Part 6

The same Day the Bishop, to whom the Marquess de Pilles had notified the Resolutions taken in the Assembly the Day before, sets forth to him in a Letter several Reasons against burying the infected Dead in the Vaults of the Churches of the Convents chosen for that Use.

Whereupon the Marquess de Pilles, having invited the General Officers of the Gallies to meet again at the Town-House, with the Sheriffs, and some other good Citizens: After the Reasons urged in the said Letter had been well considered, and weighed against that which had determined them to pass the Resolution for burying in the Churches, which is, the absolute and indispensible Necessity of doing it; they unanimously conclude that the said Resolution shall stand, but that the Execution of it shall be forborn 24 Hours, to see whether in that Interval the Mortality shall happen to decrease, so that it may be dispensed with; but that in the mean time, without any Delay, the Vaults in the Churches shall be got ready, and all the Lime and Water necessary carried thither.

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The 23d, when this Work was setting about, the Monks of those Churches shut up the Doors, and refused to open them. M. Moustier repairs thither, causes them to be forced open, and all the Lime and Barrels of Water requisite to be brought thither by Carts. As for Biers, for want of Joyners, he puts the first Persons that come in his way upon making them as well as they can: The Publick Services in Cases of Extremity are dispatched, where Magistrates know how to direct and command, and will see themselves obeyed.

This Day, the Mortality is so far from decreasing, that near 1000 Persons dye; and it being evident there is no room to hesitate about burying in the Churches, seeing otherwise the dead Bodies would become gradually too numerous to be carried off, all Dispositions are made for setting about it to-Morrow Morning every where at once, and the Officers of the Gallies are pleased to furnish for this Purpose 20 Slaves more.

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The 24th, that all Dispatch might be made, and a Work which disheartens Men by the visible Danger and Terrors of Death not slackened, M. Moustier appears in Person, animating and urging on the Slaves, as well by his Intrepidity and Courage, as by his Actions; and when the Vaults are filled, and the Lime and Water thrown in, he takes care to have them well closed up, and Cement laid over every Hole and Crevice.

The Marquess de Pilles, and the other Sheriffs are as active in the mean time to put in Execution all the other Things resolved on.

They appoint the most trusty Persons they can find, to go on Horseback with Guards at the Head of the Carts, and of each Brigade of Slaves; but those Persons do not hold out long in so perilous an Employment, and they are soon obliged to act themselves in that Station.

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They have no Occasion to go to desire the Bishop to cause Divine Service to cease in the Churches, they are generally shut up already: There are hardly any Masses now said any where, no Administration of the Sacraments, not so much as the tolling of Bells, all the Ecclesiasticks are fled, and even some of the Parish-Priests.

As for Monks, they cannot possibly find any to act as Commissaries in the Quarters where they are wanted; some have deserted, others are dead, and not a sufficient Number of them are left, to confess the Sick; Father Milay, a Jesuit, is the only Man of them all, who to satisfy that Holy Zeal, and fervent Charity, by which he has been always actuated, comes voluntarily and offers to be Commissary in the Street of Lescale, and thereabouts; an Employment which none else durst take, because it is the Part of the Town where the Plague makes the greatest Havock, and which is barricaded with Corps de Garde at the Avenues, that no Person may enter, or stir out of it; the Sheriffs make him Commissary there, where from the Beginning of the Contagion he has confessed the infected. He performs Acts of Piety surpassing any thing called Heroick; but the Plague does not spare him long, it snatches from the Faithful this new Apostle.

They go to take a View of the Pits and Churchyards; a horrid Spectacle, dangerous to approach, the vast Number of infected Bodies but lately thrown into them, lying all uncovered, heaped by Thousands on one another.

Formerly Governors and Consuls during all the Time of Contagion, used to keep shut up in the Town-House with very great Precaution; all who have formed Rules for Towns visited with the Plague, have prescribed that Conduct, judging that the Magistrates ought to be more careful than all others, to preserve their Life and Health.

