Chapter II: Part 2

The first Thing we are presented with, is a heavy Charge against the Winds, for not doing their Duty; but that _Æolus_ himself is an _Aider_ and _Abettor_ of Plagues, by not sending his Winds Abroad, and thereby stagnating the Air; for we are taught in this curious Discourse, [10]_That the Use of Winds is to purify the Air by their Motion_. But this Charge is altogether false, and ill grounded, because, Wind in _England_ is put to many Uses; it not only blows cold, but it blows hot; it fans our Ladies, and our Corn too; it dries Linnen, and sails our Ships, _&c._ Besides, this Charge is absolutely false, for the Physician that has left an Account of the Winds Behaviour in 1665[11], tells us, That it was very dutiful, and, that the whole Summer was refreshed with moderate Breezes, sufficient to prevent the Air’s _Stagnation_ and _Corruption_, and to carry off the _pestilential Steams_: The Heat was likewise too mild to encourage such _Corruption_ and _Fermentation_ as helps to taint the animal Fluids. And therefore howsoever fond Dr. _Mead_ is of Stagnation, through any failure of the Winds, it is certain that they were then very blameless, let the Doctor find his Stagnation where he can. Moreover, the Physicians were not of Opinion, at that Time[12], that the _Air_ was _infected_, and therefore Doctor _Hodges_ tells us, That they were against making Fires, for the Reason of this Purity of Air; and, that Fires are only proper when it is _impure_ and _corrupted_. After this Account of Things, who will question Dr. _Mead_’s great _Acuteness_ and _Accuracy_ in making Observations; or, whether am not I more to be blamed for observing those Trifles of the Doctor? Yet I cannot avoid making one short Observation more, which may proceed from the small Regard the Doctor has to Memory; for at two Pages off he assures us, _That our Air is not disposed to receive such_ (contagious) _Impressions_; then what need we mind the Stagnation of the Air? Is there a Man in _England_, that will not forgive him this Contradiction, if he will make the last part of it good?

[Footnote 10: Page 4.]

[Footnote 11: Page 18.]

[Footnote 12: Page 19.]

But we are immediately to have more Comfort of this Kind; for he assures us, That _Plagues seem to be of the Growth of the _Southern_ and _Eastern_ Parts of the World_; and I am sorry that they only seem to be so; because what follows may _seem_ only to be true, _That there is not in this Island particularly, any one Instance of a pestilential Disease among us, of great Consequence, that we have not received from other infected Places_. Here is another Draw-back upon us again: A _pestilential Disease_ of any Consequence! Is any Plague in a Country without Consequence? Surely many Widows and Orphans find it otherwise. But the Doctor will make amends for Families brought to Ruin and Poverty, by the loss of Parents and Husbands; by ridding us of a vulgar Error, of the Plague visiting us once in Thirty or Forty Years. So that if a Plague brings a mighty Calamity along with it, we may comfort our selves, that it comes but seldom.

This was the very Purpose for which he gave us, with great Assurance, the Origine of Plagues; because he would charitably rescue us from an _Opinion propagated by Authors of great Name, that we are visited with the Plague once in thirty or forty Years; which is a mere Fancy, without any Foundation either in Reason or Experience_. I cannot assign any Reason for the Plague thus visiting us; but Experience is not of the side of the terrible, but common Opinion, as _Hodges_[13] assures us, and the Bills of Mortality confirm; for there we find it has visited us oftner, with all its _Tokens_, _Buboes_, and _Carbuncles_, and more than once since that Time, if Dr. _Mead_’s _pestilential Diseases_, of smaller Consequence, are admitted.

[Footnote 13: Page 3. _Transl._]

Now if the Plague of Pestilence has thus frequently shewn it self, in its most terrible manner, and very often not so terribly, how can People prevent taking _Fright_ at the _King_ of _Terrors_? Or, with what Face can Dr. _Mead_ call terrible Death, _vain Fears_? Can a reasonable People, relying on History, and their own Experience of Things, be delivered from their Fears, by a bold Assertion, that can proceed from no other Cause, than great Ignorance, or the worst Opinion of the Reason and Experience of Mankind, that they are subject to so gross an Imposition, as to take _Comfort_ in the most _lamentable_ Danger, _exposed_ to Death, and _forsaken_ by their dearest Friends; and all upon an Assertion, that is neither grounded on _Knowledge_, nor _Integrity_? It may be a _pia Fraus, a well meant Cheat_, but it cannot be of any manner of Use.

