The same Day the Mortality continues without Decrease, and all the several Pits which had been opened being filled, M. de Langeron accompanied by M. Moustier, and the Chevalier de Soissans, take a Turn without the City, to see what Place will be most convenient for opening new ones speedily; and some are marked out on the Side of the Gate of Aix, of sixty Foot long and thirty broad: At the same time the Question being where to get at least a hundred Peasants to dig them; M. de Langeron sends all his Guards into the Territory, with Orders to the Captains of the principal Quarters to make them come, either willingly, or by Force.
The 15th, he issues an Ordinance, commanding all the Intendants of Health, Counsellors of the City, Captains of Quarters, and Commissaries of Parishes, who have deserted, to return within twenty four Hours to their Functions, on Pain of Disobedience.
He sets forth another, jointly with the Marquess de Pilles and the Sheriffs, prescribing all that ought to be done, observed, and executed in the Territory, where the Plague makes likewise very great Ravages, and has got into all the Quarters.
The 16th, to remove that horrible Infection which is in the Port, by above ten thousand dead Dogs floating in it, he sends for the Regulators of the Fishermen to the Town-house, and Orders them to work with Boats to inclose them in Nets, and draw them so far without the Chain, that the Current of the Water may not bring them in again.
This Day the Chevalier Rose, who the Day before had caused the Vaults of the two Bastions of the Rampart de la Tourette to be broken into, and found them hollow to the Foundation as he had foreseen, having received the hundred Slaves appointed to remove the dead Bodies from that Part, causes each of them to tye a Handkerchief dipped in Vinegar about his Head to stop his Nose, and having disposed them in such a manner, as to be able to put all Hands to the Work at once, he makes them in half an Hour take away all those Bodies, Limbs of which dropped off in carrying, and throw them into the Caverns of those Bastions, which he immediately causes to be filled with Lime and Earth, up to the Level of the Esplanade.
The 17th, the Sheriffs continuing with yet greater Ardour and Zeal, to go each at the Head of a Number of Carts, to see the dead Bodies taken up and carried off, from the several Streets of the Town, which are more and more filled with them; M. Estelle has Notice that the Pits which had been filled on the Side of la Major, had cleft in the Night; he hastens thither to see them repaired, and takes with him the Peasants who were working at the new Pits without the Gate of Aix: But there's no governing the Peasants at approaching infected Places, the Soldiers of the Gallies who accompany them drive them on, but they give back; he takes a Pick-ax himself and falls to work to encourage them; they are not to be stimulated by his Example, the Soldiers are, they instantly lay down their Arms, wrest the Pick-ax out of his Hands, take each of them one from those dastardly Peasants, and repair the Pits, notwithstanding the Infection, with inexpressible Ardour: It is Pity all those Soldiers perished, they served the City with a Zeal which will make them always lamented.
This Day M. Audimar causes a Heap of Bodies, which were piled up in the Street of Ferrat, and were no less putrid than those of la Tourette, to be carried off.
M. de Langeron studying to relieve the Necessities of the People, who are in want of all Things, and who suffer and even perish by the Desertion of almost all the Surgeons, Apothecaries, Retailers of common Necessaries, as Cooks and others, whose Shops and Stalls are generally shut up every where; he publishes an Ordinance to compel them to return within twenty four Hours precisely, on Pain of Death.
The same Day the Physicians of Montpellier who had come in the Month of August, to examine by Order of his Royal Highness, the Nature and Symptoms of the Distemper, come again, accompanied by M. Soulliers Master Surgeon to the King, who was also with them the first time; after their Departure from hence, they had resided at a Country-house near Aix which had been appointed for them to perform Quarantain in, which done they were to have been admitted into Montpellier; but his Royal Highness being desirous to succour Marseilles, and judging that such a Distemper required the most eminent and skilful Physicians, was pleased to send them new Orders to return hither, and join with them M. Deidier another famous Physician and Professor of Montpellier, who arrived with them.
The Plague had till then been treated as the Plague, the Sick presently judged of the Danger of their Sickness by the Behaviour of the Physicians who visited them: M. de Chicoyneau, Chancellor of the University of Montpellier, M. Verny, and M. Deidier, give them Reason to believe, on the contrary, that 'tis of all Distempers the least dangerous and the most common; they approach them without the least Concern or Mark of Emotion, without Repugnance, without Precaution; they even sit down upon their Beds, touch their Buboes and Sores, and stay by them calmly as long as is necessary to inform themselves of the State of their Case, the Symptoms of their Distemper, and to see the Surgeons perform the Operations they order: They go every where, and pass through all the Quarters, they examine the Sick, in the Streets, in the publick Places, in the Houses, and in the Hospitals; one would think them invulnerable, or tutelar Angels sent by God to save every poor Creature's Life; they refuse the Money the Rich offer them; nor receive any thing from any body, but a thousand Blessings from all; their Manner of proceeding, with the Reputation of their Names, recover the Sick by the Hope and Confidence they raise in them.