The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1881-01-27
The Black Death.

Wonderful in its origin, in its charac-
! Jeristics, in its consequences, was the great
/ pestilence known as Black Death, which
swept half the people out Of England in
l34S. For two years previously there had
been gradually spreading over the eastern
parts Of Europe a yirulent disease, import
ed from Asia, which made havoc of the
people in some of the finest portions of the
world. So dreadful indeed had been its
Tavages that, according to the most respect
able mOnBish writer Of the time, many
Saracens, convicted that the pestilence was
sign of Gods wrath OF account of their
unbelief became Christians, till, finding
the Christians to be likewise afflicted, they
returned to their old faith. A series Of
earthquakes, which shook the whole of
eastern Europe, ushered in the year Of134S;
mems hearts qUailed for fear, and many
were the steps taken-shOrt of draining
the towns and providing better ventilation
with a view Of prOpitiating the divine
wrath. In vain. The plague which had
scOurged Asia and the Greek empire crept
slowly but surely westward, seemingly un-
influenced by the coldness of climate, OF
intervention Of sea. BOcCacciO has written
in the preface to his "DecamerOn0 an ac-
count Of the plague as it operated in Flor
ence, which no one who has ever read it
can forget Within a few months Of its
slaughter Of the FlOrentines, it had swept
through Spain, France, and Germany, and
had crossed the straits Of Dover.
From June to December, 1913, there had
fallen in England an almost incessant
downpOuT Of rain; the ground was damp,
and the streams became polluted with sur
face-drainage, which was washed like COM
post all over the country, in default Of
proper outlet into a proper receptacle. In
August the first case was reported; by No
vember the capital was reached, and from
London the plague spread all over the
kingdom, and, says Stowe, $50 wasted and
spOyled the people, that scarcely the tenth
person of all sorts was left alive" This is
not an exaggeratiOn of what happened in
some places; "there died an innumerable
sort, for no man but God only knew how
MANY" Between the first of January and
July, 1349, there died in the city Of Nor
wich 57,1O4 persons; Yarmouth buried y
O52 in the year; and other tOWRs in the
eastern countries suffered nearly as much.
In the thirteen acres of Spittle Croft (the
site of the existing CharterhOuse), which
was given by Sir Walter Nanny for the
burial of the dead, because London church.
yards were choke full, were buried fifty
thousand persons. The plague was swift
in execution those seized by it often dy-
ing within six hours, and none lasting over
three days. The ties Of nature seemed
IOosened; parents fOrsOOk their children,
the dead remaining in many instances
without burial, and were allowed to take
their revenge upon the living by adding
fearfully to the pestilential character of
the atmosphere. Cattle became infected, /
with the disease, and their bodies lay rot
ting on the fields untouched even by the
birds of prey. How many Of the people
died it is impossible to say with certainty;
but the most reliable accounts state that,
taking England all through, half of the en-
tire population died. The eastern counties
never recovered from the rayages Of the
plague: places which awhile had been the
seats of manufacture became obscure villa /
ges, and to this day may be seen in those
countries places in which large churches that
were once to small for the congregation,
have sarviyed only jOattest what the VII [
lagos they presided over once were Half /
the population! The labOuTs of agTicUl- /
ture were neglected the courts of jsutice |
we're not opened; Parliament was pro |
rogued from time to time; the whole busi- |
ness Of the country drifted for very lack |
Of hands to attend to it, and the course Of |
the plague became so notorious that the /.
Scots swOre by it, by the 'fOul deth Of the !
English.o For q time Scotland escaped, |
and the Scots, taking advantage Of the |
weakened condition of their southern foe, |
collected an army for the purpose Of fin |
ishing what the plague had spared to do |
But into the camp at Sellzjrk the "fOul |
deth" came and slew five thousand men, /
and put a stop to the project Of invasion.
All sorts Of reasons were assigned for the .
Some declared it was q sign Of .
Gods anger at the eXtraYkGance and eHem- .
NANCY of the men; others that it was be
cause Of his wrath at the gay costume Of |
the women, who seemed to have arayed /
themselves more after the fashion adopted 1
by some women nowadays than either
after Solomon or the lilly Of the field. Some .
said one thing and some another, but we
do not hear Of any one hitting the real
blot, and assigning the cause to the angeTOf
God against filthy streets, unwhOlesOme
houses, undrained towns, and utter want
of ventilation. The Black Death was
wonder In its effects rather than in its
causes, and was attended with supplement
tary wonder, that it went away without
Great Fire, which by burning down the
plague-cherishing towns, might have pre-
vented, as it did later on in London, a
of the visitation. At intervals
the plague returned, though
never again with such destructive power;
it came and went destroying its victims,
till the people found out what it was that
God was angry about. Then it went away
finally, leaving behind it a promise to re-
turn-a promise which holds good at the
present hour-wheneyer men should so
fateas to provoke itlby dirt and
those other denominations upon which 1t
thriYes.