The truest Comfort arises from an Opinion, That an Adviser knows what he says; and says, what in his Conscience he believes to be true. How much greater is the Comfort we take, from a Perswasion that the Plague seldom, or never, passes from one Body into another, as was lately proved? As also, that Observations rather inform us of the Seeds of a Pestilence, seldom, or never, being brought over to us in foreign Goods; and besides these two Perswasions, founded on Reason and Experience, we have the Authority of the best Physicians in all Ages, that the Plague, nor any other Disease, is speedily generated. By the first of those Accounts, we have fewer Chances for being sick; and we are sure, by the second, that we have Time to prevent it, or to take the Distemper early, before it is settled into a Habit, or confirmed in a Disease. Such Reasoning, such Observation, is proceeding on good and firm Ground; the other, altogether depends on the Knowledge and Honesty of the Insurer, which can never be depended on, if we have any doubt about his Sincerity, or Understanding.

What Doctor _Mead_ has already said, is contrary to the Experience of Mankind, and is purely supported on his bare Assertion; and therefore, I am afraid no great Comfort can be reasonably taken from it.

His next Assertion, about the Sweating Sickness, labours under all the Defects imaginable. He will not allow it to be of _British_ Original; nay, that _it is a Plague abated in its Violence by the mild Temperament of our Climate_. He, afterwards, brings it from _France_, and clears the _French_ of its being bred among them; for they, says he, brought it from the Siege of _Rhodes_. Can any Man equal this Doctor in Assertion? Or in quoting History absurdly? For it carries the Name of _Sudor Anglicus_, and our Country charged for having produced it. All foreign Physicians declare it peculiar to _England_; and, that a parcel of it went into _Holland_; but neither _French_, nor _Italian_ Physician, heard any Thing of it, in their own Country, nor among the _Greek_ Islands; and the _Dutch_ fix the Scene of the Sweating Sickness in _England_. So the Sweating Sickness was four Times in _England_, and no where else; yet it is the Fag-end of the Plague brought from _Rhodes_, and thither God knows how, or from whence: But all this supported by much foreign Reading.

He _calls this Distemper a Plague with lessen’d Force, _because_ the Symptoms of it were of that Kind, tho’ in a less Degree, as great Faintness and Inquietudes, inward Burning, Pains in the Head, a Delirium_, &c. I am glad we have Dr. _Mead_’s Description of a Plague, it being the first Time he has ventur’d to mention it; and, to do him Justice, he has touched upon it very gently: But, if this is the Plague, we are not seldom, but often visited with it. So there ends our Comfort.

Is this truly a Plague, _feeble and week_ thro’ travelling? And did infinite Persons die suddenly of it? And that in Twenty four Hours. Pray, what can we think happen’d to the Nations that felt the sharp end of it, and those that came under its Fury, long before it reach’d us? Surely more than infinite Persons of them must have perished, and in infinitely shorter Time than Twenty four Hours, so that great Tracts of Country must have been dispeopled in one Day. Can any Man think an _Æra_ as remarkable as the _Deluge_, could pass in History without Observation? Or, that all Historians should overlook so great a Wonder, the very Soul of an Historian, and all to fix a Calumny on our _English_ Air, and to call a _monstrous_ Disease a _British_ Fever? It must be owned, that the Doctor is the greatest Traveller that ever was; for he has entertained us with the most _admirable_ and _surprizing_ Relation of the _Feats_ and _Travels_ of a Plague that ever was told.

This sufficiently shews the great _Candor_ of our Author, and his great _Judgment_ in comparing Diseases, as has been already noted by another Hand; for if a Plague kills infinite Persons in Twenty four Hours, I cannot see how properly it can be called _Feeble_; nay, if a true Judgment is made of it, the Plague in _France_ is not to be compared to it for its Strength; and, God knows, the _French_ find its Power too great, and God grant that we may never try its Feebleness. Our Author’s _Judgment_ is no less conspicuous, in comparing what he calls the _Dunkirk Fever_, with the _Sweating Sickness_, for that was neither an _Ephemera_ of one, nor of more Days; neither did it terminate in Twenty four Hours. How then are those two Diseases alike, that have nothing of the same _Features_ or Resemblance, no more than the Time of their Duration was the same. Besides, this was not the Fag-end of any Plague, but a Fever we find to be very common in all the Marshy Places in the Low Countries; and what the _Dutch_ call a Fever from the POLDERS, and that happens in the end of a hot Summer, or in the beginning of the Autumn.

