Part 10

This Day arrive three other Physicians of the Faculty of Montpellier, who came Post from Paris by Order of his Royal Highness, viz. M. Mailhes Professor of the University of Cahors, M. Boyer de Paradis of Marseilles, and M. de Læbadie, accompanied by two Master-Surgeons of Paris: They are provided with excellent Instructions, which they received from M. Chirac first Physician to his Royal Highness, and Sur-Intendant of the Royal Physick-Garden, who has not neglected any thing that might be for the Relief of this unfortunate City: Physicians so well chosen, and so well instructed, cannot fail of doing good Service; the Event will soon shew it.

The 20th, there are no Medicines nor Drugs to be found in the City, by Reason of the Flight and Desertion of all the Apothecaries, Druggists, and Grocers; the Sick dye without being able to use the Liberty of making their Wills, the Royal Notaries having all fled; Women with Child are delivered without any Assistance, the Midwives being all fled likewise: An Ordinance at my Instance is issued by M. de Langeron, the Marquess de Pilles, and the Sheriffs, to oblige them all to return within twenty four Hours on Pain of Death: The Royal Notaries only obey readily. The ordinary Term of letting or quitting Houses being Michaelmas-Day, and almost all the Houses being infected, it would be dangerous to suffer such removing with Houshold-Goods mostly infected; another Ordinance forbids it, till it be otherwise ordered.

The 21st, the Sheriffs have an Increase of Care and Trouble; the Persons who for a long time had the Direction and Management of the Office of Plenty of Corn, and of the Shambles, dye of the Plague; this obliges the Sheriffs to take that Business upon themselves, while they have so much already upon their Hands: M. de Langeron, to facilitate their going through with it all, persuades them to take each a certain part of the Work: Accordingly, M. Estelle is charged with the Dispatch of all the current Affairs at the Town-House, with the Correspondences, and with the Orders for the good Government of the City; M. Audimar with the Shambles; M. Moustier with all that relates to the carrying off and burying of the Dead, the Pits, and the Church-yards, the cleaning of the Streets, the Carts, the Gally Slaves and their Subsistance; and M. Dieudé with what relates to Bread-Corn, Meal, Wood for firing, and the Bakers.

The 22d, new Pits are to be made, M. de Langeron sends his Guards into the Territory, to bring in one hundred and fifty Men to dig them; and the 23d one is opened of one hundred thirty two Foot long, forty eight wide, and fourteen deep, in the Garden of the Observantines near the Ramparts.

The 24th, at the Time when Misery and Calamity are at the Heighth; when all is groaning, lamenting, dying, as well in the Country, as in the Town; when those whom the Fury of the Distemper has spared, are overtaken by Famine, and fall into Despair, more cruel and terrible than the Plague it self; when the Fountains of Charity, which had run till now, are dried up; when, as the Scripture expresses it, the Heavens seem to be of Brass, and the Earth of Iron; and when no Hope at all remain'd, but of Dying; 'tis then a charitable Hand extends it self from afar to this unhappy City.

The 25th, the Heaps of infected Cloaths and Houshold-Goods, with which all the Streets are incumbered, being a greater hindrance to the passing through them, than the dead Bodies and Sick that lye in them; Mons. de Langeron sets twenty five Gally-Slaves to work, to carry all off in Carts, and twenty others to cleave Wood for Firing, for the Use of the Bakers; no other Hands being to be had.

The Refractoriness of the Apothecaries, Druggists, and Grocers, in absenting themselves from the City, and the Necessity of compelling them to return, that the Sick may be supplied with Medicines and Drugs, oblige him to send Guards into the Territory, to seize and bring away the chief of them.

The 26th, the Hospital of Timber-work in the Alleys of the Grand Mall, and which so many Poor infected, who lie in the Streets and publick Places, have been wishing for several Days, is upon the Point of being finished, after incredible Labour; when a North Wind, the most violent that ever was, blows so hard, that it breaks and throws down almost all the Timber-work, with the Sail-cloth that covered it: For repairing speedily this Damage, M. de Langeron goes thither, sends for robust and serviceable Fellows from the Gallies, with Officers to keep them diligently employed; the Sheriffs bestir themselves to provide more Timber and Sail-cloth; all Hands are at Work; the Chevalier de Soissans keeps upon the Spot, to encourage the Men, and give Orders, accompanied by M. Marin and Beaussier, Commissaries appointed to act as Directors General of this Hospital, who sacrificed their Time and private Concerns to see it built, were always active in any thing that was most toilsome; and the principal Assistants of the Sheriffs, from the Time the Fear of the Contagion made every body abandon them.

The 27th, it is considered, that as large as this Hospital is, it cannot serve for such a Multitude of Sick, as are lying in all the Streets, and encreased daily by the Continuance of the Distemper; and therefore another must be timely thought of: After looking about every where, it is resolved to make use of the Hospital General de la Charité, which is in perfect Readiness, actually furnished with near 800 Beds, and all necessary Utensils.

