him thither, and not only attacks
the rest of his Domesticks, but Two Persons who are very dear to him
for their distinguished Merit, and are his Assistants in his holy
Labours, Father _de la Fare_ a Jesuit, and M. _Bourgeret_ Canon of
_la Major_; the first escapes, but he has the Grief to see the other
expire: All this however does not terrify him, nor with-hold him one
Moment from any of the Duties of his fervent Charity; he goes every
where still to visit the Infected.
But the Plague destroys too fast for the surviving Remnant of
Confessors to perform all the Service necessarily required: A greater
Number of Workmen should be had; wherefore the Canons of the Collegiate
Church of St. _Martin_, and some of that of _Acoules_, who have
Benefices with Cure of Souls, and who have fled, are those the Bishop
recals, to come and confess, each within the Bounds of his parish.
The Sheriffs, who observe all those Parish-Priests are deaf to the
Voice of their Bishop, and unconcerned for the Loss of the Souls of
their Parishioners, present a Petition to the Bishop, to order them by
an Injunction to return forthwith to their Duty; in default of which
their Benefices to be declared vacant, and other Persons qualified to
fill them, to be nominated.
The 5th, the Regulators of the Fishermen being capable of some Service,
and Three of them having fled; an Ordinance is published at my
Instance, to oblige them to return, on the Penalty of a Fine of Three
Thousand Livres, and of losing their Offices.
* * * * *
This Day the Sheriffs being astonish'd at the Increase of the
Mortality, and the deplorable State the City is in, and longing for
an Answer to the Dispatches they have sent to Court for necessary
Supplies, write to the Marshal _de Villars_, most earnestly beseeching
him to second their Instances: That Illustrious Governor, who among
all the Towns of his Government of _Provence_, has constantly honoured
_Marseilles_ with his particular Affection, is so concerned to hear of
the extreme Desolation it is in, that he returns Answer, He is resolved
to come himself to its Relief, if his Royal Highness will give him
Leave.
* * * * *
The 6th, the Sheriffs find themselves reduced to the most terrible of
all Extremities; the last Slaves which the Officers of the Gallies
had granted, at the Request of the first President, being all either
dead, or fallen ill of the Distemper; and notwithstanding all the
Efforts M. _Moustier_ had made the preceeding Days, to get all the dead
Bodies possible carried off, above Two Thousand still remaining in the
Streets, besides what are in the Houses; they see plainly, that if the
Officers of the Gallies will not give them more Slaves, at the rate the
Mortality goes on, there must be in less than Eight Days above Fifteen
Thousand Bodies in the Streets all putrified; from which will ensue a
Necessity of quitting the Town, and abandoning it perhaps for ever, to
the Putrefaction, Poison, and Infection which will settle in it.
Hereupon they assemble, with the few Citizens still left, among whom
are two Intendants of Health who have not stirred a Foot, M. _Rose_
the Elder, and M. _Rollaud_. Divers Expedients are debated; some
propose, that for disposing of the present dead Bodies, and those to
be expected daily, a large Pit should be opened in every Street to
throw them into: But two things are objected; one is, that such Pits
cannot be dug in the Streets, without cutting off, at the same time,
all the Conduit-Pipes which are laid through them; the other is, that
it would require above Ten Thousand Men to dig speedily so many Pits in
so vast a City, while there is none to be found in a Condition to work;
besides, no body would dig in Streets actually strewed with infected
Bodies, for fear of catching the Infection by touching them. Others
propose, to let all the Bodies lie where they are, in the Streets, the
publick Places, and the Houses, and there to cover them with Lime to
consume them; and that such a Quantity of Lime be carried in Carts, and
laid in Heaps in every Street, as may serve to consume all the dead
Bodies that shall be there. But to this likewise there are several
Objections; Where is Lime enough to be had for consuming so many
Bodies? Where are Men to help to cart it? And who could stay in the
City amidst the horrible Infection which those Bodies would exhale, as
they are consuming?
The Course the Sheriffs think best to take, is, without passing any
Resolution, to desire the Citizens assembled with them, to accompany
them, in their Hoods, and in a Body, to the House of M. _de Rancé_ to
intreat him with all Earnestness, to grant them the Assistance they
want for the Preservation of the City.
