Part 3
This Day all the Millers and Bakers ceasing to work, because almost all their Servants have left them and fled, an Ordinance is issued at my Instance, requiring the Deserters to return, and to forbid those who remain to leave their Masters, on Pain of Death. Not one Mason is left in the Town, and divers Works are wanting to be done in the Church-Yards, and the Hospitals. A like Ordinance is published, to compel them to return; and another forbidding the carrying out of the Town, Meal or Brown Bread, designed for subsisting the Poor, on the Penalty of a Fine and Confiscation.
The 21st, the Pestilence begins to rage with so much Fury, and 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.