Hemingway Vol I & II

About this period, and for more than a century afterwards, at short intervals, the sweating sickness and the plague, those dreadful scourges of the human race in the days of our ancestors, were more than usually destructive to this city. It has just been noticed under the date of 15O7, that the sweating sickness proved fatal to a great number of the citizens; and in 1517, the city was again Infected with the plague, probably to a more serious extent of mortality.

I say probably, because, although we have no records of the precise number of victims who became a prey to its ravages, there are some ominous expressions used by two of our Chester annalists, Smith and Webb, which naturally lead to such an inference: the former observes," that many died, and fled out of the Cilty,' in so much that the streets were full of grass ; " and the latter, " that for want of trading, the grass did grow a foot high at the cross, and other streets in the city." Know that I am upon this calamitous topic, I shall, conformably to the plan I have before laid down, proceed to enumerate the various instances in which the city has been visited by the plague, without noticing the intervening historical events, to which, however, I shall after recur.

In the year 1550, the city suffered severely the sweating sickness, which was prevalent also in various parts of the kingdom; and to this affliction was great scarcity of provisions; corn selling at Chester at sixteen shillings the bushel. From the year 1602 to 1605, with but very little intermission, the dreadful effects of the plague were experienced in the city. It is stated to have begun in the month of September, in that former year, at the house of one Glover, in St. John's lane, in whose house alone seven persons died. The contagion was particularly fatal in 1603 and 1604; six hundred and fifty persons died in the former year, and nine hundred and eighty-six in the latter; at one period about fifty-five persons died weekly. So great was the alarm against the spread of the contagion, that those affected by it were, from time to time, removed to the suburbs of the city, particularly to the open space between the Water Tower and the river, where cabins were erected for their reception; the expences attendant upon their care and support being paid by the city at large. Great numbers of people, especially those of the higher ranks, sought an exemption from the contagion by flight. It does not ap pear that any of the chief magistrates, during the continuance of the plague, abdicated their posts; but it is particularly noted of Edward Dutton, who was mayor while the calamity was at its height, that he conducted himself with extraordinary zeal and fortitude, in his endeavours to arrest its progress, and provide for the comforts of the unhappy victims; and although the contagion had reached his own house, and some of his children and servants were carried off by its ravages, he continued to exercise his arduous duties to the last. During this dreadful visitation, the fairs of the city were suspended; the court of Exchequer was removed to Tarvin, and the county assizes were held at Nantwich.

The plague disappeared in the month of February, 1605. In 1608, some slight appearances of a like scourge were visible in the city; it began at the Talbot, and fourteen persons died of In 1647, the horrors of pestilence were superadded to the devastations occasioned by a protracted and

( Smith, in the Vale Royal, informs us of a strange phenomenon In the heavens, on the 22nd of August preceding the appearance of the plague, which he seems to regard as indicative of the calamity: he says, " in the night time, a wonderful exhalation of a fiery colour, likewise a canopy, were seen over this city." )

destructive siege. Between the 22nd of June in this year, the 20th of April following, says Dr. Cowper, two thosand and ninety-nine persons died of the plague in be several parishes of Chester. Grass, adds he, grew at the High Cross, and in the most frequented parts of the city; and an ordinance was issued by the houses of parliament for nominating city officers, as the assembly of citizens could not be held without danger. Cabins for he infected were built under the Water Tower, and in adjacent salt-marsh.

Since the year 1647, the city enjoyed an uninterrupted exemption from this horrible scourge. This is not perhaps the proper place minutely to enquire into the causes of the evil with which we have been so frequently visited , but there can be no doubt, the principal one has been the stagnant filthiness which was formerly suffered to remain in our narrow streets. Under date of the year 1636, when it seems mutated filth was discovered to be inductive to diseases, it is recorded, that the mayor, William Edwards, caused many dung-hills to be carried away, but the cost and time was on the poor.

" Again, under the same date, the maior caused the durt of many foule lanes in Chester to be carried to make a banke to enlarge the Roodey, and let shipps in." And at a subsequent period, when the city was crowded with soldiers, and undergoing the extreme horrors of a siege, the necessity of a similar measure produced the following order ; - "

That the lord bishop be informed of the unwholesomeness of the puddle near the Eastgate, and the inhabitants be ordered to cleanse the streets before their respective doors within ONE MONTH, under a fine of ten shillings !" What an extraordinary effort of magisterial authority! 'To allow one month for removal of a nuisance that endangered the health and lives of the citizens, under the onerous penalty of ten shillings

Many highly interesting examples of the timber framed and plaster houses peculiar to this county and some of these are richly ornamented with carved work and pargeting : "God's Providence House " in Watergate street, dated 1652 and reconstructed in 1862 takes its name from the motto, " Gods providence is mine inheritance " carved on one of the beams , and said to have been thus inscribed by a former tenant who escaped the plague, which had visited almost every other house in the city: the house of Bishop Lloyd ( 1615 ) and that of the Stanley family are also in this street: another fine example is the Bear and Billet inn , in Bridge street, which thoroughrare also affords several other quaint specimens of this style: