Notes to Pages 119–130 • 323- The register has been printed for 1665 and 1666. See The Registers of St. Margaret’s
Westminster,London Harleian Society, vols. 88 and 89 (London, 1977 ). - WL E 47.
- Bell,The Great Plague, 44.
- “Benevolence upon the Buryall of the several Persons next following towards the
reliefe of the poor visited of ye Plague within this parish” (WL E 47 ). - For a very different view of poor relief during the Great Plague, see Bell,The
Great Plague, 112 , where he sums up his negative assessment: “There was a Poor Law
well adapted to damping down the claims of the helpless... No charge of inhumanity
lies against the ruling class at the Restoration. They acted according to the light at that
time. The parsimony of the parochial authorities almost defied belief... It was perhaps
just possible to maintain life on [the plaguetime] dole.” - Stephen Bing, London, to William Sancroft at the Rose and Crown, Tunbridge
Wells, Kent, July 24 , 1665 , BL, Harleian MS 3785 , fol. 19. - St. Olave Hart Street Register,Harleian Society, vol. 36.
- Pepys,Diary, 6 : 163 – 64 , July 18 – 22.
- Ibid., 165 , July 22.
- Ibid., 6 : 157 , 175 , 10 : 409.
- See above, ch. 5 ,n. 22 , for Martin Howard Stein’s “fear-of-death” psychoanalytical
explanation of Pepys’ dalliances. Somewhat similarly, Claire Tomalin’s brief account of
Pepys’ life during the Great Plague concludes, “The parallel [to Pepys’ overall behavior]
is obvious with men and women at war or bombardment who have found themselves
living on an adrenalin high that gives extra intensity to every experience.” While noting
Pepys’ fears, Tomalin tends to downplay his attention to the havoc caused by the epi-
demic: “The year was so packed with events that the plague was largely relegated to the
background in [his] Diaryas Pepys pursued his activities with triumphant energy.”
Tomalin,Samuel Pepys, 168.
26 .Pepys,Diary, 6 : 156 , 162. - Ibid., 157 , 171 , 173 , 175.
- Ibid., 177.
- Ibid., 174 , 176.
- Samuel Herne, London, to Samuel Blithe at Clare College, Cambridge, July 18 ,
1665 , in J. R. Wardale, ed.,Clare College Letters and Documents(Cambridge, 1903 ), as
quoted by Bell,The Great Plague,80–81. The spread of the plague in Hertfordshire was
very uneven, but the toll was enormous in places like Ware on the main roads. Hert-
fordshire Record Office, parish registers.
31 .London’s Dreadful Visitation. - Patrick,Works,9:571.
33 .Evelyn,Diary, 1 : 403 ; Pepys,Diary, 6 : 179 ; George Boddington Family Common-
place Book, GL, MS 10823 / 1 , 35 , 39 – 40 ; GL, St. Margaret Lothbury parish records. - Thomas Vincent,God ’s Terrible Voice in the City(London, 1667 ), 31 – 32. The parts
of this tract on the Great Plague blend his sermons with later reflections. - St. Olave Hart Street Register;Pepys,Diary, 6 : 189 , 206 – 7 ,Aug. 12 , 30.