Retreats in the Country, fled to thoſe Retreats; So when it was encreaſed to ſuch a frightful Extremity as I have related, the midling People who had not Friends, fled to all Parts of the Country where they cou’d get ſhelter, as well thoſe that had Mony to relieve themſelves; as thoſe that had not. Thoſe that had Mony always fled fartheſt, becauſe they were able to ſubſiſt themſelves; but thoſe who were empty, ſuffer’d, as I have ſaid, great Hardſhips, and were often driven by Neceſſity to relieve their Wants at the Expence of the Country: By that Means the Country was made very uneaſie at them, and ſometimes took them up, tho’ even then they ſcarce knew what to do with them, and were always very backward to puniſh them, but often too they forced them from Place to Place, till they were oblig’d to come back again to London.
I have, ſince my knowing this Story of John and his Brother, enquir’d and found, that there were a great many of the poor diſconſolate People, as above, fled into the Country every way, and ſome of them got little Sheds, and Barns, and Qut-houſes to live in, where they cou’d obtain ſo much Kindneſs of the Country, and eſpecially where they had any the leaſt ſatisfactory Account to give of themſelves, and particularly that they did not come out of London too late. But others, and that in great Numbers, built themſelves little Hutts and Retreats in the Fields and Woods, and liv’d like Hermits in Holes and Caves, or any Place they cou’d find; and where, we may be ſure, they ſuffer’d great Extremities, ſuch that many of them were oblig’d to come back again whatever the Danger was; and ſo thoſe little Huts were often found empty, and the Country People ſuppos’d the Inhabitants lay Dead in them of the Plague, and would not go near them for fear, no not in a great while; nor is it unlikely but that ſome of