But if I may guess by the _Cant_ Name we find this Fever bears, of the _Dunkirk Fever_, I may believe the Doctor means that _Schelick_ Fever that happened in 1715; but I will not answer for the Time: This Fever was then called the _Galloping_ Fever, because too many Physicians knew not a more proper Name for it, and it was a new Disease to them. This Fever indeed lasted 3 or 4 Days, and often went off with a gentle Sweat, but killed no body, whatever Method they took for curing it, or that they did not any thing for its Cure. Now, with Submission to the great Dr. _Mead_, I cannot find the Relation and Likeness this _Galloping Fever_ has to the _Sweating Sickness_, Native of _England_, in the very beginning, and the end of the Reign of _Henry_ VII.

One Observation I would make from the foregoing Accounts, and that is very comfortable to _Patients_ and their _Physicians_; that, _hereafter_, neither of these will think themselves ill used, for Dr. _Mead_’s saying, that a Physician (especially if he hates or fears him more than the Plague) has mistaken his Disease, and has prescrib’d improperly on that, or any other Account: and that because we find him little acquainted with the Descriptions of Diseases, and not over-faithful in relating them. Let this _Corollary_, _Scholium_, or which of this Language he affects, never _depart_ from the Memory of a judicious; reasonable Patient, or his or her Physician.

I ought not to remark further in this first Part, if he did not expect I should not omit what he says of the _Fury_ of the Plague in 1665. This Scene is prepared by calling in a Disposition to Contagion that is in every, the very best of, Air; and hereby we felt this Calamity of a Plague in this Year. He says, _It continued in this City about ten Months; and swept away by Computation 97306 Persons_. He will have it allowed, that the Disease came by _Cotton_; and he charges the Duration of it on the Government, by their ordering to shut up the Houses. But this is the Unhappiness of this Physician, that he makes every Relation either incredible, or frivolous, when he would point out its Greatness, and make us feel it. I cannot tell where he pick’d up this Account; but he makes it less terrible than it was truly, by misrepresenting the Fact. Dr. _Hodges_ tells us, that some computed the Loss by the Plague to have been One Hundred Thousand; and herein he is followed by Doctor _Rosary_, alias _Anodyne-Necklace_: but no body can tell Dr. _M_’s Voucher.

But if we consult the Bill of Mortality of that Year, we find only fifty Thousand one Hundred and 22; and if we add 1/4 Mr. _Graunt_ proves to be suppressed in the Account, there will be sixty six Thousand six Hundred and 96 died of the Plague in 1665. But if we consider that it began about the _27th_ of _December, 1664_. and ended the _26th_ of _September, 1665_. we find it did not last above nine Months. Consider likewise, that from the _27th_ of _December_ to the _6th_ of _June_ inclusively there only died 92. and therefore the Mortality is to be reckoned from the _13th_ of _June, 1665_. to the _26th_ of _September_ in that Year. Now if we take the Mortality to have been equal (as it was not) from the _13th_ of _June_ to the _26th_ of _September_, the Mortality did not last above 16 Weeks: So that the Mortality was really greater than if there had died equally 100000 in ten Months; for in this Case there only died 2500 each Week: but by the true Account there died 4162. a far greater Mortality, and far more terrible, than what is brought on the former Supposition, about the time the Plague lasted, and the Havock that it made in that time.

It is not only the Numbers that fall by the Plague that strike Terror into Men, but the Suddenness and Manner of Dying heighten our Fears, and make every thing more terrible; for Physicians have been Strangers to the Disease, nor have their Remedies been able to give any Check to its Fury. The People die with Medicines and without them, and those that have seemed to be useful in one Case, have seldom failed to prove hurtful in another. No body is found strong enough to resist it, neither they who had the best Constitution, nor they who have been treated in the best Method. But what is most grievous, on those Occasions, is the great Despair that seizes the Infected, who are so far from submitting to the most proper Endeavours that may be made for their Cure, that they abandon, and give themselves up as helpless, and out of the Power of any Relief: while the Disease gets Ground, acquires new Strength, and lays desolate the most populous Cities.

