THE GREAT PLAGUE (1665)

Plague had ever lurked in London’s crowded streets,
Its narrow lanes and byways, its dark retreats,
Its busy passages, its wide, stinking drains
And open sewers. From what one ascertains,
There was no connection drawn (bizarre, but true)
Between hygiene and disease. Let me tell you,
I’m glad to be living in a later age.
The Plague, just imagine… Read on, down the page.

Pepys again is our day-to-day eye-witness:
Seven months of danger, terror and distress.

June the 7th Pepys jotted in his Diary:
“The hottest day that ever I felt.” Fiery,
Blistering, it was London’s dire misfortune
That the summer was such a scorcher. ‘Flaming’ June
Gave way to record temperatures in July,
And then through August into September. That’s why,
Alas, the awful Plague was able to take hold,
The worst instance of the pestilence, we are told,
In London’s history. Pepys, on this fateful day,
Was strolling, no care in the world (as was his way),
Down Drury Lane, when he spotted (alackaday)
“Two or three houses marked with a red cross”, the first
“To my remembrance”. Samuel feared the worst.
Red crosses on the doors! The capital was cursed!

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