Part 7

They apply next to the Officers of the Gallies, remonstrating to them, that the common Safety is at Stake; that almost all the Slaves they have already granted them are dead, and that the Number of dead Bodies the City is fill'd with is so exceeding great, that they cannot be carried off, unless they will be pleas'd to let them have a sufficient Number to make a strong Effort.

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M. de Rancé, Lieutenant-General, commanding the Gallies, M. de Vaucresson, Intendant, and all the General Officers, are moved with the miserable Condition they see Marseilles in; they make too noble and eminent a Part or it, not to be thoroughly concern'd to see it wholly perish; they have shewn, on all Occasions, their good Intentions; and in this, there is not one of them, who, to help to save the City, would not hazard his own Life: But not having received Order to the present Purpose from the Council of Marine, they make a Difficulty to grant so great a Number of Slaves as is requisite, and will part with but 80; and this with a Protestation, that they shall be the last.

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This Protestation obliges the Sheriffs to exert themselves more than ever, to make these Slaves do all the Service that is possible: M. Moustier, not satisfying himself with the toilsome Care of providing them Lodging and Subsistance, and of going every Morning to see them harness the Horses, and get to work with the Carts, puts himself at the Head of the largest Brigade, leads them to the Places that are least accessible, where lye the greatest Heaps of putrified Bodies, and encourages them to carry them off, either whole, or by Pieces.

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In the mean while a Letter is written to the Council of Marine, most humbly to intreat his Royal Highness to be pleased to give Orders for supplying the Town: Which wanting all Things, there being no Meat to make Broth with for the poor Sick, and Famine destroying those whom the Plague might spare, his Royal Highness is earnestly besought to order the neighbouring Provinces to send in the necessary Provisions for subsisting the People.

The 29th, several Ordinances are issued, at my Instance.

1. All the Rakers, and others employed under the Scavengers to clean the Streets, having deserted since the Beginning of the Contagion, for fear of being made use of as Buriers of the Dead: the whole Town since the Second of this Month, is full of Dunghils and Poisonous Filth, which stagnates on the Pavement: They are by an Ordinance commanded to return on Pain of Death.

2. From out of the Houses, the Quilts, Straw-Beds, Bed-Cloaths, Apparel, and Rags used about the Infected, are thrown into the Streets; so that there is no passing them. An Ordinance forbids it, and enjoins that all such Things be drawn to the publick Squares, and immediately burnt, on Pain of Imprisonment.

3. For want of Porters, the very Corn, which the Boats bring up from the Barrier of Lestaque, cannot be carried into the Store-Houses; those Porters are all engaged in the Service of private Persons in the Territory: An Ordinance commands them to come and work as usual in the City, on Pain of Death; and private Persons are forbidden to detain them, on the Penalty of a Fine of 3000 Livres, and of Imprisonment.

4. For want of those who used to ply with Asses, the Bakers cannot get the Wood carried with which the Town furnishes them; and all private Persons are under the like Inconvenience: An Ordinance charges those Ass-Keepers to return with their Beasts, on Pain of Death.

The Chamber of Vacations being informed, that the Intendants of Health, and the Commissaries appointed in the Parishes and Quarters, who have deserted, do not obey the Ordinance of the Sheriffs and return; that Chamber issues an Arrêt this Day, commanding them all to return forthwith to their Duties, on Pain of Death.

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All these Arrêts and Ordinances are duly proclaimed by Sound of Trumpet, and affixed at all the Corners of the Streets, and in all the Quarters of the Territories, but to no manner of Purpose; the Dread of the Plague is so strong and terrible, that nothing can overcome it. It is indeed impossible for the Heart of Man to bear up against all the frightful Spectacles that present themselves every where to the Eye in this unhappy City; the dire Effects of a raging Pestilence, which seems to threaten not to be asswaged by the Death only and general Extinction of all the Inhabitants, but by rendring the Place it self a vast Sink of Corruption and Poison, for ever uninhabitable by human Race.

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Which Way soever one turns, the Streets appear strowed on both Sides with dead Bodies close by each other, most of which being putrified, are unsupportably hideous to behold.

