us, and so exactly where, that I believe I could go to the
very place and dig their bones up still; for the country people would
go and dig a hole at a distance from them, and then with long poles,
and hooks at the end of them, drag the bodies into these pits, and then
throw the earth in from as far as they could cast it, to cover them,
taking notice how the wind blew, and so coming on that side which the
seamen call to windward, that the scent of the bodies might blow from
them; and thus great numbers went out of the world who were never known,
or any account of them taken, as well within the bills of mortality as
without.

This, indeed, I had in the main only from the relation of others, for I
seldom walked into the fields, except towards Bethnal Green and Hackney,
or as hereafter. But when I did walk, I always saw a great many poor
wanderers at a distance; but I could know little of their cases, for
whether it were in the street or in the fields, if we had seen anybody
coming, it was a general method to walk away; yet I believe the account
is exactly true.

As this puts me upon mentioning my walking the streets and fields, I
cannot omit taking notice what a desolate place the city was at that
time. The great street I lived in (which is known to be one of the
broadest of all the streets of London, I mean of the suburbs as well as
the liberties) all the side where the butchers lived, especially without
the bars, was more like a green field than a paved street, and the
people generally went in the middle with the horses and carts. It is
true that the farthest end towards Whitechappel Church was not all
paved, but even the part that was paved was full of grass also; but this
need not seem strange, since the great streets within the city, such as
Leadenhall Street, Bishopsgate Street, Cornhill, and even the Exchange
itself, had grass growing in them in several places; neither cart or
coach were seen in the streets from morning to evening, except some
country carts to bring roots and beans, or peas, hay, and straw, to
the market, and those but very few compared to what was usual. As
for coaches, they were scarce used but to carry sick people to the
pest-house, and to other hospitals, and some few to carry physicians to
such places as they thought fit to venture to visit; for really coaches
were dangerous things, and people did not care to venture into them,
because they did not know who might have been carried in them las