Newspaper Page Text
MISCELLA5BOV8.
last twenty-four hours. No coffins
wore prepared; no fumpral service
From Lingivrd’s History of England.
ACCOUNT OP THE PLAGUE IN
LONDON.
In the depth of last winter, two or
three isolated cases of plague had oc
curred in tho outskirts of the metrop
olis. The fact excited alarm, and j the churchyard, qr, when the eburch-
waa read; no mourners were permit
ted to follow the remains of their re-
latieos or friendb. The cart proceed
ed to the nearest cetnetry', and shot
its burden into the common grave, a
deep and spacious pit, capable of hold-
' ing some scores of bodies, and dug in
directed the attention of the public to yard was full, in the outskirtn of the
the Weekly variations in the bills of parish. Of the hardened and brutal
mortality. On, the one hand, the conduct of the men to whom this duty
cool temperature of the air, and the
frequent changes in the weather,
was committed, men taken from the
refuse of society, and lovt to all sense
brothel. Men became so familiarized
with the form, that they steeled their
feelings against th^ terrors of death.
They waited each for' his turn with
the resignation of the Christian, or the
indifference of the stoic. Some de
voted themselves to exercises of pi
ety; others sought relief in the riot of
dissipation, and the recklessness of
despair.
leptember came; the heat of the
atmosphere began to abate; but, con
trary to expectation, the mortality
increased. Formerly, a hope of re
covery might be indulged; now in*
wore hailed os favorable circum-' of morality 01 decency, instances were fection was the certain harbinger of
stances; on the other, it could not bo , related, te which it would be difficult
cooceulvd that the number of deaths,
freni whatever cause it arose, was
presgressively on the advance. In
this State of suspense, alternately a-
gitated by their hopes and fears, men
looked to the result with tin* -lost in
tense anxiety; and at Jrngi
the end of May, under the
to find a parallel in the annals of'liu-
inan depravity.
The disease generally manifested
itsrK by the usual febrile symptoms
of shivering, nausea, ‘headache and
delirium. In some these affections
, about i trere so mild, as to be mistaken for
;(iucncela slight and transient indisposition.
death, which followed, generally, in
the course of three days, often with
in the space of twenty-four hours
The privy council ordered an expir-
iment to be tried, which was ground
ed on the practice of former times.
To dissipate the pestilential miasm
fires of sea-coal, in the proportion »;
one fire to every twelve houses, wer
and with the aid of The victim raw not, or would not see, kindled in every street, court ann
and stagnant at mi sphere, the the insidious approach of his foe; he ; alley, of London and Westminster
ofa,ivarmer sun,
ai^losft
ovil burnt forth in all its - terrors.— j applied to his usual avocations, till a
F '*m the centre of St. Giles’, the sudden laintness came on, the maculae,
infection spreid with rapidity over 1 the final “tokens” appeared on his
the adjacent parishes, threatened the | hroast, and within an hour life was
court at Whitehall, and, in defiance, i extinct But, in most- cases, the
of every precaution, stole its way into pain and the delirium le f t no roon for
the ciff. A general panic ensued; dmbt. Onthethid or fourth day,
the nobility and gentry were the fns* ' hoboes or carbuncles arose; if these
t'i flee; the royal family followed; sod c >uld be made to suppurate, teeov-
tbrn all, *ho valued their personal eiy rnixht he anticipated; if they re-
safety mure than the eonsiderrtions of sisted the efforts ot nature, and the j thousand victims, a number hither!
