Part 8

As the Distemper which has seized that Person, threatens to attack them; as the Contagion communicates it self with extreme Quickness; as the Danger is almost equal to him that suffers, and to those who approach him; and as those who tend and help him have no other Prospect than that of following him in a few Days; they take at first the barbarous Resolution, either to drive him out of the House, or to fly and desert it themselves, and to leave him alone without Assistance or Relief, abandoned to Hunger, Thirst, and all that can render Death the more tormenting.

Thus Wives treat their Husbands, and Husbands their Wives, Children their Parents, and Parents their Children: Vain Precaution, inspired by Love of Life, and Horror of Death! By that time they take their Resolution, they have already catch'd the subtle Effluvia of the fatal Poison they would secure themselves from; they are soon sensible of its Malignity, a speedy Death is the Punishment of their Cruelty and Baseness: Others have the same Hardness of Heart towards them; they are forced into the open Street in their Turn, or are left alone in their Houses to perish without Help.

Hence proceeds that infinite Number of Sick, of each Sex, and of every Age, State, and Condition, who are found lying in the Streets and publick Places. If all are not cruelly driven out of their own Houses by their Relations or Friends, they prevent that Cruelty; and lest they should run the Hazard of being left alone at home, by the Flight of those Relations or Friends, when they are become quite helpless, they repair to the Hospitals; where not getting Entrance, nay, not being able to get near the Gates, by reason of the Multitudes of Sick, which have got thither before; and who finding them already full, lye down on the Pavement, and stop up all the Avenues; they are obliged to seek room for themselves farther off, among the putrified dead Bodies; the Sight and Stench of which serve to hasten their Death, the only End of this Distemper. These Extremities put the Sheriffs upon double Diligence, to get the New Hospital in the Alleys of the Mall finished: In the mean time, they cause large Tents to be pitched upon that Esplanade without the Town, which is between the Gate des Faineants, and the Monastery of the Capuchins, where they order as many Mattresses to be put, as the Tents will hold. No sooner are those Tents up, and the Mattresses placed, but they are filled with so many poor Infected, that several throw themselves upon one Mattress: A greater Number is requisite to supply them all; and the Misfortune is, that there is neither Straw nor Linnen to be had to make them with.

The 1st of September, the first President having been pleased to write to M. de Rancé, and de Vaucresson, desiring them to let the Sheriffs have a hundred Galley-Slaves more; they are presently sent to them, and a more vigorous Use of them was never made: For M. Moustier, incited by the Extremity to which things are reduced, immediately puts himself at the Head of these Slaves, with 11 Carts, and while they are able, makes them carry off above 1200 dead Bodies a Day.

The 2d, for making this Labour the more easy, as the Bodies in the Houses occasion the most Loss of Time to the Slaves to fetch them away; and besides, being putrified by being left there long, they cannot draw them out with Hooks, but by Pieces; as also for preventing Robberies by the Slaves, who finding no Person in the Houses, steal all they can lay their Hands on; an Ordinance is published at my Instance, importting, that as soon as any one dies in a House, those belonging to that House shall be obliged to convey the Body down into the Street, using all proper and necessary Precautions.

The same Day an Arrêt is issued by the Chamber of Vacations, injoyning all the Rectors of the Hôtel Dieu, de la Charité, of Foundlings, of the Houses of the Penitent, and of Refuge, the Captains of the City, the Physicians appointed for the Hospitals, and all Sorts of Intendants and municipal Officers, to return to their Duty at Marseilles; otherwise declaring them incapable of Publick Offices, and fining them 1000 Livres.

The 3d, the Sheriffs repair to the Town-House almost by themselves, with M. Capus, Keeper of the Records, his eldest Son, so distinguish'd by his Merit and his Virtues, who, from the Beginning of the Contagion, has assisted him to go through the Multiplicity of Business in his Offices; M. Bouis, Cashier; and my self; having no longer any Guards, Domestick Servants, or other Person under Command. The Ravages the Plague has already made in this great City, may be judged by the Number belonging to the Town-House only, that have been carried off, which, is above 500 Persons, viz. 30 Guards wearing the Shoulder-Belt, all the Guards de la Police, all the Captains of the City one excepted, all the Lieutenants except two, almost all the Captains Lieutenants, and Guards of the Five Brigades du Privilege du Vin, all the Sergeants of the Nightly Watch or Patroll, 350 Men of the Companies of the Guard, and all the City-Yeomen appointed to attend the Magistrates, who are now become destitute of all Servants.

