Part 4

The 5th, they repeat their Instances to him, to get them supplied with Corn: They write likewise to the same purpose, to the Consuls of Toulon, and to those of all the Maritime Towns of the Coasts of Languedoc and Provence; proposing to go to receive the Corn at any Place distant from the Town which they shall chuse to land it at; and they desire those of the Town of Martignes to send Vessels to Arles, to fetch Corn from thence.

The 6th, an Ordinance is publish'd at my Instance, forbidding all Persons to remove from one House to another the Moveables and Apparel of the Sick or Dead, or to touch them, or make any use of them, on Pain of Death. Another Ordinance fixes the Rates of Victuals and necessary Commodities, to restrain the excessive Price to which, because of the Scarcity, those who would make Advantage of the Publick Misery, would raise them.

The 7th, the Chamber of Vacations having permitted the Procurators of the Country to come to a Conference with the Sheriffs, at a Place on the Road to Aix, call'd Notre-Dame, two Leagues distant from Marseilles; the Marquess de Vauvenargues, first Procurator of the Country, comes thither, accompanied by several Gentlemen, and the principal Officers of the Province, attended by the Marshal de Villars's Guards, and by a Brigade of Archers of the Marshalsea. A Town afflicted with, or suspected of the Plague, out of which even almost all the Inhabitants are ready to run, cannot make a Figure, conformable to such Honour. M. Estelle, one of the chief Sheriffs, goes to the Place, without Retinue, without Attendants, and without any Guard, accompanied only by M. Capus, Keeper of the Records of the City, who, by his Ability, Probity, and Application, is become the Pilot, as it were, of this whole Community.

At this Conference, where the Precaution is used to speak to each other at a great Distance, an Agreement is made, importing, that at that Place a Market shall be establish'd, where a double Barrier shall be fixed; and that another Market shall be settled at the Sheep-Inn, on the Road to Aubagne, which is likewise two Leagues from Marseilles; another for Vessels bringing Provisions by Sea, at a Creek called Lestaque, in the Gulph of the Islands of Marseilles; and that at all these Markets and Barriers, the Guards shall be placed by the Procurators of the Country, and paid by the Sheriffs of Marseilles.

The 8th, this Agreement is confirm'd by an Arret of the Chamber of Vacations: In Consequence of which, the Sheriffs write to all the Consuls of the Towns and Places of Provence, pressing them to send, with all Expedition, Corn, and other Provisions, Wood and Coal, to these Markets and Barriers, where all shall be transacted without Communication.

They apply themselves the same Day to the drawing up of general Instructions, in which they specify all the Duties the Commissaries whom they have already appointed, are to perform, for relieving the Poor, and taking Care of the Sick.

In the mean time, it being evident that M. Estelle and Moustier, who hitherto have sat up by Turns every Night, to see the Dead, Sick, and Suspected, carried to the Infirmaries, and Houses fasten'd up or perfumed, cannot possibly undergo such Fatigues much longer; especially the Distemper beginning to break out in divers Quarters of the Town, far distant from each other; altho' M. Audimar and Dieudé offer'd to relieve them; The Marquis de Pilles judging it necessary they should manage their Health and Life, it was resolved in the Assembly,

1. That Carts shall be used to carry off the Dead; that all the sturdiest Beggars who can be found, shall be seized, and made Buriers of the Dead; that Four Lieutenants of Health shall direct them, and M. Bonnet, Lieutenant to the Governor, shall command them.

2. Men shall forthwith be set to work, to dig large and deep Pits without the Walls of the Town, in which the Dead shall be buried with Lime.

3. A Pest-House or Hospital shall be immediately establish'd: The Hospital de la Charité is first thought of; but the Difficulty of removing out of it, and lodging elsewhere, above 800 of both Sexes who are in it, renders it necessary to resolve upon that des Convalescens, which is near the Walls of the Town, on the side of the Gate of St. Bernard du Bois.

The 9th of August, it is observ'd, that some Physicians, and almost all the Master-Surgeons, are fled. An Ordinance is issued at my Instance, to oblige them to return; on the Penalty to the former, of being expell'd for ever from the College of their Faculty; and to the latter, of being expell'd the Company of Surgeons, and of being proceeded against extraordinarily.

Another Ordinance is publish'd at my Instance, forbidding Butchers, when they flea and cut up Beef or Mutton at the Slaughter-House, to blow it up with their Mouth, by which the Plague might be communicated to the Meat; but to make use of Bellows, on Pain of Death.

Another, forbidding Bakers to convert into Biscuit, the Meal the City gives them to make Bread of for the Poor; or to make any White Bread, in order to prevent their bolting the Meal designed for the Poor's Bread.

And another, forbidding all Persons to divert the publick Waters for overflowing their Grounds; that the Conduits may not become dry, but that Water may run the more plentifully through all the Streets of the City to carry off the Filth.

This Day and the following, it is found not a little difficult, to get all that had been resolved upon the Day before put in Execution: Carts, Horses, Harness are wanted; they must be had from the Country, and no Person will furnish them to serve to carry infected Bodies. Men are wanted to harness the Horses, to put them to the Carts, and to drive them; and every one abhors lending a Hand to so dangerous a Service. Buriers of the Dead are wanted to take them out of the Houses; and tho' excessive Pay be offered, the poorest of the Populace dread such hazardous Work, and make all possible Efforts to shun it. Peasants are wanted to open the Pits, and none will come to dig, such Affright and Horror has seiz'd them: The Sheriffs are oblig'd to exert themselves to the utmost, to get some by Management, and others by Force and Rigor.