home and interest, prepared to imi- i skill of the physician, death was in-1 unknown, sunk under the anrnmented
fate the example. For some weeks evitable. The sufferings of the pa
th© tide of emigration flowed from tieat often threw them into paroxysms
every outlet towards the country; it . of frensy. They burst the hands hy
tvoschecked at first by the refusal of: which they were confined to their
They were kept burning three days
and three nights, and were at last
rx’inguished by heavy and continu
ous fall of rain The next l»iM ex
hibited a considerable reduction in
the amount of deaths; and the sur
vivors congratulated each other on
the cheering prospect. But the cup
was soon dashed from their lips; and
in the following week, more than ten
As yetf we had discovered no sigh j Inducing & uielinchoty mood. The
reoaembCrauco of what I onco be-
believed and hoped would have beett
my occnpation for life among an un^
tutored race like these—the experi
ence I had known of the .contentments
happiness, and success that may at
tend the missionary enterprise; the
interruption of all my plans; my pre
sent station and object in visiting thfa
group—not te attempt to dissipate
the darkness that hangs over its in
habitants, but only to glance at them
for a day and Sec them oo more for
ever, leaving them in their ignorance
and in their sins, still to remain mi-
rcscucd victims to the vices ot those
who may occasionally visit them—all
made me sad.
It is probable that few ships, if
any, have ever before been so near
to this little spot: and to its rude in- 1
habitants, out beautiful vessel with?
her numerous crew in their Sunday
dress ol* uniform whiteness—our float
ing banner, and our full toned band-
must have seemed for the moment,
like a vision of brightness from a
belter world. O that some far hap*
pier bark might speedily be seen from
their shores, bearing to them that
which is-no dream nor “cunningly
devised fable,” hut the wisdom of
God. and the power of God unto sal*
vation.
the lord m;«ynr to grant certificates
ol health and by the opposition <»f the
neighboring townships. which rose in
their own defence, and formed a har
rier round the devole-J city.
The absence of the fugitives, and
the couscqimnt cessation of trade and
breaking up of establishments, served
t© aggravate the calamity. It was
calculated that forty thousand ser
vants had been left without a home,
nud the number of artisans and labor
ers thrown eut of employment was
stii! more considerable. It is true,
that the charily of the opulent seemed
to keop pace with tho progress of
distress. The king subscribed the
weekly sum of 1000/.; the oily of
COO/.; the Queen-dowager, the Arch
bishop of Canterbury, the Earl of
Cravep, and the lord mayor, distin
guished themselves hy the amount of
their benefactions; and the magis
trates were careful to ensure a con
stant supply of provisions in the mar
kets; yet the families that depended
on casual relief for the means of sub
sistence were necessarily subjected
to privations, which rendered them
mere liable to receive, and less able
to subdue, the contagion. The tanr-
talily was at first confined chiefly to
the lower classes, carrying off. in a
large proportion, the children than the
adluts, the females than the men—
But, by the end of June, so rapid was
the diffusion, so destructive were the
revages of the disease, that the civil
authorities deemed it time to exercise
the powers with which they had been
invested by an act of James I, “for
ibe charitable relief and ordering of
persons infected with the plague.”
I. They divided the parishes into
districts, and allotted to each district
a competent number of officers, under
the denomination of examiners,
searchers, nurses and watchmen. 2
They ordered that the existence of
the disease, wherever it might pene
trate, should be made known to the
f iublic by a red cross, one foot in
ength, painted on the door, with the
words. “Lord, have mercy on iis!”
placed above it. From that moment
the house was closed; all egress for
the space of oae month was inexor
ably refuted; and the wretched in
mates were doomed to remain under
the same roof, communicating death
one to another. Of these many sunk
under the horrors of their situation;
many were rendered desperate.—
They eluded the vigilance, or cor
rupted the fidelity of the watchmen;
end by their escape, instead of avoid
ing, served only to disseminate the
contagion. 3 Provision was also
made for the speedy interment of the
dead- In the daytime, officers were
always on the watch to withdraw
fiem public view the bodies of those
vrho expired in the streets; during the
ni»ht the tinkling of a bell, accompa
nied with the glare of links, announced
the approach of the pest-cart, nnking
ate round to receive the victims of the
beds, they precipitated themselves
from the windows; they ran naked
into tho streets, and plunged into the
river.
