Cherry & Violet: A Tale of the Great Plague

by Anne Manning

There was also a great deal of Distress, owing to the general Stagnation of Trade, and the vast Numbers of People thrown out of Employ. So that, though we did all we could, it was heart-rending to witness the Misery in some of the lower Districts of our Parish. We pinched ourselves to help them, voluntarily giving up such and such Things at our Table; and this with such Cheerfulness that I really believe our Self-privations gave us more actual Enjoyment than if we had ate the Fat and drank the Sweet to our Hearts’ Desire. And once or twice it remarkably happened that when we had a little exceeded in this Way, and had supplied thereby the needs of a more than ordinary Number, a great Hamper would arrive from Mistress Blower, full of Game, Poultry, Eggs, Butter, Brawn, Hams, Tongues, and Everything that was good. Often we talked over that sweet Place the Hampers came from; and it seemed to me that my Husband more and more inclined towards the Country; especially as his Throat had never quite recovered the Effects of the Plague, and he found he could not make himself heard throughout the remoter Parts of his large Church without Difficulty. Quite at the End of the Summer, the old Incumbent of Bucklands Parsonage died; and as the living was in the Squire’s Gift, and he had some Notion his Brother would like it, he wrote to offer it to him. My Husband asked my Mind about it; I said I should like it of all Things, if he could be content with so small and quiet a Field of Action. He said, yes, the Time had been when it had been otherwise with him—the harder the Work the greater the Pleasure, especially as carrying some Sense of Glory in the Victory over it; but it was not so with him now: he could be content with trying to do good on a small Scale; especially as he had not been quite so successful on the larger Field of Action as he had hoped and expected.

“Could I preach like Apollos,” continued he, “to what Good, to the Half of my Congregation, who cannot catch one Word in ten? So that, in Fact, I preach to a small Congregation already. And I’ve no Mind to receive the Pay without doing the Work. There’s no Fear, Cherry, of my not making myself audible in Bucklands Church!—Besides, do you know I fancy I have a little domestic Mission there. My dear, good Brother, who has dozed under Doctor Bray for so many Years, has languished under a spiritual Dearth. He is now getting in Years, and I think I may do Something for him—you know he told you he thought my Sermons were the real Thing.”

“He said,” replied I, “that you not only hit the right Nail on the Head, but hammered it well in.”

After some further Talk, which only went to prove how completely we were of a Mind on the Matter, the Letters were written and sent—to accept the one Living and resign the other. That was on the Second of September. The same Night, broke out that dreadful Fire, which lasted three Days and three Nights, and destroyed fifteen of the twenty-six City Wards, including four hundred Streets and Lanes, and thirteen thousand Houses. Oh, what a dreadful Calamity! We were in Bed, a little after Ten, when Shrieks and Cries of “Fire!” awoke us; and my dear Husband put his Head forth of the Window and asked where it was. A Man running along answered, “On or at the Foot of London Bridge!” Then our Hearts failed us for Violet and Mark, and all our old Friends; and we dressed and went forth, for I could not be stayed from accompanying Master Blower. But before we could reach the Bridge Foot, we found Access to it cut off, both by Reason of the Crowd and of the Flames: the only Comfort was, that the Fire kept off the Bridge. There was so much Tumult and Pressure that we could only keep on the Skirts of the Crowd, where we hung about without doing any Good for some Hours.

The next Morning, we were in Hope of hearing the Fire had been got under; instead of which, the whole Bankside was wrapped in Flames, and all the Houses from the Bridge Foot, and all Thames Street, were lying in Ashes. The People seemed all at Pause, gazing on, without stirring Hand or Foot, and those that were personal Sufferers were venting their Grief in Cries and Lamentations. But we could not find that any Life had yet been lost; and the Fire kept off the Bridge.

When I went Home at Dusk, it was to pray for the poor Sufferers, and then to muse how far the Calamity might extend. Supper was on Table, but I had no Mind to eat; which was all the better, as my Husband presently brought in a poor, weeping Family who had lost Everything, and had not touched a Morsel all Day. We gave them a good Meal, and Shelter for the Night. They slept, but we could not. There was no Need of Candles all that Night, which was as light as Day for ten Miles round. The Fire was now spreading all along the South Part of the City, leaping from House to House, and Street to Street, for the very Air seemed ignited; Showers of Sparks and Ashes were falling in every Direction, and the Pavement was growing almost too hot to tread upon. My Husband kept bringing in new Refugees as long as our House would hold them, and I was too busy caring for them to have Leisure to go forth, even had it been safe; but each New-comer brought fresh Tidings of the Desolation, which was now extending to Churches, public Monuments, Hospitals, Companies’ Halls, as though it would carry all before it. We now began to be in some Alarm for ourselves; and to consider what we should do if it came our Way; and now we experienced the Convenience of having but little Treasure that Moth, Rust, or Fire could injure, for when Master Blower had made up a small Packet of Papers and ready Money that we could readily carry about us, there was Nothing left for the Destroyer to consume but our poor Furniture and the House over our Heads. Very opportunely, at this Time came to our Door a Berkshire Countryman with one of the good Squire’s Hampers full of Eatables. I never saw a poor Fellow look so scared! He got a good View of the Calamity from a Distance, and then set his Face homewards in as great a Hurry as if the Flames were in Chase of him. The Streets were now full of Carts loaded with Moveables, which their Owners were conveying out of Town; giving Way to the Calamity rather than seeking to arrest it, which, indeed, it was now vain to attempt, though I think Something might have been done at first. St. Paul’s was now in a Blaze; the great Stones exploding with intense Heat, and the melted Lead running along the Gutters. This Night, also, we got scarce any Rest.

S^t Paul’s was now in a Blaze

The next Morning, while I was overlooking my Stores, and considering how I should best husband them for my poor Inmates, in comes Mark, his Face blackened, his Hair full of Ashes, his Clothes singed in many Places, and his Shoes nearly burnt off his Feet.

“Thank God, you are safe, then!” cries he, catching hold of both my Hands. “The Sky looked so fiery in this Quarter during the Night, that Violet and I were in dreadful Fear for you, and I started at Daybreak, and came here by making a great Round, to see how it fared with you. And Violet bids me say that she has not forgotten your Father’s and Mother’s Kindness to her Father and Mother when they were burned out of House and Home, nor how she and you were put together in the same Cradle; and it will make her and me, dear Cherry, unspeakably happy to receive you and Master Blower under the very same Roof, should you be burnt out of your own.”