Here, the Marquess de Pilles, and the Sheriffs, think only of preserving the Life and Health of others, exposing their own without any Concern; and are Night and Day in the open Street, wherever they see Danger deter others.

The Marquess de Pilles has so little Regard for himself, that at the first he lets the principal Pest-House (which is that des Convalescens) be settled within 4 Paces of his own House. M. Estelle goes all Night long, so void of fear, to see the dead Bodies carried off the Street Lescale, that slipping on the Pavement he was within a Finger's Breadth of falling full upon a dead Body that lay on the Ground before him: M. Moustier sets so light by Dangers that make others tremble, that a Plaister reeking with the Corruption of the Bubo of an infected Person thrown out of the Window, lighting on his Cheek, and sticking there, he takes it off perfectly unconcerned, and only wiping his Cheek clean with his Spunge dipped in Vinegar, proceeds on the Business he is about. The others behaved much in the same manner.

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The 25th, the Plague has spread into the four Corners of the City, and exercises its Rage on all Sides: From this time to the End of September it rages with the same Violence, it strikes like Lightning every where, sweeps all before it, and carries off above a Thousand Souls a Day.

Its Violence now attacks by Crowds only, and its Fury gives a Thousand Deaths at once. In Consequence, the Pest-Houses established are insufficient to receive all the poor Sick; it is resolved to make a new one, large enough to take in any Number; and there not being without the Town, nor in it, a Building capacious enough for that Purpose, it is resolved to erect one (as the Physicians of Montpellier had advised) in the Allies of that spacious Piece of Ground used for playing at Mall, which is without the Gate des faineants, contiguous to the Convent of the Reformed Augustines, with Timber-Work to be covered with Sail-Cloath made of Cotton: This is a new Difficulty for the Sheriffs, to have such an Hospital to build, without being able to reckon upon the Assistance of any Person, and even without any Workmen, for they are generally fled.

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The 26th, the Chamber of Vacations being informed that almost all the Bakers of Marseilles have deserted, and being desirous to prevent the Extremity to which the City will be reduced, if at such a Conjuncture sufficient Quantities of Bread should not be made; they publish an Arrêt, commanding all Bakers and their Foremen who have withdrawn, to return on Pain of Death; and enjoining the Consuls of the Places where they may have taken Refuge, to deliver them up, on the Penalty of a Fine and other Punishment.

All the Shops of Retailers being shut up, so that People have no whither to go to buy common Necessaries, an Ordinance is published at my Instance, to oblige the Retailers to open their Shops within Twenty Four Hours, otherwise they shall be broken open.

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The 27th, the Chamber of Vacations commiserating the Condition of Marseilles, and the Sufferings of its Inhabitants, publish an Arrêt, enjoining all Artificers, Tradesmen and Wholesale Dealers, to open their Shops and Warehouses within Twentyfour Hours, on Pain of Death.

This Day the Marquess de Pilles, who from the Beginning of the Contagion has been continually at the Town-House, or wherever his Zeal called him, that is to say, where was most Danger and Difficulty, without any Care of his own Safety, sinks at length under the Weight of his Fatigues, and falling sick is unable to stir out of his House; The Fear of losing a Governor, whose Merit and Person are held in Veneration at Marseilles, gives a general Alarm.

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The 28th, the Plague redoubles its Ravages, and the whole City is become a vast Church-yard, presenting to the View the sad Spectacle of dead Bodies cast in Heaps one upon another.

In this deplorable State, a thousand Things are to be done, a Thousand Wants to be supplied, and yet there is no Person to have Recourse to for Relief; the People of the Territory are deaf to all Demands, they cannot by any Order issued be wrought upon, to bring in so much as Straw for the Mattresses in the Hospitals, and Hay for the Horses belonging to the Carts: The Sheriffs seeing nothing is to be done but by Force, desire the first President to procure them the Assistance of some Hundred Men of regular Troops.