I shall end my Remarks on the first Part of the _short Discourse_, in the Words of the late Bishop of _Rochester_[14], who describes this terrible Article very pathetically.

_Here, lies a Mother and her Child;
The Infant suck’d as yet, and smil’d;
But strait by its own Food was kill’d:
There Parents hugg’d their Children last;
Here, prating Lovers last embrac’d;
But yet not parting neither:
They both expir’d, and went away together.
The Friend does hear his Friend’s last Cries;
Parts his Grief for him, and then dies;
Lives not enough to close his Eyes.
The Father, at his Death,
Speaks his Son Heir, with an infectious Breath:
In the same Hour the Son does take
His Father’s Will, and his own make.
The Servant needs not here be slain,
To serve his Master in the other World again;
They languishing together lie;
Their Souls away together flie:
The Husband gasps; his Wife lies by:
It must be her turn next to die:
The Husband and the Wife
Too truly now are one, and live one Life:
That Couple, who the Gods did entertain,
Had made their Prayers here in vain:
No Fates in Death could them divide;
They must, without their Privilege, together both have dy’d._

[Footnote 14: _Plague of_ Athens, Stan. 19 & 20.]

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PART II. Explained.

It is with the greatest Pleasure we enter upon the Method of _preventing_, tho’ not of _curing_ this _insidious_ Enemy of Mankind, which very justly has filled the World with Fear and Horror. For this Reason, and that Matters may proceed not only in greater Order, but also with greater Truth, Dr. _Mead_ has gone through much _Philosophy_ and _Theory_ in _Medicine_, with great _Labour_ and _Fatigue_; even to _fainting_ away, _despairing_ often in doing any thing to his own Satisfaction, knowing by much Experience, that the World is not so hard to please.

And therefore, he begins this second Part, by telling us, how great a _Satisfaction_ it is, _to know that the Plague is no Native of our Country_. I hope he is satisfy’d with this Conceit, but I am afraid few People find any new Assurance, and Courage, springing up in them, upon this Assertion; or that they can have a better Heart to face the Plague more boldly, if it should be our Misfortune to have a Visit from it at this time.

But in what Page does this Demonstration lie? He has only told us, hitherto, that the _pure_ Air is only _infected_ with _pestilential Steams_, that rise out of Bogs; or out of Men that have died of the Plague; or else that these Steams were packed up in Goods, and with them carried from one Country into another: and tho’ this be bravely told, without any Reason assigned for it; yet we know not where they first have their Origine, and of what Country they are Natives. We have seen an Original English Plague, that came from no Place in the World, and took up its Abode altogether here; and whether all the rest, that have afflicted our Island, are Natives or Foreigners, is nothing so clear, as to build any great Satisfaction upon. And therefore, I do think, with the Doctor, that all Means should be found out to _keep our selves clear from it_; tho’ we can find no great _Encouragement_ from what he yet has told us.

This Caution, as he tells us, consists of two Parts: _The preventing its being brought into our Island_; and, _The putting a stop to its spreading among us_. But, as the Doctor has a very ill Memory, and seldom performs what he promises, give me leave to put him in mind of a Promise, in his Preface; that _his Method will be different from that taken in former times among us, and from what they commonly do abroad_: Tho’ we have no Encouragement to think, that _it will prove agreeable to Reason_.

The Doctor is very full on this first Head of Caution, and bestows no fewer than nine Pages about _Quarantines_, and _Lazarettoes_; but as there is nothing newer said of them than what has been known, these two hundred Years; I leave that Affair to the Civil Magistrate, whose Care can never exceed, when it’s employed for the Good of the People. But as far as we may depend upon the first, and Philosophical Part of this Discourse, there is no great Occasion for either of them: We live a great way from the South of _France_, and the Doctor has assured us, that the Plague cannot reach us, by some hundreds of Miles. For, to our Satisfaction be it remember’d, that Air it self is very pure and harmless; nor can it otherwise be infected, than by pestilential Steams issuing out of Bodies, at the end of the Disease; as also, that they cannot travel any length, if there is not a Disposition in the Air, which it only has when supposed. And therefore, we are very little obnoxious to a Plague, and consequently have no great Occasion for _Lazarettoes_ or _Quarantines_.