Men are become only Shadows; those who are seen well one Day, are in the Carts the next; and, what is unaccountable, those who have shut themselves up most securely in their own Houses, and are the most careful to take in nothing without the most exact Precautions, are attacked there by the Plague, which creeps in no Body knows how.

The 4th, nothing is more deplorable, than to see the vast Number of Sick and Dying which are spread over the whole City, deprived of all spiritual as well as temporal Comforts, and reduced to the lamentable Condition of dying almost all of them without Confession.

There wanted not, indeed, Servants of the Lord, as well of the Secular as Regular Clergy, who devoted their Lives to the saving of Souls, and assisting and confessing the infected; there wanted not even holy Heroes, (for by that Name we ought to call all the Capuchins and Jesuits of the Two Houses of St. Jeaume; and of the holy Cross, and likewise all the Observantins, and the Recollets, and some others) who, with more than heroick Courage, and indefatigable Charity and Zeal, ran about every where, and rushed precipitately into the most deserted and most infected Houses, into the Streets and Places that were thickest strow'd with putrify'd Bodies, and into the Hospitals that reeked most with the Contagion, to confess the infected, assist them in the Article of Death, and receive their last contagious and envenom'd Breath, as if it were but Dew.

But these sacred Labourers, who may well be look'd upon as true Martyrs, (seeing those of Alexandria, under the Prelacy of St. Denis, who had the Charity to assist the infected, were honour'd with the Glory of Martyrdom) are almost all taken away by Death, in the Time of so great a Mortality, when their Help is most wanted: Forty two Capuchins have already perished, Twenty one Jesuits, Thirty two Observantins, Twenty nine Recollets, Ten Barefooted Carmelites, Twenty two Reformed Augustines, all the Grand Carmelites, the Grand Trinitarians, the Reformed Trinitarians, the Monks of Loretto, of Mercy, the Dominicans and Grand Augustins who had kept in their Convent: besides several Secular Priests, and the greatest Part of the Vicars of Chapters and Parishes.

In so great an Extremity, the Bishop recalls those, who, by their peculiar Character, and by the Nature of their Benefice, are under the indispensible Obligation of confessing and administring the spiritual Remedies to the Dying; but who being struck with shameful Terror, have basely sought their own Safety by Flight, without troubling themselves about the Salvation of others.

Had their Concern to discharge their proper Duty been too cold to light up in their Hearts that Fire of Charity with which they ought to glow, the Example of their holy Prelate should have excited them: In vain, from the Beginning of the Contagion was he pressed to leave the City, to endeavour to preserve himself, for the rest of his Diocese; he rejects all such Counsels, and hearkens only to those which the Love the Sovereign Pastor has inspired him with for his Flock, suggest to him; he tarries with unshaken Fortitude, determined to lay down his Life for the Good of his Sheep, if God is pleas'd to require it.

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He is not satisfied with prostrating himself at the Feet of Altars, and lifting up his Hands to Heaven to beseech God to mitigate his Wrath; his Charity is active; he is every Day in the open Streets, through all Quarters of the Town; he goes up to the highest and worst Apartments of the Houses to visit the Sick; crosses the Streets among the dead Bodies; appears in the publick Places, at the Port, at the Ring; the poorest, the most destitute of Friends, those afflicted the most grievously and hideously, are the Persons to whom he goes with most Earnestness; and without dreading those mortal Blasts which carry Poison to the Heart, he approaches them, confesses them, exhorts them to Patience, disposes them to die, pours celestial Consolations into their Souls, representing to them the Felicity of Suffering and of Poverty; and drops every where abundant Fruits of his generous Charity, distributing Money where-ever he goes, and especially in secret to indigent Families, whom holy Curiosity prompts him to seek out and to relieve; he has already given away Twenty five thousand Crowns, and takes up what Money he can upon Pledges, to enable him to distribute more. But I should not blaze abroad what his Humility is careful to conceal, it ought to be left under the Veil which that Virtue throws over it.

