An Authentick Account of the Measures and Precautions Used at Venice / By the Magistrate of the Office of Health, for the Preservation of Publick Health

by Anonymous

As I need not be more diffuse upon the Description of them, I come now to the Forms observed in them.

An Officer called a Prior superintends in each. Great Care is taken in Choice of him, always taking Subjects of the Order of Citizens, and changing him every Fourth Year; and no one can be ever qualified for this Officer, who has either Consanguinity or Connexion with any of the Magistrate’s Officers, or that is interested in any Vessel, or has any Concern in Trade of any Sort. He has a House within the Inclosure of the Lazaretto, as has been said, in which he is obliged to reside constantly; never being to leave it, except in the sole Case of attending the Magistrate’s Orders; then leaving a Subaltern in his Room, called the Sub-Prior, who is also his Assistant.

They have an annual handsome Allowance to subsist well upon; the Laws being rigorous, that, as they are so well provided for, they shall not have any Kind of Emolument imaginable, under any Pretence which might tempt their Avidity to mitigate, or dispense, with any of the Delicacies of the Purifications; and they cannot quit that Employment, which they enter into, in Times of no greater Exigency than the common legal Precautions, even in Case any Plague should happen in the City.

These are the sole Officers who receive all the Orders of the Magistrate, who (when necessary) require them, and then distribute them to the inferior Officers, for the Conduct of the Lazarettos that are under their Care and Direction.

At the Time of Election they give Security for their good Conduct, and another Security of a Thousand Ducats for the Interest of the Merchants who trust their Merchandize in their Hands.

Though the utmost Vigilance and Diligence is required of them, that all the Regulations be observed; their Hands are tied up in every Respect, not having the Privilege to give Employment to any one of their Family in the Lazarettos; nor are they to suffer Fishing in the neighbouring Canals, lest, under that Pretence, little Boats should approach, and some dangerous Transportation of any one be attempted; nor can they traffick in any Shape, or in any Thing, that is brought into the Lazarettos, or with any one there; nor must they suffer any Bargains to be driven between Persons in Quarantine, nor between them and those Officers that visit them; for which Reason no Broker can be admitted, even though he should have a particular Order; it being to be considered, that it is an unalterable Maxim, that no Person or Goods of any Kind, can be brought into the Lazarettos, or on Board suspected Vessels, without express Orders of the Magistrate: For this Reason, the Priors depend solely on the Authority of the Magistrate, insomuch that they are dispensed with obeying any other Orders whatsoever; the Publick Faith proceeding with such Delicacy on this important Head, that no Execution can be served upon any Kind of Goods, &c. brought and deposited in the Lazarettos for the Regards of Health; and even in Case a Banditto should clandestinely get in there, and be discovered, he is secure from such Time as he has taken his Refuge there, no Distinction being made of Persons, where the Safety of the State is at Stake.

To say something of the more general Duties to which the Priors are obliged: They keep all the Keys, as well of every Gate which gives Entrance into the Lazarettos, (which is more than one, besides all those that are upon the Canal, disposed in the best Manner to receive Goods, and pass them to the Place destined for their Purification, without passing by Places already occupied by others, lest there should be any Mistake) as of every other Gate that secures the Quarantine of Persons and Goods; all which are to be shut when Night comes on, and opened only after the Sun rising; themselves always assisting, yet with such Precautions, that they themselves are always to be kept clear and free from Mixture.

They are responsible for whatever is sent to the Lazarettos, under Sanction, however, of the Magistrate’s Order, with which they must be furnished; and with no other are they to be satisfied, not even with that of his Officers that bring them. They inspect the Guardians and the Bastazi, that they do their Duty each Day, in the Services render’d Persons and Goods, not permitting them to serve in more than one Quarantine; and that they are assiduous in exposing every Day to the Air, upon Ropes, the Passengers Things, taken out of their Trunks, &c. and in the necessary Management they are to observe of suspected Merchandize, with every Form required: For which Reason, and to provide for any Necessities of the Passengers, the Prior is every Day to make two Visits at least, one in the Morning, and the other in the Afternoon, to every Place of Quarantine.

This Care of keeping the Passengers supplied with all Necessaries, brings me to describe another Sort of Officers, in the Service of the Magistrate, called Victuallers.

These furnish the Passengers in the Lazarettos, and the Crew performing Quarantine on Board, with all Things necessary. There is a fixed Number of them, and they twice a Day visit the Lazarettos and Vessels; but they keep at due Distance, and always the Prior must be present at the first, and the Guardian in the last, (which is an immutable Rule, if any Visit is ever made) and all that they present, passes through the Hands of those Officers to the Persons, making use of a Basket for that Purpose, fastened to a Cane of three or four Fathom long, in which they put what they furnish them with, and receive their Money the same Way; which before they touch, they pass it through Vinegar or Salt-Water.