The 11th, there being hardly any Physicians remaining, and fewer Surgeons, the rest having deserted, or perished, their Art not availing them; the first President sends hither M. Pons and Boutellier, Physicians of the Faculty of Montpellier; and M. Montet and Rabaton, very skilful Master-Surgeons.
The 12th, the Sheriff's are informed that the Commandeur M. de Langeron, Commadore of a Squadron of Gallies, and Major-General of the King's Armies, has been nominated by his Majesty Governour of Marseilles and its Territory, and that he has received his Commission. Such agreeable and salutary News revives them immediately from all the Sorrow, Dejection, and Consternation they were in; and inspires, not only into them, but into all the other Citizens, and into the People in general, both Sick and Well, no less Joy, Pleasure and Content, than Confidence, new Spirit, and Courage: They think it impossible to perish under so worthy a Governour, and the Preservation of Marseilles is looked upon as certain under his Auspices and Conduct: The Affection he has always been observed to bear to this City, and which he has demonstrated since it became afflicted with the Plague; his having been pleased, not only to come and assist in the Assemblies at the Town-House, but to promote very much the giving Assistance to the City by the Officers of the Gallies (in which naval Body of Forces he is distinguished by his Rank, as well as by his Merit and Valour:) His Character so long established, his illustrious Name, his Presence, which by a happy Mixture of Sweetness and Gravity makes him at once respected, loved, and feared; his Wisdom and Foresight, his Courage, his Firmness; Virtues, which qualify and dispose him to chuse the best Expedients in pressing Occasions, and execute with Rigour what he has judiciously resolved; all this, I say, gives every body, and particularly the Sheriffs, the most promising Hopes, which in the Event were soon answered: They go in their Hoods, and in a Body, to his House, to have the Honour to make him a Tender of their Duties.
They learn at the same time, that the Marquess de Pilles (who has newly begun to recover his Health) has also received a Commission to command in the City and Territory; they go in the same manner to his House, to make him the like Compliments: And both their Commissions being sent to be entred in the Register of the Town-House, it appears that M. de Langeron, in the Quality of Major-General of the King's Forces, is to take place, and command in Chief.
The same Day, M. de Langeron mounts on Horseback, and comes to the Town-House, to inform himself of the State of Affairs, that he might thereupon make the proper Dispositions, and take the necessary Measures for applying speedy Remedies to pressing Evils: He is accompanied by the Chevalier de Soissans, an Officer of the Gallies, whom he has taken to his Assistance; and who is so ardent for relieving the Town, that he is every Day on Horseback from Morning till Night, running wherever any thing is to be done, and to provide against, or redress, those Inconveniences which appear most insuperable; contemning Danger, and compelling others, by his Example, not to relax or stop; putting in Execution Things seeming the most impossible, with that Activity, Prudence, and indefatigable Zeal, that every thing is done by his Care, and by his Assistance.
The 13th, the Marquess de Pilles comes to the Town-House; his Presence, after the Grief and Alarm his Sickness had caused, gives every one unspeakable Pleasure. M. de Langeron repairs thither likewise; he never fails to come thither every Day on Horseback, in the Morning and Afternoon, be what Weather it will, and sits generally till eight a Clock at Night; 'tis most frequently after he has taken his Rounds to the Hospitals, the Pits, the Church-yards, and other Places very dangerous to approach, which he will view with his own Eyes, and where he exposes himself without Regard to his Health or Life.
The 14th, the Sheriffs continue to appear constantly, each at the Head of one of the Brigades of Slaves, with the Carts, to set them to work in different Quarters, to take up and carry to the Pits that prodigious Number of dead Bodies, with which the City is filled; and though they take away so many, they find more still, by the Continuance of the Mortality.
But there is one Part, where they have not been able to set foot yet; it is at an Esplanade called la Tourette, which lies towards the Sea, between the Houses and the Rampart, from Fort St. John to the Church of Major: There lie extended about a thousand dead Bodies close to each other, the freshest of which have lain there above three Weeks; so that had they not been infected, the lying so long in a Place exposed to the hot Sun all the Day, might have sufficed to render them contagious: All one's Senses are affected at approaching a Place, whence one smells afar off the contagious Vapours which Exhale from it: Nature shrinks, and the firmest Eyes cannot bear so hideous a Sight; those Bodies have no longer any human Form, they are Monsters that give Horror, and one would think all their Limbs stir, the Worms are in such Motion about them.
Nothing however is of more urgent Necessity than to remove these Bodies from that Place; every Moment they are let lye there, furnishes Exhalations which must poison the Air; but how shall they be taken up and carried to the Pits without the Town, which are at a very great Distance? Bodies so putrefied will not hold in the Carts; the Entrails, the Limbs which are loosened at the Joints by the Worms, would run out, or drop off, which would scatter the Plague and Venom quite through the City.
The Chevalier Rose, who is good at Expedients, and as industrious as intrepid, goes to the Place, and viewing the Rampart, perceives that two antient Bastions, which about two thousand Years ago stood the Attacks of Julius Cæsar's Army, and are near the Esplanade where lye the dead Bodies, tho' they seem to be filled with Earth, are vaulted within, which he discovers at the Foot of one of them through a Hole, which Time has made in a Stone; he presently imagines that no more needs be done, than to take away some Foot of Earth which cover the Vault of each Bastion, to break into that Vault, and finding them quite hollow within down to the Foundation which is level with the Surface of the Sea, nothing is more easy than to cast all those Bodies into them, and then to cover them with as much Earth and Lime as is necessary, to hinder the exhaling of any Infection from them.
This being so judiciously projected, he returns to the Town-house, and tells M. de Langeron and the Sheriffs, that he will take upon him to remove all the dead Bodies from la Tourette, explains to them his Project, they find it admirable; but to be able to execute it, a greater Number of Slaves must be employed, that it may be done suddenly and at once; it being evident, that no Soul that breathes can hold out above a few Minutes in so noisome a Place, when those Bodies are moved, to be drawn off the Ground and thrown into the Bastions. M. de Langeron, who has newly received Orders from Court, to take as many Slaves out of the Gallies as he shall judge necessary for the Service of the City, promises him a hundred for this Enterprize.