were called to encounter; and it was a new burden on the authorities of the place to watch the conduct of their very assistants. Into whatever houses they went to collect the bodies, they carried the evil habits of their lives, plundering' and ill-treating those who were already afflicted with the loss of their friends, and trembling for their own safety from the growing fury of the pest. In the performance of their service, too, they were equally unskilful and unfeeling; and in conducting the carts filled with the dead, they often overturned them, regardless of all consequences, and insolently leaving the sad remains on the spot.

From this time, about the middle of August, the disorder may be regarded as having nearly arrived at the height at which it continued to rage till the beginning of October. During this dreadful period, the deaths were so constant and numerous, that all attempts to dispose of the

Ils pillent et volent dans toutes les maisons où ils vont prendre les morts.—Vol. i. p. 60.

с

bodies, within or without the walls, were fruitless, and the inhabitants had no other resource than to bring them out at the doors and to lay them in the streets. It appears almost to surpass belief, but the Journal expressly affirms, that in one day occurred nearly a thousand deaths; and almost the same mortality continued for some days together.

All hope seemed now to be abandoned, and all effort with it. All occupations were given up, except such as were unavoidable; and nearly all religious offices ceased in the churches; the priests who survived being afraid to officiate, or no congregation appearing to communicate. Hence occurred that dreadful yet heroic scene which marks, in so peculiar a manner, the

Ce jour, près de mille personnes meurent.-Vol. i. pp. 67-70. ? One church indeed is mentioned in which service was still performed, and the bishop's own chapel was never shut. "On allait entendre la messe dans sa chapelle. Tout le monde y était reçu sans distinction, et il y donnoit la communion.”—Vol. i. pp. 234, 260. He performed mass also on Sundays, at the door of one of the churches, and baptized the children of the poor in that quarter, when the incumbents could no longer be found. Vol. i. p. 254.

Plague of Marseilles. Many of the dying, as well as the dead, being brought out of the houses into the streets and laid in the shade of the trees in the public places, or under the awnings of shops in the streets,' the confession and preparation of the expiring patients took place on the spot, the bishop, attended by such of his clergy as remained, appearing among the sufferers, and administering to them the last consolations. The conduct of this amiable and intrepid man is indeed affectionately described by those who witnessed it from day to day. "He does not confine himself to the offering of prayers at the altar for the divine mercy towards the people. Every day he appears in all quarters of the town, visiting the sick and making his way to the most miserable dwellings across the bodies which everywhere possess the streets and

1 Sous chaque arbre du cours et des places publiques, sous l'auvent de chaque boutique des rues et du port, on y voit entre tous ces cadavres un nombre prodigieux de pauvres malades, et même de familles toutes entières, étendues misérablement sur un peu de paille, ou sur de mauvais matelas.-Vol. i. pp. 75, 79.

public places. The most wretched objects are his especial care. He approaches them without fear, exhorts them to patience, confesses them, and prepares them for the death which awaits them. His liberality is not less conspicuous than his piety. Already he has expended twenty-five thousand crowns, the only money at his immediate command, and is making every effort to obtain more on his personal credit to meet the wants of the poor and afflicted." But to return to the narrative.

In the streets were sometimes seen miserable persons walking with hurried and irregular steps. Of these some had a livid and languid appearance, as if life had already in part abandoned them. Some, too, became delirious with the violence of the disease, and wandered they knew not whither; but soon falling down exhausted, and unable to lift themselves from the ground, they expired on the spot, remaining

1 Vol. i. p. 84. Compare ib. p. 254.

fixed in the strange and distorted attitudes in which their agonies had left them. Other sufferers were so violently agitated as to be no longer under any self-possession. They seemed, indeed, intent only on destroying themselves in whatever manner they could, running headlong into the sea, or precipitating themselves from the windows of their houses, and escaping from insupportable terror by voluntary and immediate death.'

In this sad scene, the extinction of the social affections was as dreadful as the disease itself. Husbands and wives, parents and children, and the nearest friends and connexions hastened to escape from each other, and an exclusive selfishness took possession of every heart. heart. Some were thrust out of their houses by the other inmates through fear of infection from them. Some

Il en est même d'agitées par de si violens transports, qu'elles s'égorgent elles-mêmes, se précipitent dans la mer, ou se jettent des fenêtres de leurs maisons, pour mettre fin à leurs maux et à leurs peines, et prévenir la mort, qui ne peut tarder long tems.-Vol. i. p. 77.