urs.

Accordingly, when John Hayward with his bell and the cart came along,
finding two dead bodies lie upon the stall, they took them up with the
instrument they used and threw them into the cart, and, all this while
the piper slept soundly.

From hence they passed along and took in other dead bodies, till, as
honest John Hayward told me, they almost buried him alive in the cart;
yet all this while he slept soundly. At length the cart came to the
place where the bodies were to be thrown into the ground, which, as I do
remember, was at Mount Mill; and as the cart usually stopped some time
before they were ready to shoot out the melancholy load they had in it,
as soon as the cart stopped the fellow awaked and struggled a little to
get his head out from among the dead bodies, when, raising himself up
in the cart, he called out, 'Hey! where am I?' This frighted the
fellow that attended about the work; but after some pause John Hayward,
recovering himself, said, 'Lord, bless us! There's somebody in the cart
not quite dead!' So another called to him and said, 'Who are you?' The
fellow answered, 'I am the poor piper. Where am I?' 'Where are you?'
says Hayward. 'Why, you are in the dead-cart, and we are going to bury
you.' 'But I an't dead though, am I?' says the piper, which made them
laugh a little though, as John said, they were heartily frighted at
first; so they helped the poor fellow down, and he went about his
business.

I know the story goes he set up his pipes in the cart and frighted the
bearers and others so that they ran away; but John Hayward did not tell
the story so, nor say anything of his piping at all; but that he was a
poor piper, and that he was carried away as above I am fully satisfied
of the truth of.

It is to be noted here that the dead-carts in the city were not confined
to particular parishes, but one cart went through several parishes,
according as the number of dead presented; nor were they tied to carry
the dead to their respective parishes, but many of the dead taken up in
the city were carried to the burying-ground in the out-parts for want of
room.

I have already mentioned the surprise that this judgement was at first
among the people. I must be allowed to give some of my observations on
the more serious and religious part. Surely never city, at least of this
bulk and magnitude, was taken in a condition so perfectly unprepared
for such a dreadful visitation, whether I am to speak of the