I cannot omit, without incurring Displeasure, the pretty Expedient the Doctor recommends, for discovering when the Plague has forsaken a Parcel of Goods; and that because he might foresee a Question might arise, about the Time they should serve their _Quarantine_; and whether forty Days were sufficient. His Answer is fine! why; _we must set little Birds upon the exposed Goods_. But, may not the Attempt prove dangerous, and as dangerous as to set a lighted Match to a good large Barrel of Gun-powder. The Reason for this Experiment, is, because it has been observed in times of the Plague, that that Country is forsaken by the Birds; and for this he quotes _Diemerbroeck_.

How beautifully are such Presages related by _Lucretius_, _Virgil_, _Ovid_, and other Poets; but how insipidly are they misapplied on this Occasion. Physicians have carefully observed and recorded, every thing considerable and extraordinary that preceded the Pestilence; and that in order to provide themselves against it, and to give the Alarm of its first Approaches, that People may provide for their Safety in time. Some of these Presages are taken from the _Heavens_; some from the _Air_; others from the _Earth_; and many from the _Waters_.

——_Sæpe exiguus Mus
Augurium tibi triste dabit._

But as the Consideration of those Presages do not fall properly in my way at this time; we proceed next to consider, how a stop is put to the Plague, in _Case, through a Miscarriage in the Publick Care, by the Neglect of Officers, or otherwise, such a Calamity should be suffered to befal us_.

And here we must observe, that this Art of _Quarantines_, and _Lazarettoes_, is so infallible, that we may blame the Civil Magistrate, and his Officers, if ever the Plague is suffered to come among us. For my part, I cannot think any Government so foolishly malicious to suffer a Plague to come into their Country, if they knew how to avoid it. But that we may not slightly bring an ill Report against Governors; the Physicians are to be blamed, when the Orders of the Civil Magistrate are hurtful; for he always takes Counsel with Physicians in all Matters, relating to _Nature_ and _Health_: This has been the Practice in all Nations, and in all Times, since Mankind has been govern’d by Law; and if these wrong Measures are owing _to the Ignorance of the true Nature of Contagion_, surely it’s none of the Magistrate’s Business to discover it.

The Magistrate may contradict his former Orders, for any Thing that is better, at least not so pernicious, as those whereunto he was led by Physicians. But the Physicians in _London_ might not have advised the shutting up of Houses, if they had remember’d the fatal Experiments of it in other Countries, recorded in Books of Physick. _Mercurialis_ tells us, how the Houses were shut up in _Milan_ on this Occasion, but that the Magistrates found their Mistake in a Week, and set them open again, very much to the Comfort of the Healthy, and Relief of the Sick. The same learned Author informs us, that burning _infected Goods_ was found to do great Mischief in a Plague in _Padua_, and what then shall we think of our celebrated Physician, who [15]recommends this Method of Burning? [16]_Quapropter_, says the famous _Mercurialis_, _non possum commendare eos, qui hisce temporibus infectas supellectiles in urbibus cremant, propterea quod_, &c. We may surely say, that this Error is not only _owing to his Ignorance of the true Nature of Contagion_, but even of his Ignorance of what Physicians do Abroad.

[Footnote 15: Page 40.]

[Footnote 16: _Cap._ 21.]

I think the Doctor has made a little too free with the Civil Magistrate, and his Brethren of the Faculty; especially, that he has no where told us any Thing of the Nature of Contagion; not so much as what we may read in many Books of Physick. And therefore his further inveighing against _Physick_ and _Physicians_, is the most surprizing, unaccountable Indiscretion that Man ever was guilty of: A Man that has done nothing, but to corrupt it: For thus he puts an End to a great deal of rambling Stuff, about shutting up Houses. [17]_The Management in former Times neither answers the Purpose of discovering the beginning of the Infection, nor of putting a stop to it when discovered; other Measures are certainly to be taken, which I think should be of this Nature._

[Footnote 17: Page 37.]