M. _de Rancé_ calls together M. _de Vaucresson_ the Intendant, and the
General Officers of the Gallies; they appear to be touched as much with
the Zeal of these Magistrates, and with the burthensome and hazardous
Conditions upon which they ask this Assistance, as with the great
Extremity the City is in; accordingly they grant them all they demand
on those Conditions; and being desirous to have the Agreement put into
Writing, I drew up before them the following Act to be entred in the
Register of the Town-House, and a Copy of it to be given to them.
* * * * *
_This Day, the Sheriffs, Protectors, and Defenders of the Privileges,
Liberties, and Immunities, of this City of_ Marseilles, _the King's
Counsellors, Lieutenants-General_ de Police, _being assembled in
the Town-House, with some of the municipal Officers, the Counsellor
Orator of the City and the King's Procurator_ de la Police, _and
other eminent Citizens; and taking into Consideration, that though
the 260 Slaves, which the Officers of the Gallies have been pleased
to grant them at different Times, to bury the Dead since the City
was afflicted with the Plague; have been extremely helpful to them
hitherto, yet that Assistance is insufficient, above 2000 dead Bodies
having actually lain in the Streets several Days; and causing a general
Infection; it was therefore resolved, for preserving the City, to
desire greater Assistance: And immediately the Sheriffs going out in
their Hoods, accompanied by all the said municipal Officers and eminent
Citizens, went in a Body to the House of the Chevalier_ de Rancé,
_Lieutenant-General, commanding his Majesty's Gallies, and represented
to him, that the City has infinite Obligations to him for the signal
Services which he has been pleased to do them in this Calamity; but
that it is not possible to preserve the City, unless he does them
the favour to grant them a Hundred Slaves more, and 4 Officers of
the Whistle (or Boatswains) (almost all those who have formerly been
granted, being dead or sick;) in which Case they will make the best
Use of them; that to engage them to work with the greater Diligence
in carrying off the dead Bodies, they will expose themselves as they
have already done; will march on Horseback in their Hoods, before the
Carts, and go with them all over the City: That moreover, it being
of Importance, that their Authority should be supported by Force, at
a time when there remains in the City only a numerous Populace, who
must be kept under, for preventing all Tumult, and for maintaining
good Order every where; they further intreat him most earnestly to
grant them at least Forty stout Soldiers of the Gallies, to obey
their Orders, to attend them, and at the same time hinder the Slaves
from getting away; that they shall be commanded by themselves only;
that they will divide them into 4 Parties, of which each Sheriff will
head One; and it being necessary that one of the Sheriffs, at least,
should be continually at the Town-House, for the Dispatch of such
Affairs as may occur, one of the said Parties shall be commanded by the
Chevalier_ Rose; _and in Case they should be hindred by any Accident,
they will propose in their Room, Commissaries of the best Distinction
they can find, to head and command them. Whereupon the Chevalier_ de
Rancé, _being assembled with the Intendant and General Officers of the
Gallies, all sensible of the miserable Condition of this great and
important City, and willing to grant all that is necessary for saving
it, have been pleased to grant to the Sheriffs, and to the Community,
a Hundred Slaves more, and 40 Soldiers, among them 4 Corporals, with 4
Officers of the Whistle; and it being necessary to take those who are
voluntarily disposed, and to engage them by Rewards, to this dangerous
Service; It is resolved and agreed, that besides Subsistance which the
Community shall furnish to them all, ten Livres a Day shall be given
to each Officer of the Whistle, and to each Soldier fifty Sols: And
after it shall please God to deliver the City from this Visitation, a
Gratification of a hundred Livres, to be paid at once, shall be made to
each of them who shall then be living. The Corporals shall have each a
hundred Sols a Day, and also an annual Pension for Life of a hundred
Livres to each of them who shall survive; it being judged they cannot
be sufficiently rewarded for so important and perillous a Service, This
is agreed by the Assembly, in consideration of the present Exigence,
and the Necessity of the Time._ Concluded at _Marseilles_, the 6th of
_September_, 1720. Signed, _Estelle_, _Audimar_, _Moustier_, _Dieudé_,
Sheriffs; _Pichatty de Croissainté_, Orator, and the King's Procurator;
_Capus_, Keeper of the Records.
