and which uſed to be ſupplied from our end of the Town, was abated; the Exchange was not kept ſhut indeed, but it was no more frequented; the Fires were loſt; they had been almoſt extinguiſhed for ſome Days by a very ſmart and haſty Rain: But that was not all, ſome of the Phyſicians inſiſted that they were not only no Benefit, but injurious to the Health of People: This they made a loud Clamour about, and complain’d to the Lord Mayor about it: On the other Hand, others of the ſame Faculty, and Eminent too, oppos’d them, and gave their Reaſons why the Fires were and muſt be uſeful to aſſwage the Violence of the Diſtemper. I cannot give a full Account of their Arguments on both Sides, only this I remember, that they cavil’d very much with one another; ſome were for Fires, but that they muſt be made of Wood and not Coal, and of particular forts of Wood too, ſuch as Fir in particular, or Cedar, becauſe of the ſtrong effluvia of Turpentine; Others were for Coal and not Wood, becauſe of the Sulphur and Bitumen; and others were for neither one or others. Upon the whole, the Lord Mayor ordered no more Fires, and eſpecially on this Account,namely, that the Plague was ſo fierce that they ſaw evidently it defied all Means,and rather ſeemed to encreaſe than decreaſe upon any application to check and abate it; and yet this Amazement of the Magiſtrates, proceeded rather from want of being able to apply any Means ſucceſsfully, than from any unwillingneſs either to expoſe themſelves, or undertake the Care and Weight of Buſineſs; for, to do them Juſtice, they neither ſpared their Pains or their Perſons; but nothing anſwer’d, the Infection rag’d, and the People were now frighted and terrified to the laſt Degree, ſo that, as I may ſay, they gave themſelves up, and, as I mention’d above, abandon’d themſelves to their Deſpair.