Here begins an Account of Things to be done in a _new_ Manner, and what will be found _agreeable_ to Reason. _Imprimis_, Then, _instead of ignorant old Women, we ought to have understanding and diligent Men_. There is nothing New in this, nor very _Unreasonable_; but as the Doctor has enhansed the whole Knowledge of Physick in his own Person, and made _old Women_ of his _Brethren_, I hope he will allow these _Officers_ of _Health_ to consist of discarded Physicians. _Secondly, When the sick Families are gone_ (whether?) _all the Goods of the Houses, in which they were, should be burnt; nay, the Houses themselves, if that can conveniently be done._ A very good Advice, and, I hope, the City of _London_ will erect another _Monument_ for the Doctor, after they have burned their City, upon so _reasonable_ Advice. But as this Advice has been found hurtful in Experience, so neither is it _New_, because it has been practised Two Hundred Years ago; as I lately observed. He has now the late Fire of _London_ in view, and recommends another general Conflagration of our City, from the great Good, he fancies, accrued thereby: But the Reason he brings is admirable. _For nothing approaches so near to the first Original of Contagion, as Air pent up, loaded with Damps._ This is the very Reason, why _Hippocrates_, and all other Physicians after him, have advised making Fires for preventing the Plague; neither spared they any _Expence_ in _Scents_, _sweet_ and _aromatick Woods_; and even they put _sacred_ Things to that very Use. Yet, according to Custom, the Doctor [18]contradicts himself, on this Article, at the small distance of four Pages; where Fires again are condemned as pernicious. The Reason alledged for this later Experiment is absolutely false; for Dr. _Hodges_ assures us, that the Weather was not Hot in that Summer. But, I believe, the true Reason of the Contradiction is, that the Doctor will, at any Time, venture being found in a Contradiction, three Doors off, as well as four Pages off, to save his Bacon, or for a merry Conceit. But there is, _even in this_, nothing New, for there was one _Raymundus_, who is noted for this Singularity by other Authors, whose Words our Doctor seems to translate. _Pestilentes Febres_, says _Raymundus_, _Ardentes sunt, & idcirco ab aere fervido, & calente augentur_. I must beg leave to crowd in another Conclusion, because I follow the Doctor; that as Fires are thus hurtful, so, and for that Reason, is the _firing_ of Guns. The Word _Fire_ is common in both Expressions, but it was never the _Heat_ of great Guns, but their _Noise_ that was recommended, and that is a sort of _Wind_, so much recommended formerly, by Dr. _Mead_; _but what some have too rashly advised. Mira vis verbis._

[Footnote 18: Page 45.]

But to return to _Damps_; he allows they approach the first Original of Contagion, so that if they are not the first, they may very well be the second Original of Contagion; for where there is a first, there is always a second in every Order and Number of Things. Now, as _Fires_ are manifestly useful in the Damps of Coal Pits, and Goals, why not in the raw Damps of Contagion? And if that is a true Experiment, why does Dr. _Mead_ forsake _Hippocrates_, and the antient Sages of Physick, for an Error that is not new; and, perhaps, not agreeable to Reason? And _Ovid_ tells us, _Temporibus Medicina valet_. As to the Story of the _Black Assize_ at _Oxford_, it shall not be carelessly neglected.

The last Member of Novelty mentioned, is the keeping our _Houses and Streets clean from Filth, Carrion, and all manner of Nusances_; and I hope every Body will readily admit, that this was never done before, neither _here_ at Home, nor _Abroad_ in other Countries; and I’ll swear for him, this Time, that it is highly _necessary_. His Inference is strong; for if all these _new_ and _reasonable_ Instructions _take effect, there will be no need of any Methods, for _CORRECTING_ the _AIR_, _PURIFYING HOUSES_, or of Rules for _PRESERVING PARTICULAR PERSONS_ from _INFECTION_._ Yet in this very instant there follows a fresh Contradiction, if I understand him; but least I do not, I shall give you his own Words, in order to be better inform’d. _To all which, if the Plague get head, so that the Sick are too many to be removed, Regard must be had._ Now, as far as I understand the Doctor, the Plague may get Head against all these infallible Methods, but I cannot for my Life tell, what we are to Regard; but as these Methods are both fallible and infallible, at the same Time, the Doctor has fallen into another gross _Contradiction_.