Men of the strongest minds were
lost in amazement, when they con
templated this scene of w oe and des-
olntioi ; the weak and the credulous
became the dupes of their ovrn fears
and im'ginalions. Tales the most
improbable, and predictions the most
terrific, were circulated; numbers
assembled at different cemeteries to
beheld 1 lie ghosts of tlie dead walk
round the pits in which their bodies
had been deposited; and crowds be
lieved that they saw in the heavens a
sword of flame, stretching from West
minster to the Tower. To add to
flieir terrors, came the fanatics, who
felt themselves inspired to act 4 the
part of prophets. One of fhrse, in a
state of nudity, walked through the
city, bearing on his head a pan of
burning coals, and denouncing the
judgments of God on its sinful inhab
itants; another, assuming thp charac
ter of Jonah, proclaimed aloud, as lie
passed. “Yet fortv days, and London
shall he destroyed;” and a third might
he met, sometimes by day, some
times by night, advancing with a
hurried step, and exclaiming with a
deep sepulchral voice, “On the great
and dreadful God!”
During the months of July and
August, the weather was sultry, the
heat more and more oppressive. The
eastern pat islies, which at first had
b ; en si a ed, became the chief seat of
the pi si ilcnce, and the more substan
tial citizens, whom it had hitherto re
spected. suffered in common with
their less opulent neighbors. In many
places, the regulations of the magis
trates ..ould no longer be enforced.
The nights did not suffice for the bur
ial of the dead, who were now borne
in coffins to their graves at ail hours
of the day; and it was inhuman to shut
up tin dwellings of the infected poor,
whose families must have perished
through want, had they not been per
mitted to go and seek relief. London
presented a wide and heart-rending
scene of misery and desolation.—
Rows of houses steed tenantless, and
open to the winds; others, in almost
equal numbers, exhibited the red
cross flaeiing on the doors. The chief
thoroughfares, so lately trodden by the
feet of thousands, were overgrown
with grass. The few individuals who
ventured abroad, walked in the mid
dle; and when they met, 'declined on
opposite sides, to avoide the contact
of each other. But, if the solitude
andtstillness of the streets impressed
the mind with awe, there was some
thing yet more appalling in the sounds
which occasionally burst on the ear
At one moment were heard the ravings
of delirium, or the wail of woe, from
the infected dwelling; at another, the
merry song, or the loud and careless
laugh, ssuing from the vvnssailers at
>th© tavern, or the inmates of the
violence of the disease. Yet even
n>w when hone had yielded te de
spair, their delivcrenee was at hand,
high winds which usually ac-
Tho
cempany the autumnal equinox, cool
ed and purified the air; the fever,
though i-qually contagious, assumed
a icss malignant form, and its ravages
whatever of inhabitants Every thing
on shore seemed solitary ns the do-
sert. Disappointed in this respect,
and the night rapidly approaching,
wo were about to bear aWay for Nu-
kuhiva—already dimly descried far
in the west from us—when a high
bluff of rocks directly abreast of the
ship became suddenly crowned with
islanders, whose light skins and na
ked figures were perfectly distin
guishable, while the shore rang with
wild shouts, ns they waved streamers
of white cloth high on their spears
and tossed their mantles above their
heads in the air. Having too much
soil set readily to cheek tho way of
the ship, we soon shot past, while
they scampering along the heights
and over a hill ahead, shouted and
w histled with every variety of inton-
ition of voice, and still wildly ges-
<imitating with their hands and arms,
and waving their tapas on high.
We reduced sail as rapidly as pes*
-iblc, and getting at the same time
under the lee of the land, our speed
was quickly lessened, to an almost
insensible progress, and we were ex
pecting the party soon to ho up with
us again, when the figures of othe.rs
were seen against the sky, hurrying
down the lace of a rocky promontory
just a head—the hallooing and beck
oning, and waving of streamers, com
mencing at the same time among
them.
