Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1824-08-10
PLAGUE IN FLORENCE.

The GLOWING int resting extract IS made
from an article in the last North American
Review, on the Decameron, the most admired
of the prose works of Boccacie:
The scene of this celebrated perior-
nance is placed al Florence, 10 the year
l348, when that proud and pOpuous CT
~ v as laid low ia sorrow by one OF Ihe most
destructive plaques which history records;
plague, which, in the complication OF us
horrors. and The extent OF It's ravages, Is
entitled 10 a mourntul emlnenCe beside
those of Athens, Marsellles, and Londoa-
The description OF this maIady, which
forms the introduction OF the work, is just
" esteemed one OF the choicest morseis OF
the kind in the whole range OF literature.
The perfect truth of the description, lhe
mastery skill with which The most striK-
ing circumstances are selected, to give Us
a distinct idea of the dreadful moral and
physical effects OF the pestlence and yet
to awake 10 disgust IN our m'nos' ana me
unaffected emotion OF the writer m unfold
inc the desolstion OF his beautiful CITY, m
vest this piece with all those attributes OF
genuine historic eloquence, which be-.
long to the celebrated description Of
Thucidide of the plague OF Athens
ruis pl gue fist IoSe out IN the Leyant'
and moving on from place TO place, hnal
ly, notwithstanding every piecaution, that
human foresight could devise, made It's
appearance 10 the spring OF the year al
Florence. TIE malady was soon found TO
be contagious, aud spread with frlgh'ful
rapiditv through the crowded population
OF thecity
No sooner had the c. ntagIon become ge-
neral, than all social order was at an end;
the constituted authorities OF the city
ceased to possess any control over the
people: every one became und'sputed
master of his own actions; and in this uni
versal anarchy and misrule, abandoned
miscreants rose up. who made the desola
Iat;op of their fellow citizens the means OF
unhallowed gam, gong iron mouse 10
house, and drspoili g the deserted palaces
of their sumplunus plate ana furniture,
and even pIunder;mg the dead, or the dy
/, ;np in their last helpless agoaIes, OF the
very Jewels they wore on their persons
Indeed. the morbid selhshness and hald-
ness of heart, engendered by constant Ia
miliaIity With these scenes OF horror'
which sometimes led the oest 10 aodhuon
their friends to fate, and tempted the bad
TO such acts of profigate pillage, manifest
ed itself IN the whole conduct OF the lhna-
bi,ants. 1t was the usage in the city Tor
the friends of deceased person to assem-
BILE al his house, and sympathIse with me
afflicted family; but all the accompanI-
ments OF grief were now no more; the sur
viving relations, given up to KIND OF IN
toxIcalion of despair, conyeried the tune
raj solemnity into revolving scene Of
laughter and noisy merriment
But the manner in which those persons
who were yet in health, spent their time,
was the most remarkable. One class,
| thinking to avoid the contagion by mode
ration in diet, aud by stunning all excess
es, formed little parties, who shut Them
selves up from the world, paid no regard
to whatever was passing without their
doors, and, living temporarily Oh the best
| wines and viands. occupied their minds
| entirely with music and other agreeable
hut moderate reereations. Others on the
contrary, maintained free living to be the
surest preventative and accordingly they
passed day and night in drinking, teasting
and excess of vice, moving continually