But, which is a more melancholy Story, this seems to be the whole of _Preventing_ we have hitherto expected; so that all the Philosophy he brought forth, in the first Part of his Discourse, has only been to make us _Constables_ and _Scavengers_, to set the Watch, and clean the Streets. A fine Account, indeed, of _Preventing_.

This Discourse never look’d as if it were to live long, its first _Stamina_ were so rotten, and defective; and any one, with half an Eye, might see it would die of an Apoplexy, or first die and then have an Apoplexy, as the Fashion of Dying has been of late.

When I formerly observed the great Neglect of the _Disposition_ and _Aptness_ of a Subject to receive and cherish the Disease, I was then very much afraid that the celebrated Dr. _Mead_ must suffer, when it was his Business to teach us how to preserve our selves from Infection; which has, at this Time, befallen him with a witness; for now our Security consists in the former. But if the Plague should chance to force his Lines, it is very plain, that we must surrender at Discretion to this most cruel Enemy. Our Generals taught the _French_, some Years ago, how slender a Defence Lines were; and the Plague has taught them, to their sad Experience, how insufficient they are to restrain its Violence; for it has nor only marched over their Lines in Defiance of their Guards, but even _Eastwards_ and _Southwards_, to the Contempt of _Matthæus Villanus_, and our Doctor, his zealous Follower.

But I am, again, afraid that the Case at present is much the same as it was in the beginning of his _short Discourse_; for he then proposed to treat of _Contagion_, but he quickly dropp’d it, without so much as telling us what is meant by the Word. Here now we should _prevent_, but he knows as little of this as he did formerly of Contagion: For when he [19]_is to consider by what Means particular Persons may best defend themselves against Contagion_; he adds, _for the effectual doing of which it would be necessary to put the Humors of the Body into such a State, as not to be alterable by the Matter of Infection_. What Physician ever said so before Dr. _Mead_? And if an Impossibility of this Nature was expected from the Faculty of Physick, I hope they would acknowledge and confess their Ignorance. It is the same Thing, as if the Government should expect, that Physicians are to cure the Subjects of any one Disease, so that they should never feel it hereafter; the _Curative_ Part of _Physick_, in that Sense, must be as impossible as the _Preservative_. Mankind is more easy, and not only bears with what is not possible, but even with Blunders, that proceed from Ignorance and Stupidity. All that is expected from Physicians, is to have such Rules, whereby our Health may be secured to them, as far as it is consistent with Human Nature, and the known Means: And if Dr. _Mead_ would have communicated some of those wise Rules, that are to be found in Books of Physick, even without deducing them from any Principle of Reason, he then had done them the greatest Good, and what they seem to want and desire.

[Footnote 19: Page 48.]

That we may see, how little Doctor _Mead_ understands the Method of _Preventing_, and also how practicable it is: We find _Hippocrates_ values himself for being the first that foresaw a Disease; and he tells us, That [20]_Diseases do not come upon Men of a sudden; but being collected by degrees, shew themselves afterwards in the bulk_. And [21]_Galen_ says, That _all Physicians are agreed, that there must be some Time for breeding a Distemper_. Now, if Diseases take a Time before they are bred; then it is an obvious Consequence, that Diseases may be prevented. Surely this is consonant to common Sense; for an _Embryo_ Disease must be far more easily cured, than a Disease after it is formed, and settled upon any Person; and thereby his Strength, or Constitution, destroyed: For however _Curative_ Method, and _Preservative_, are different Words, they only signify the same Thing at different Times. Curing a nascent Disease is _preserving_ us from being hurt by it; and curing a settled Disease, where the Instruments of Action are hurt, is curing it in the common Acceptation.

[Footnote 20: Lib. 1. _De Vict. rat._ Lib. 3. _De Diæta_.]

[Footnote 21: Lib. 1. _De loc. affect._ Pag. 13. Junt.]