The hills behind this bluff rise
precipitately, and are beautifully
wooded. In coming a breast of it,
we found it to shelter by its projec
tion, a short, pebbly beach, opening
into a narrow ravine, filled with hea
vy groves to the water’s edge. The
front of the glen is hut a few rods in
width, and so completely occupied
were necessarily more confined, from with trees as to appear but one deep-
the diminution of the population on
which it had hitherto fed. The week
ly burials successively decreased
from thousands to hundreds; and
in the kegining of December, seven
ty-three parishes were pronounced
Clear of the disease. The intelli
gence was hailed with joy by the
emigrants, who returned in crowds
to take possession of their homes,
and resume their usual occupations.
In February, the court was once
mere fixed at Whitehall, and the no
bility and gentry followed the foot
steps of the sovereign. Though more
than one hundred thousand individu
als are said to have perished, yet in
n short liiue, tho chasm of the pop
ulation was no longer discernible.—
The plague continued indeed to linger
in particular spots, but its lerrors
were forgotten or despised; and the
stinets so recently abandoned by the
inhabitant!, were again thronged with,
multitudes in the eager pursuit of
profiit or pleasure, or crime.—Yol.
xii, p. 123.*
;.S
F••om Stewart’s Visit to thp South Sea*.
SCENE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
, United Slates Ship Vincennes,
B*y of Taiohae, July 27, 1829
Yesterday at twevle o’clock, just
after worship, Huahuka, the most
eastern island of the Washington
group was descried on our lee bow,
thirty miles distant. We at once
bore down for it, and weathering the
southeast point, coasted for a distance
pf fifteen miles closely along its south
ern shore. On Ibis sido it seemed
lofty, precipitous, and Barren—too
much so, we judged, to be inhabited;
its greatest height was cstimatod at
fifteen hundred or two thousand feet.
Like most other high, tropical Is
lands that I have seen, it is deeply
furrowed with narrow glens, sepa
rated from each other by sharp spurs
of mountains, running from the high
land in tho centre to the shore. Hero
and there a small plan or table land,
and occasionally n short sand beach
appears, but no alluvial interval, and
generally a bold coast, with breakers
dashing high against its dark chiffs.
No woodland was to be seen except
on the loftiest peaks uf the interior:
but all the high ridges and valleys,
and the whole surface of the country,
is beautifully verdant from a heavy
growth of tufted grass.
As wq sailed west, the wildness of
the formation rapidly increased, nud
we soon made the southwest point.
Near this are two small islets, evi-
dently once a part of the main land;
on passing closely round which, we
opened the western side, and in a few
moments run up with one or two
small covff, everhung by hills cov
ered with wood and low bushes.
ly shaded bovver. Nothing like a
habitation could be discerned, and it
is probable that the shelter of the
groves and the recesses of the rocks
constitute the only abodes of the for
ty or fifty natives seen hanging among
the cliffs or clustering in rude excite
ment on the shore.
The scene was one of the wild
est imaginable; and such a few have
it in their power ever to behold.—
The picturesque beauty of the wood
ed hills and glon brightly gleaming
in the setting sna, the naked figures
of the islanders, and their rude and
extravagant gestures and vocifera
tions—exhibiting man in tlie simplest
state of his fallen nature, still the
unclothed tenant of the forest, and
the inhobitant of the cave—could
scarce fail in producing a most pow
erful sensation among those who had
nevnr before witnessed any thing of
the kind. And 1 suspect no one on
hoard was disappointed in the depth
of tho impression or degree of ex
citement occasioned by this first
scene in the South Seas.
To me. the sight, though singular
ly wild and striking, was not, as you,
dear H , well know, an entire
novelty; and -strongly associated in
my mind as it unavoidably became,
with the ignorance, degradation, and
thousand miseries which long person
al observation has taught me to be
lieve inseparable from such a condi
tion, the excitement, \ , n common
felt with my compaions, was far
from being one of unmingled pleas
ure.