The 7th, the Magistrates taking into Consideration, that the Plague
being the Instrument of God's Wrath, all the Help of Men, and all the
Efforts they resolve to make, will be vain and useless, unless they
have Recourse to his Mercy, and seek to appease him; they determine
to make a Vow in the Name of the City, to incline him to vouchsafe to
deliver it from this cruel Pestilence (as their Predecessors did during
the last Plague,) that the Community shall give every Year, for ever,
the Sum of 2000 Livres to a House of Charity, to be established by the
Title and under the Protection of _Our Lady of Good Help_, for the
Reception of poor Girls, Orphans of this City and its Territory.
The 8th, they make this Vow solemnly in the Presence of the Bishop, in
the Chapel of the Town-House, where he celebrates Mass.
The same Day having received the Slaves, and the Officers of the
Whistle, together with the Soldiers (whose _Corps de Garde_ is settled
in the great Hall of the _Loge_,) and M. _Moustier_ having got in
Readiness the Carts, and divided the Slaves into several Brigades,
the Sheriffs in their Hoods put themselves each at the Head of one of
those Brigades, with a Division or Guard of Soldiers, and go to the
Places that are thickest spread with dead Bodies, and where they are
most putrefied, with an Intrepidity that astonishes the very Soldiers,
and makes the Slaves work with all their Strength, without fearing the
Dangers which they see them so much contemn: They continue this Work
daily, from Morning till Night, and the Chevalier _Rose_ on Horseback,
constantly supplies the Room of that Sheriff who is obliged in his
Turn to sit in the Town-House for the ordinary Dispatch of Business:
'Tis a Miracle that they have not all perished, by exposing themselves
to Dangers so great, that the forty Soldiers of the Gallies, who
accompanied them, have all perished, except four, by their Sides.
The 9th, they send to the Council of _Marine_ a Copy of the Act,
specifying the Conditions on which the Officers of the Gallies granted
those Soldiers, and the Slaves; another to the Marshal _de Villars_,
and a third to the Grand Prior.
The 10th, the first President, who is always vigilant to supply their
Wants, and who knows that besides Carts, they more need Carters to
drive them, sends a Number of both from _Aix_, which are very helpful:
The Officers of the Gallies furnish them with twenty five Slaves more,
to replace those of the hundred already granted who are become unable
to work; and add to them six, who are Butchers by Profession, to serve
in the Slaughter-houses of the Town, where all the Butchers being dead,
or having deserted, no body is left to kill Oxen and Sheep.
The 11th, there being hardly any Physicians remaining, and fewer
Surgeons, the rest having deserted, or perished, their Art not availing
them; the first President sends hither M. _Pons_ and _Boutellier_,
Physicians of the Faculty of _Montpellier_; and M. _Montet_ and
_Rabaton_, very skilful Master-Surgeons.
The 12th, the Sheriff's are informed that the Commandeur M. _de
Langeron_, Commadore of a Squadron of Gallies, and Major-General
of the King's Armies, has been nominated by his Majesty Governour
of _Marseilles_ and its Territory, and that he has received his
Commission. Such agreeable and salutary News revives them immediately
from all the Sorrow, Dejection, and Consternation they were in; and
inspires, not only into them, but into all the other Citizens, and
into the People in general, both Sick and Well, no less Joy, Pleasure
and Content, than Confidence, new Spirit, and Courage: They think it
impossible to perish under so worthy a Governour, and the Preservation
of _Marseilles_ is looked upon as certain under his Auspices and
Conduct: The Affection he has always been observed to bear to this
City, and which he has demonstrated since it became afflicted with
the Plague; his having been pleased, not only to come and assist in
the Assemblies at the Town-House, but to promote very much the giving
Assistance to the City by the Officers of the Gallies (in which naval
Body of Forces he is distinguished by his Rank, as well as by his Merit
and Valour:) His Character so long established, his illustrious Name,
his Presence, which by a happy Mixture of Sweetness and Gravity makes
him at once respected, loved, and feared; his Wisdom and Foresight, his
Courage, his Firmness; Virtues, which qualify and dispose him to chuse
the best Expedients in pressing Occasions, and execute with Rigour
what he has judiciously resolved; all this, I say, gives every body,
and particularly the Sheriffs, the most promising Hopes, which in the
Event were soon answered: They go in their Hoods, and in a Body, to his
House, to have the Honour to make him a Tender of their Duties.