The Difficulty is, whither to remove the Poor maintained in it: No Place seems so proper as the Hôtel-Dieu, where there is Room enough; but there have been infected Patients in it, and above fifty are so now; they must be first removed, and the House disinfected (or perfumed;) those Patients are carried to a Chapel of the Penitents, which is hard by; and M. Estelle performs the Disinfection with all requisite Exactness.

From the 28th of September to the 3d of October, nothing but Action and Labour Night and Day. At the Mall no Time is lost to repair the Damage done by the Wind, and to provide for such an Hospital the infinite Number of Things necessary in it; in fitting up Apartments and Laboratories for the Physicians, Apothecaries, Surgeons, Officers, and Servants of the Hospital, in the Convent of the Reformed Augustines, which is contiguous to it, and in the neighbouring Bastides; and in digging near it large and deep Pits: At la Charité, those already opened in the Garden of the Observantines are just behind it; but for that Hospital, it was found to require more Trouble than the other to provide it with all Necessaries. The Pains taken to disinfect the Hôtel-Dieu, remove from thence the infected Patients, and bring into it all the Poor from la Charité, are inconceivable: M. de Langeron is obliged to be on Horseback from Morning to Night, moving from Place to Place; the Sheriffs give themselves no Respite, but shorten the common Time of Meals, that they may not lose a Moment. Every thing is hard to be got, even Straw to stuff the Mattresses, which no body will bring in from the Territory, without being compelled to it by Force. Officers and Servants must be sought for all these Hospitals; especially a great Number of Surgeons must be had, both Masters and Men; they cannot be drawn hither from other Provinces, but by exorbitant Rewards; Advertisements are affixed every where, promising to all Surgeons who will come, viz. to Master-Surgeons of Principal Towns 2000 Livres a Month; to the licensed Surgeons of those Towns, and the Master-Surgeons of small Places 1000 Livres a Month; and to their Apprentices, or Journeymen, 300 Livres a Month, with the Freedom of the Company of Surgeons of Marseilles; besides Lodging and Diet all the time they are employed.

The 3d of October, Part of the Troops which M. de Langeron expected for the Service of the City, and to execute his Orders, arrive; viz. Three Companies of the Regiment of Flandres, whom he causes to encamp at the Chartreuse without the Walls.

The 4th, the two new Hospitals at the Mall and la Charité, are, at length, in a Condition to receive the Sick; and immediately they creep thither from all Quarters. A Number of Gally-Slaves is employed to fetch those who cannot help themselves, and are lying in the publick Places and Streets, and in the Houses.

The 5th, all the Physicians, as well Strangers, as of Faculty in this City, are convened at the Town-House, in the Presence of M. de Langeron, the Marquess de Pilles, and the Sheriffs; and M. de Chicoyneau and Verny, as Principals, and those others to whom the general Inspection is committed, appoint the Stations where each shall serve, and the Surgeons to be employed under them. If all the Strangers have signalized themselves by their Skill and Zeal, those of the City have equall'd them in both; they have served with so little Care of their own Persons, that three of them have lost their Lives, M. Peissonel, Montagnier, and Audan, and a fourth, Mr. Bertrand, was very near Death's Door.

The 6th, three of the Captains of the City dying, the Sheriffs nominate in their Room M. Desperier, Bonnaneau, and Icard, who from the Beginning of the Contagion have voluntarily gone upon any Service, however toilsome and hazardous, for the City.

The 7th, the Plague being more violent in the Territory than in the City, and it being of Importance to hinder the Sick to come from thence into it; M. de Langeron posts at each Gate a Corps de Garde of Soldiers of the King's Troops, under the Command of the Captains and Officers of the Town; and publishes an Ordinance, which prescribes the Rules to be observed at any Person's coming into, or going out of the Gates.

The 8th, whereas since the two new Hospitals have been opened, the Sick are no longer lying about the Streets, and the dead Bodies are carried off daily, by the great Number of Carts which are continually passing; Dispositions are made for cleaning the Streets throughout the City, as well for making Room to pass, as to take away the horrible Infection caused by the prodigious Quantity of Filth and Nastiness, with which they are all covered. For this Purpose large Boats, used for cleansing the Port, by taking up the Soil, are placed all along the Key at each Pallisade; and while the Sheriffs go each through a Quarter with a Brigade of Gally Slaves, to cause all the Heaps of infected Cloaths and Houshold-Goods, which have been thrown out of the Windows, to be burnt; other Brigades of Slaves go with Carts, to take up the Dunghills and Filth, which they shoot into those Boats, and these carry it out, and throw it into the Sea, as far as they can from the Mouth of the Port: This is so tedious a Work, that be it followed never so close, it will take up a Month at least to finish it.