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As the Number of Slaves employed to take them out of the Houses, is very insufficient to be able to carry all off daily, some frequently remain there whole Weeks; and there would remain longer, if the Stench they emit, which poisons the Neighbours, did not compel them for their own Preservation, to overcome all Aversion to such horrid Work, and go into the Apartments where they lye, to drag them down into the Streets: They pull them out with Hooks, and hawl them by Ropes fastened to the Staves of those Hooks into the Streets: This they do in the Night, that they may draw them to some Distance from their own Houses; they leave them extended before another's Door, who at opening it the next Morning is frighted at the Sight of such an Object, which generally infects him, and gives him Death.

The Ring, and all publick Walks, Squares, and Market-Places, the Key of the Port, are spread with dead Bodies, some lying in Heaps: The Square before the Building called the Loge, and the Pallisades of the Port, are filled with the continual Number of dead Bodies that are brought ashore from the Ships and Vessels, which are crowded with Families, whom Fear induced to take Refuge there, in a false Persuasion, that the Plague would not reach them upon the Water.

Under every Tree in the Ring and the Walks, under every Pent-House of the Shops in the Streets and on the Port, one sees among the Dead a prodigious Number of poor Sick, and even whole Families, lying on a little Straw, or on ragged Mattresses; some are in a languishing Condition, to be relieved only by Death; others are light-headed by the Force of the Venom which rages in them: They implore the Assistance of those who pass by; some in pitiful Complaints, some in Groans and Out-cries which Pain or Frenzy draw from them. An intolerable Stink exhales from among them: They not only endure the Effects of the Distemper, but suffer equally by the publick Want of Food and common Necessaries: They dye under the Rags that cover them, and every Moment adds to the Number of the Dead that lye about them. It rends the Heart, to behold on the Pavement so many wretched Mothers, who have lying by their Sides the dead Bodies of their Children, whom they have seen expire, without being able to give them any Relief; and so many poor Infants still hanging at the Breasts of their Mothers, who died holding them in their Arms, sucking in the rest of that Venom which will soon put them into the same Condition.

If any Space be yet left in the Streets, it is filled with infected Houshold-Goods and Cloaths, which are thrown out of the Windows every where; so that one cannot find a void Place to set one's Foot in.

All the Dogs and Cats that are killed, lye putrifying every where among the dead Bodies, the Sick, and the infected Cloaths; all the Port is filled with those thrown into them; and while they float, they add their Stench to the general Infection, which has spread all over the Town, and preys upon the Vitals, the Senses, and the Mind.

Those one meets in the Street, are generally livid and drooping, as if their Souls had begun to part from their Bodies; or whom the Violence of the Distemper has made delirious, who, wandring about they know not whither, as long as they can keep on their Legs, soon drop, through Weakness; and, unable to get up again, expire on the Spot; some writhed into strange Postures, denoting the torturing Venom which struck them to the Heart; others are agitated by such Disorders of Mind, that they cut their own Throats, or leap into the Sea, or throw themselves out of the Windows, to put an End to their Misery, and prevent the Death which was not far off. Nothing is to be heard or seen on all Sides but Distress, Lamentation, Tears, Sighs, Groans, Affright, Despair.

To conceive so many Horrors, one must figure to one's self, in one View, all the Miseries and Calamities that Human Nature is subject to; and one cannot venture to draw near such a Scene, without being struck dead, or seiz'd with unutterable Horrors of Mind.

The 30th, those Heaps of dead Bodies which are in every Quarter of the City, are increas'd by new ones; every Night adds a thousand Dead; and now none of the Slaves are left to work, they are all dead, or sick of the Distemper; nor can more be demanded, after the Protestation made by the Officers of the Gallies.

What can be done in Circumstances so full of Desolation? The Sheriffs have Recourse, as usual, to the First President, and intreat him to dispatch a Courier for them to the Court, to sollicit his Royal Highness to send Orders for their being supplied with as many Galley-Slaves as they shall have occasion for: They desire him also to write to M. de Rancé and de Vaucresson, to persuade them to grant, in the mean while, at least a Hundred.

The 31st, it is impossible for the Hospitals to receive the Number of Sick who crowd thither: As soon as one Person in a House is seized with the Distemper, that Person becomes an Object of Horror and Affright to the nearest Relations; Nature instantly forgets all ordinary Duties; and the Bands of Flesh and Blood being less strong than the Fear of certain Death, shamefully dissolve in an Instant.