In the midst of the shouting and
apparent importunity for us to land,
Capt. Finch ordered the music on
deck; and the moment its full and
animated strains reached the shore,
the effect on them was most evident
—they instantly crouched to the
ground in perfect silence, as if under
the influence of a charm. Nothing of
the .kind, it is probable, ever broke
upon their ears before, and well
might there have been a mingling of
superstition in their minds with the
sudden swelling on the breeze of
sounds new and seemingly unearthly.
As the night was rapidly-approach
ing, thcro was no time to attempt
sending a boat off; and while the baud
continued to play a succession of
airs, the ship was headed for Nuhu-
liiva, and all sail again set. We
were soon beyond the reach of their
voices; but- they were seen—while
the shades of the evening gathered
round them—still to remain seated
on the rocks and under their dark
bovvers, aa if absorbed in silent won
der and admiration.
This incident of a few rapid mo
ments, became to me the inlet a of
thousand recollectious and feelings,
ORIGIN OF THE VEIL. .
The origin of the veil is referred
by the Greeks to modesty and bash-
fulness, properties which partak*
equally of timidity. They used te
tell a pleasant story on the subject
for which we are indebted to Pau«
sanius. About thirty furlongs from
the city of Sparta, lenrius placed a
statu* of Modesty, for the purpose
of perpetuating the following incidental
“Icarius having married his daughter
to Ulysses, solicited his auii-in-Iaw
to fix Ins household in Sparta, a<-df
remain there with his wife, to which
Ulysses would not consent. Fri«-ran
ted in his application to the husband,
he made the like request to Ria
daughter, conjuring her not to aban
don him; but, seeing her ready to
depart with Ulysses for Ithaca, b#
redoubled his efforts to retain her,
nor could he be prevailed open t%
desist from following the charriot erf
the way. Ulysses, shocked at the
desperate situation ef his father-ie-
law and wearied with his importuni
ties, addressed his wife:—“You caii
answer this request: it is yours te
determine whether you will remairf
rrith four father at Sparta, or dee.tfi
with yeur husband for Ithaca: e.»u
are mistress efthe decision.” The
beautiful Penelope, finding hciself 1
in this dilemma, blushed, and, with
out making the least reply, drew the
veil over her free, thereby intimating'
a denial ef her father’s request, and
sunk in the arms, cf her husband.—
Icarius, very sensiby affected hy this
behaviour, and being desirous ef
transmitting it, consecrated a statue
of modesty on the very spot whore
Penelope had thrown the veil over'
her face, that, after her, it might
be a universal symbol of delicacy
With the lair sex.’--Court Journal,
Hypochondriasis, or the Blue De.
vtls. We are apt to beliove a mcri-v
compamon the happiest fellow in the
world, and envy bim, perhaps, his
light heart and airy spirits; but such
meu have hours of melancholy, when
tb» s ^ ,ls 8 «Dk, and a gloom comes
over them, deeper and darker, than
is ever known to their less excitable
companions. A man may bp cheerful
on paper, though he has a heavy h
and is brilliant in company, tho
sufficiently wretched when left lo
commune with his own soul. The
extremes of hig|i and lew apirijs,
which occur in the same person at dif 4 "
ferent times, are happily illustrated
by the following case, related by bn
Rush:—A Physician in one of the cit-
ies of Italy was once consulted by a
gentleman who was much distressed
by a paroxism of the intermitting
state of hypochondmeism. He ad
vised the melancholy man to seek re
lief in convivial company, and recom
mended him in particular to find out a
celebrated witTbj the name of £et*
dini, who kept all the tables of thd
city, to which he was invited, in ft
rore of laughter, and ttf Spend al
much time with him as possible.”
“Alas! Sir” said the patient with
a heavy sigh V4 am that Cardinj.?’-*
Med. Chin Retxiete,