The 9th, the Sheriffs receive News that fills them with Joy and Consolation; they find by a Letter which the Consuls of Avignon are so kind to write to them, that the common Father of the Faithful Roman Catholicks, moved at hearing of the Calamities of a City, which was the first of all Gaul that received the Catholick Faith, by St. Lazarus its first Bishop; which in all Times has preserved it in its Purity, no Heresy having ever been able to get footing in it; and which has always had a singular Attachment, with a profound and inviolable Respect, for the Holy See; has not thought it enough to order publick Prayers in all the Churches of Rome, and Processions, at which his Holiness assists on Foot, to beseech the Sovereign Father of Mercies to appease his Wrath against Marseilles, and cast away the dreadful Scourge which lays it desolate; but being desirous to succour so many miserable Poor as are in it, and supply them with Bread in their Need, has caused to be bought up in the District of Ancona two thousand Measures (called Roubies) of Bread-Corn, which will be forthwith brought hither by Vessels that are to take it in at Civita-Vecchia, to be distributed to the Poor in such Proportions as the Bishop shall allot.

The 10th, the Canons of the Collegiate Church of St. Martin, having Benefices with Cure of Souls, persisting to absent themselves from their Duty, notwithstanding the several Admonitions signified to them, the Bishop pronounces Sentence, and, conformably to the Petition of the Sheriffs of the 4th of September last, declares their Benefices vacant, and that they shall be filled with others duly qualified; and he nominates to them accordingly.

The 11th, there are in the Hospitals several Patients who have the Happiness to recover of the Plague: A Place is necessary for these to be removed to, where they may stay forty Days after their Buboes and Sores are entirely cured and healed up; it is resolv'd to make use of the grand Infirmaries for this Purpose; they must be made ready, and provided with all Things necessary: M. de Langeron goes thither, with M. Estelle, and Orders are given for doing it out of hand.

The 12th, more Troops arrive for the Service of the City; viz. Three Companies of the Regiment of Brie, which M. de Langeron causes to encamp at the Chartreuse, with the three others already there.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th, while the Infirmaries are getting ready for those who are recover'd from the Plague, he sends Orders into the Territory, to compel those Intendants of Health, who have absented themselves, and several other Municipal Officers, whose Service is absolutely requisite in the City, to return.

The 16th, he posts a Corps de Garde of thirty Soldiers by the Town-House, to guard the Sheriffs, and execute Orders.

The 17th, it is resolved to send into the Infirmaries, not only those who have recovered in the several Hospitals, but likewise all those who wander about the City with their Buboes broke and running, and communicate the Contagion generally to those who, not knowing their Condition, have the Misfortune to touch or approach them.

The 18th, the Difficulties which obstruct the putting the Infirmaries intirely into Order; or closing up the Sides of the Market-House, which are open; Timber, Boards, and Sail-Cloth being not to be had; make it necessary to seek some other Place, which is already in proper Order; such appears to be the College of the Fathers de l'Oratoire, the Halls of which are capable of harbouring a great Number of Persons; and Lodgings for the Officers, Surgeons, and Servants, are ready in the rest of the House, which is quite empty by the Flight of those Priests.

The 16th, the Grand Claustral Prior (i. e. he that resides, and keeps the Monks to their Duty) of the Abbey of St. Victor, and two Monks deputed from that Chapter, come to the Town-House to justify themselves upon their Refusal to carry in Procession the Shrines and Reliques of their Church, to the Square of the Loge. The Continuance of the Contagion, notwithstanding all the Efforts hitherto made to stop it, leaving no Hope, but in the Mercy of the Almighty through the Intercession of the Saints, the Sheriffs resolved to desire the Bishop to cause all the Shrines of Saints, and all the Reliques of the Church of Major to be brought forth, and to accompany them to the Square of the Loge, where they design'd to erect a great Altar, on which to place them in open View, and likewise to desire the Monks of the Abbey of St. Victor, to bring out at the same Time all the Shrines and Reliques of their Church, and to accompany them to the same Place, where being all ranged together on the same Altar, the Bishop was to celebrate Mass, and all the Prayers prescribed against the Plague were to be said. The Bishop instantly agreed to it, with all the Joy and Satisfaction which the Piety that animates him could raise: M. de Langeron had given the most proper Orders, for preventing any Crowd, or even any Communication, at this Holy Procession; nothing remained, but to dispose the Monks of the Abbey of St. Victor to perform their Part: M. Estelle went, and moved it to them; they consent, but on Conditions utterly impracticable: They demand, either that two Altars should be erected, or that the Bishop should not celebrate Mass, lest their Privileges should receive some Diminution by it. And their Grand Prior Claustral, with two Monks of the Abbey, come to Day to the Town-house, to have it understood that their Reasons were solid, and not Pretexts.

The 20th, no Bell having been rung in the Town since the Contagion, not even that which warns the Soldiers and Townsmen to retire to their Houses and Quarters at Night, M. de Langeron orders it to be rung as formerly.

The 21st, he orders the Officers of the City to go the Rounds punctually in all the Quarters, with the Number of Soldiers appointed by him.