e lay down, and went to sleep.

III

IN THE TIME OF THE GREAT PLAGUE[109]

A blazing star or comet appeared for several months before the plague,
as there did the year after, another, a little before the fire; the
old women, and the phlegmatic hypochondriac part of the other sex,
whom I could almost call the old women too, remarked, especially
afterward, tho not till both those judgments were over, that those two
comets passed directly over the city, and that so very near the houses
that it was plain they imported something peculiar to the city alone.
That the comet before the pestilence was of a faint, dull, languid
color, and its motion very heavy, solemn, and slow; but that the comet
before the fire was bright and sparkling, or as others said, flaming,
and its motion swift and furious; and that accordingly one foretold a
heavy judgment, slow but severe, terrible, and frightful, as was the
plague. But the other foretold a stroke, sudden, swift, and fiery, as
was the conflagration; nay, so particular some people were, that as
they looked upon that comet preceding the fire they fancied that they
not only saw it pass swiftly and fiercely, and could perceive the
motion with their eye, but they even heard it--that it made a rushing
mighty noise, fierce and terrible, tho at a distance and but just
perceivable.

The shutting up of houses was at first counted a very cruel and
unchristian method, and the poor people so confined made bitter
lamentations; complaints of the severity of it were also daily brought
to my lord mayor, of houses causelessly and some maliciously shut up;
I can not say, but upon inquiry, many that complained so loudly were
found in a condition to be continued; and others again, inspection
being made upon the sick person and the sickness not appearing
infectious, or if uncertain, yet on his being content to be carried to
the pest-house, was released.

As I went along Houndsditch one morning about eight o'clock there was
a great noise; it is true indeed that there was not much crowd,
because the people were not free to gather together, or to stay
together when they were there, nor did I stay long there; but the
outcry was loud enough to prompt my curiosity, and I called to one who
looked out of a window, and asked what was the matter.

A watchman, it seems, had been employed to keep his post at the door
of a house which was infected, or said to be infected, and was shut
up; he had been ther