Years of Plague in Review

Years of agony, mystery and death crept upon London. Ten of thousands dead every week. Dying from a diease which has many names, yet commonly known as the plauge. Society at the time of the eighteenth century, were most concerned about surviving. There was a day to day chance of gaining a token. A token is also known as a gangrene spot. Stories of the sick and the dying, from A Journal of the Plague Year, written by Daniel Defoe, describes horrific deaths in number, the grief of the people and the hardship of staying alive. "Till they found to their unspeakable surprise, the tokens come out upon them; after which they seldom lived six hours;for those spots they called the tokens",-The Infection Spread. A death which could not be stop or prevented.



Unknowing of the rats and fleas spreading the infection onto humans by the numbers. The prilivaged and wealthy fled to villages and towns surrounding London. "As particularly of person falling dead in the streets, terrible shrieks and screeching of women, who, in their agonies, would throw open their chamber window and cry out in dismal."-Dismal Scenes. Grief and sorrow filled hearts everywhere.





Hundreds and thousands of dead bodies thrown from a cart into a pit added to the massive grave already present. "The common grave of mankind, as we may call it, for here was no difference made, but poor and rich went together", -Burial Pits and Dead. London became a city of worry, and terror. Staying alive was the main focus for anyone near London during the years of the plauge. A diease that can only be discribed as a bomb. A bomb that stuck London directly in the face.