and in the end, so
completely had terror extinguished every kindlier feeling, that the
brother forsook the brother--the sister the sister--the wife her husband;
and at last, even the parent his own offspring, and abandoned them,
unvisited and unsoothed, to their fate. Those, therefore, that stood in
need of assistance fell a prey to greedy attendants, who, for an
exorbitant recompense, merely handed the sick their food and medicine,
remained with them in their last moments, and then not unfrequently
became themselves victims to their avarice and lived not to enjoy their
extorted gain. Propriety and decorum were extinguished among the
helpless sick. Females of rank seemed to forget their natural
bashfulness, and committed the care of their persons, indiscriminately,
to men and women of the lowest order. No longer were women, relatives or
friends, found in the house of mourning, to share the grief of the
survivors--no longer was the corpse accompanied to the grave by
neighbours and a numerous train of priests, carrying wax tapers and
singing psalms, nor was it borne along by other citizens of equal rank.
Many breathed their last without a friend to soothe their dying pillow;
and few indeed were they who departed amid the lamentations and tears of
their friends and kindred. Instead of sorrow and mourning, appeared
indifference, frivolity and mirth; this being considered, especially by
the females, as conducive to health. Seldom was the body followed by
even ten or twelve attendants; and instead of the usual bearers and
sextons, mercenaries of the lowest of the populace undertook the office
for the sake of gain; and accompanied by only a few priests, and often
without a single taper, it was borne to the very nearest church, and
lowered into the grave that was not already too full to receive it. Among
the middling classes, and especially among the poor, the misery was still
greater. Poverty or negligence induced most of these to remain in their
dwellings, or in the immediate neighbourhood; and thus they fell by
thousands; and many ended their lives in the streets by day and by night.
The stench of putrefying corpses was often the first indication to their
neighbours that more deaths had occurred. The survivors, to preserve
themselves from infection, generally had the bodies taken out of the
houses and laid before the doors; where the early morning found them in
heaps, exposed to the affrighted gaze of the passing str