And therefore our Doctor seems to have no manner of Notion of these Words, when he would tell us that it is as impossible to prevent the Plague; as to have a _Specifick Preservative from the Small Pox_; which we find is far from being impossible. But why a _Specifick_? Must he have a Specifick, because Dr. _Anodyne Necklace_ has one? I cannot find any other Reason, especially, that it now plainly appears, and is evident, that curing a Disease, and preventing it, is the same Action, and may be done with the same Tools, whether they are Common, or Specifick, in the strictest Sense Physicians use those Words. This his Misunderstanding the Doctrine of Physicians is further manifest from the last Paragraph of his Discourse; that his Directions may _be of Use towards establishing a better Method of Cure_, than Authors have commonly taught, which might be true, if that Doctrine had been drawn from the Nature of _Infection_ or _Contagion_; but, at present, he knows as little of the grammatical Sense of these Terms, as he does of the Things themselves.

Let us cease, then, to wonder why so great Care is had to keep our _Houses_ cool, at _Page 47_, and so little for our _Persons_, at _Page 49_ of the _Discourse_; and in Consequence to that, we find more Receipts for a House than for a Man. He mentions _Vinegar_ upon the Authority of _Rhazes_, which is no more for a Person that affects an Opinion for being learned, than if he had recommended it from Dr _Hodges_; since Physicians know, how much it has been esteemed by the most antient Physicians of _Greece_ and _Italy_: But this its Virtue in the Plague of Pestilence is not contrary to what Authors advise, in making Fumes of hot Things on that Occasion. This is very manifest, if the Doctor will consider what the great _Celsus_ has said of it.

But it will not be difficult to give a very probable Conjecture, why our Doctor gives so trifling, and contradictory Account of those Medicines, recommended for preserving us against the Plague; even, when there is not so great a Store for any other Disease, and some of them come well recommended for the Purpose of _Preventing_; if we remember the common Method of our Author through all this Book; for he constantly tells us, in the end of one Paragraph, what he offers to our Belief in the next. He has all along thrown mighty Contempt upon Physicians, when he would recommend himself; and now he disparages their Medicines; and surely, upon no other Design, but to set up his own. But what in the Name of Wonder are they? In this consists the great Mystery of State. If so, then there is an end of our wondering.

His Medicines are of two Sorts; one Set of them published in a very small Book, tho’ there is a large Account of their _Virtues_ and _Uses_. There is a second Sort, which some worthy Gentlemen of great Families, and great Estates, have told us of, and these were the _Secrets_ of an eminent Physician. But how do Gentlemen know Secrets in Physick? It is not hard to guess who were chiefly concern’d in their Information, and who have made a goodly _Income_ from a pretended _Inheritance_ to pretended _Secrets_. This is the _Shrine_ of the great _Diana_, to which every Thing must not only submit, but for it every other Shrine must be removed, even Truth it self; so that we may quickly hear of Doctor _R——f_’s Secrets for the Plague, if it should be the Will of God to send it us for a Punishment of our Sins.

How easy a Matter is it to become a great Physician, but how difficult to a Man of Education and Honour? Hence it is that we find in all Times, tho’ never more than in the present, that Physick is the common Resort of all indigent Men, that no other Arts can provide with a Living. Here Doctor _Rosary_ has made a better Market for his Beads, than ever was in any _Roman Catholick Country_, _Spain_ and _Portugal_ not excepted. At this Time too, he is among the chief Writers on the Plague, and with insufferable Assurance, dedicates that Trifle to the _President_ of the _College_ of _Physicians_, where, in the end, he tells the World, how useful _his Necklace_ is for the _Plague_.

_Amulets_, indeed, have been in great _Esteem_ in Times of the Plague, and I hope some great _Physician_ will lend his Name to one, that may frighten away this terrible Disease.

_FINIS._

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Transcriber’s note:

Page 6, ‘preceeded’ changed to ‘preceded,’ “Air to have preceded it”

Page 12, ‘suffient’ changed to ‘sufficient,’ “and self-sufficient Person that ever”

Page 17, ‘Philosophers’ changed to ‘Philosopher’s,’ “make the Philosopher’s Stone, and”

Page 27, italics removed from around ‘and,’ “_Wool_, _Feathers_, _Hair_, and _Skins_”

Page 33, ‘shown’ changed to ‘shewn,’ “to have shewn the _Disposition_”

Page 34, ‘succeding’ changed to ‘succeeding,’ “good Author of succeeding Ages”

Page 55, full stop changed to comma after ‘Women,’ “ignorant old Women, we ought to have”

Page 57, ‘tell’ changed to ‘tells,’ “And _Ovid_ tells us”