Cottage scenes during the cholera / being extracts from a diary written in July and August, 1832

Transcribed from the 1848 F. & J. Rivington edition by David Price. Many thanks to the British Library for making their copy available.
Plympton St. Mary Church
BEING EXTRACTS FROM A DIARY WRITTEN IN JULY AND AUGUST, 1832.
BY THE REV. W. I. COPPARD, M.A.,
INCUMBENT OF PLYMPTON ST. MARY, DEVONSHIRE; AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE EARL OF MORLEY.
LONDON: F. & J. RIVINGTON; HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.; HATCHARD & SON; AND MASTERS; EXETER: H. J. WALLIS. PLYMOUTH: R. LIDSTONE.
1848.
“TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF, AND KEEP THY SOUL DILIGENTLY, LEST THOU FORGET THE THINGS WHICH THINE EYES HAVE SEEN, AND LEST THEY DEPART FROM THY HEART ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE.” Deut. iv. 9.
In compliance with the repeated request of some highly valued friends, these Extracts are offered to the Public. They possess no recommendation beyond that of being a plain statement of facts, for the authenticity of which, there are many living witnesses: and the writer of them humbly prays that, by the blessing of God, they may contain some hints which will be beneficial to his fellow-creatures.
The poorer portion of the inhabitants are as well conducted and cleanly in their habits as the generality of labouring people; and their cottages, for the most part, are kept in a creditable condition.
The four last-named villages are at the eastern end of the parish, three or four miles distant from the Church, and are situated on elevated ground, bordering on the Moors. The air in the neighbourhood is considered to be very healthy. No such density of population exists in any one locality which might be supposed to produce a prejudicial effect on the salubrity of the atmosphere. Therefore, as far as local advantages could be depended upon, every thing tended to encourage the idea, that the parish was not so liable to be infected with the cholera as many other places.
Up to the month of July, 1832, when that disease was making fearful havoc at Plymouth and the adjoining towns, a flattering hope was still entertained that, by the mercy of God, we should escape. But it pleased Him “who ordereth all things with infinite wisdom,” and “whose ways are past finding out,” that it should be otherwise; and on the 13th of July, the first instance of a case of the cholera in the parish, occurred at Underwood.