To put into Order as speedily as is requisite, a Pest-House, and to furnish it with all Necessaries, which are almost numberless, is a Task no less perplexed with Difficulties. The Hospital des Convalescens, which was resolved to be made use of, is found to be too little; it is necessary to enlarge it, by joining to it a Building called the Fas, which stands very near it; a thousand Things are to be done, and yet none could easily be made to stir about them: M. Moustier is obliged to repair thither, and to abide upon the Spot; and by keeping Hands at Work Night and Day, he makes such Expedition, that in 48 Hours he gets it put in Order, all Necessaries sorted and laid ready, and the whole made fit to receive the Sick.

A very great Difficulty still remains, which is to find Stewards, Overseers, Cooks, and other lower Officers, and especially so great a Number of Servants as are requisite to tend the Sick: Advertisements are affixed throughout the City, to invite those sordid Creatures whom Avarice draws into Dangers, or those of better Minds, whom superabundant Charity disposes to devote themselves for the Publick; and by seeking such out, by encouraging, giving, and promising, they are procured: Apothecaries and Surgeons are engaged; and two Physicians, Strangers, named Gayon, come in voluntarily, and offer their Service, and to be shut up in the Hospital: Unhappily, Death puts an End too soon to their Charity and Zeal.

Three Pits of Sixty Foot long, as many broad, and Twenty four deep, are begun at once without the Walls, between the Gate of Aix and that of Joliette: To compel the Peasants to work at them, M. Moustier is obliged to keep with them daily, exposed to the Heat of the Sun.

The Chevalier Rose, appointed Captain and Commissary-General at the Rive Neuve, beyond the Port, does the same: He puts into proper Order another vast Hospital, under the Sheds of a Rope-yard; causes large and deep Pits to be dug near the Abbey of St. Victor; gets together Carts, Buriers of the Dead, and all Persons needful to look to the Living, the Dying, and the Dead; and what is no less remarkable than his Activity, his Courage, and his Zeal for his unfortunate Country, he furnishes out of his own Purse the great Expences necessary for maintaining that Hospital, and the many Hands he employs, without troubling himself when and how he shall be reimbursed.

No sooner are these Pest-Houses in any Readiness to receive the Sick, but in less than Two Days they are quite filled; but are not long so by those who are carried thither: The Distemper is so violent, that those who are brought in at Night are carried out next Day to the Pits; and so the Dead make Room every Day successively for the Sick.

The 12th of August, M. de Chicoyneau and Verny, the chief Physicians of Montpellier, arrive at the Barrier of Notre-Dame, to come and examine, by Order of his Royal Highness, the true Nature of the Distemper that afflicts this City: Lodgings are made ready for them, and a Coach is sent to bring them hither from the Barrier.

The 13th, the Marquess de Pilles, and the Sheriffs invite them to the Town-House, whither they had summoned all the Physicians and Master-Surgeons of the City; after they had conferred a long Time upon the Symptoms of the Distemper, they agree among themselves, to go together the following Days, to visit as well the sick in the Hospitals, as those in the several Quarters of the Town, and to make such Experiments as they should judge proper.

Hitherto the Distemper has not exerted all its Rage; it kills indeed those it seizes, hardly one escaping; and whatever House it enters, it carries off the whole Family; but as yet, it has fallen only on the poorer Sort of People, which keeps many Persons in a false Notion, that it is not really the Plague, but proceeds from bad Diet and Want of other Necessaries: those who use the Sea, and have frequently seen the Plague in the Levant, think they observe some Difference: In short, Abundance of People still remain in doubt, and expecting with the utmost Impatience the Decision of the Physicians of Montpellier, to determine them whether to stay or fly.

The 14th, the Sheriffs write to the Council of Marine, most humbly to thank his Royal Highness for his Care and Goodness, in sending to them these Physicians.

The 15th they write to the Marshal de Villars, to acquaint him with the Condition of the City, and the extreme Want it is in, having near a hundred thousand Souls in it, without Bread and without Money: they write likewise to M. de Bernage, Intendant in Languedoc, and to the Marquess de Caylus the commanding Officer in Provence, then at Montpellier, to desire them to procure them Bread-Corn, to preserve them from Famine, which they had no less Reason to fear than the Plague. The Marquess de Caylus has the Goodness to engage his own Credit for procuring them a good Quantity.

The 16th being the Festival of St. Roch, which has at all Times been solemnized at Marseilles, for imploring Deliverance from the Plague, the Marquess de Pilles, and the Sheriffs, for preventing Communication, would have the Procession usually made every Year, in which the Bust and Relicks of that Saint are carried, be now forborn; but they are obliged to yield to the Outcries of the People, who become almost raving in Matters of Devotion, when they are under so terrible a Scourge as the Plague, whose dire Effects they already feel; they even judge it convenient to assist at the Procession themselves, with all their Halbardiers and Guards, to hinder its being followed by a Crowd, and to prevent all Disorder.

The 17th the Physicians of Montpellier come to the Town-House, to acquaint the Sheriffs with what they have discover'd of the Nature of the Distemper, and in plain Words declare it to be certainly the Plague.

But considering how many People have already left the City, and that the Terror and Affright in it have put all into Confusion, they think fit, lest they should increase it, to dissemble; and that, for quieting Peoples Minds, a publick Notification should be affixed; importing, that they find the Distemper to be only a contagious Fever, occasion'd by unwholsome Diet, and that it will soon cease by the Supplies which are preparing to be sent in from all Parts, and which will produce Plenty of all Things.