Death has spared this new Charles Borromeo, but has continually surrounded him, and almost mowed under his Feet: The Plague gets into his Palace, the greatest Part of his Officers and Domesticks are struck with it; he is obliged to retreat into the House of the first President at Marseilles; the Plague pursues him thither, and not only attacks the rest of his Domesticks, but Two Persons who are very dear to him for their distinguished Merit, and are his Assistants in his holy Labours, Father de la Fare a Jesuit, and M. Bourgeret Canon of la Major; the first escapes, but he has the Grief to see the other expire: All this however does not terrify him, nor with-hold him one Moment from any of the Duties of his fervent Charity; he goes every where still to visit the Infected.

But the Plague destroys too fast for the surviving Remnant of Confessors to perform all the Service necessarily required: A greater Number of Workmen should be had; wherefore the Canons of the Collegiate Church of St. Martin, and some of that of Acoules, who have Benefices with Cure of Souls, and who have fled, are those the Bishop recals, to come and confess, each within the Bounds of his parish.

The Sheriffs, who observe all those Parish-Priests are deaf to the Voice of their Bishop, and unconcerned for the Loss of the Souls of their Parishioners, present a Petition to the Bishop, to order them by an Injunction to return forthwith to their Duty; in default of which their Benefices to be declared vacant, and other Persons qualified to fill them, to be nominated.

The 5th, the Regulators of the Fishermen being capable of some Service, and Three of them having fled; an Ordinance is published at my Instance, to oblige them to return, on the Penalty of a Fine of Three Thousand Livres, and of losing their Offices.

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This Day the Sheriffs being astonish'd at the Increase of the Mortality, and the deplorable State the City is in, and longing for an Answer to the Dispatches they have sent to Court for necessary Supplies, write to the Marshal de Villars, most earnestly beseeching him to second their Instances: That Illustrious Governor, who among all the Towns of his Government of Provence, has constantly honoured Marseilles with his particular Affection, is so concerned to hear of the extreme Desolation it is in, that he returns Answer, He is resolved to come himself to its Relief, if his Royal Highness will give him Leave.

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The 6th, the Sheriffs find themselves reduced to the most terrible of all Extremities; the last Slaves which the Officers of the Gallies had granted, at the Request of the first President, being all either dead, or fallen ill of the Distemper; and notwithstanding all the Efforts M. Moustier had made the preceeding Days, to get all the dead Bodies possible carried off, above Two Thousand still remaining in the Streets, besides what are in the Houses; they see plainly, that if the Officers of the Gallies will not give them more Slaves, at the rate the Mortality goes on, there must be in less than Eight Days above Fifteen Thousand Bodies in the Streets all putrified; from which will ensue a Necessity of quitting the Town, and abandoning it perhaps for ever, to the Putrefaction, Poison, and Infection which will settle in it.

Hereupon they assemble, with the few Citizens still left, among whom are two Intendants of Health who have not stirred a Foot, M. Rose the Elder, and M. Rollaud. Divers Expedients are debated; some propose, that for disposing of the present dead Bodies, and those to be expected daily, a large Pit should be opened in every Street to throw them into: But two things are objected; one is, that such Pits cannot be dug in the Streets, without cutting off, at the same time, all the Conduit-Pipes which are laid through them; the other is, that it would require above Ten Thousand Men to dig speedily so many Pits in so vast a City, while there is none to be found in a Condition to work; besides, no body would dig in Streets actually strewed with infected Bodies, for fear of catching the Infection by touching them. Others propose, to let all the Bodies lie where they are, in the Streets, the publick Places, and the Houses, and there to cover them with Lime to consume them; and that such a Quantity of Lime be carried in Carts, and laid in Heaps in every Street, as may serve to consume all the dead Bodies that shall be there. But to this likewise there are several Objections; Where is Lime enough to be had for consuming so many Bodies? Where are Men to help to cart it? And who could stay in the City amidst the horrible Infection which those Bodies would exhale, as they are consuming?

The Course the Sheriffs think best to take, is, without passing any Resolution, to desire the Citizens assembled with them, to accompany them, in their Hoods, and in a Body, to the House of M. de Rancé to intreat him with all Earnestness, to grant them the Assistance they want for the Preservation of the City.

M. de Rancé calls together M. de Vaucresson the Intendant, and the General Officers of the Gallies; they appear to be touched as much with the Zeal of these Magistrates, and with the burthensome and hazardous Conditions upon which they ask this Assistance, as with the great Extremity the City is in; accordingly they grant them all they demand on those Conditions; and being desirous to have the Agreement put into Writing, I drew up before them the following Act to be entred in the Register of the Town-House, and a Copy of it to be given to them.

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This Day, the Sheriffs, Protectors, and Defenders of the Privileges, Liberties, and Immunities, of this City of Marseilles, the King's Counsellors, Lieutenants-General de Police, being assembled in the Town-House, with some of the municipal Officers, the Counsellor Orator of the City and the King's Procurator de la Police, and other eminent Citizens; and taking into Consideration, that though the 260 Slaves, which the Officers of the Gallies have been pleased to grant them at different Times, to bury the Dead since the City was afflicted with the Plague; have been extremely helpful to them hitherto, yet that Assistance is insufficient, above 2000 dead Bodies having actually lain in the Streets several Days; and causing a general Infection; it was therefore resolved, for preserving the City, to desire greater Assistance: And immediately the Sheriffs going out in their Hoods, accompanied by all the said municipal Officers and eminent Citizens, went in a Body to the House of the Chevalier de Rancé, Lieutenant-General, commanding his Majesty's Gallies, and represented to him, that the City has infinite Obligations to him for the signal Services which he has been pleased to do them in this Calamity; but that it is not possible to preserve the City, unless he does them the favour to grant them a Hundred Slaves more, and 4 Officers of the Whistle (or Boatswains) (almost all those who have formerly been granted, being dead or sick;) in which Case they will make the best Use of them; that to engage them to work with the greater Diligence in carrying off the dead Bodies, they will expose themselves as they have already done; will march on Horseback in their Hoods, before the Carts, and go with them all over the City: That moreover, it being of Importance, that their Authority should be supported by Force, at a time when there remains in the City only a numerous Populace, who must be kept under, for preventing all Tumult, and for maintaining good Order every where; they further intreat him most earnestly to grant them at least Forty stout Soldiers of the Gallies, to obey their Orders, to attend them, and at the same time hinder the Slaves from getting away; that they shall be commanded by themselves only; that they will divide them into 4 Parties, of which each Sheriff will head One; and it being necessary that one of the Sheriffs, at least, should be continually at the Town-House, for the Dispatch of such Affairs as may occur, one of the said Parties shall be commanded by the Chevalier Rose; and in Case they should be hindred by any Accident, they will propose in their Room, Commissaries of the best Distinction they can find, to head and command them. Whereupon the Chevalier de Rancé, being assembled with the Intendant and General Officers of the Gallies, all sensible of the miserable Condition of this great and important City, and willing to grant all that is necessary for saving it, have been pleased to grant to the Sheriffs, and to the Community, a Hundred Slaves more, and 40 Soldiers, among them 4 Corporals, with 4 Officers of the Whistle; and it being necessary to take those who are voluntarily disposed, and to engage them by Rewards, to this dangerous Service; It is resolved and agreed, that besides Subsistance which the Community shall furnish to them all, ten Livres a Day shall be given to each Officer of the Whistle, and to each Soldier fifty Sols: And after it shall please God to deliver the City from this Visitation, a Gratification of a hundred Livres, to be paid at once, shall be made to each of them who shall then be living. The Corporals shall have each a hundred Sols a Day, and also an annual Pension for Life of a hundred Livres to each of them who shall survive; it being judged they cannot be sufficiently rewarded for so important and perillous a Service, This is agreed by the Assembly, in consideration of the present Exigence, and the Necessity of the Time. Concluded at Marseilles, the 6th of September, 1720. Signed, Estelle, Audimar, Moustier, Dieudé, Sheriffs; Pichatty de Croissainté, Orator, and the King's Procurator; Capus, Keeper of the Records.