People of all perſuaſions enbraced the Occſion; how they flock'd to the Churches and Meetings, and they were all ſo throng'd, that there was often no coming near, no, not to the very Doors of the largeſt Churches; Alſo there were daily Prayers appointed Morning and Evening at ſeveral Churches, and Days of private praying at other Places; at all which the People attended, I ſay, with an uncommon Devotion: Several private Families alſo, as well of one Opinion as of another, kept Family Faſts, to which they admitted their near Relations only: So that in a Word, thoſe People, who were really ſerious and religious, apply'd themſelves in a truly Chriſtian Manner, to the proper Work of Repentance and Humiliation, as a Chriſtian People ought to do.
Again the publick ſhew'd, that they would bear their Share in theſe Things; the very Court, which was then Gay and Luxurious, put on a Face of juſt Concern, for the publick Danger: All the Plays and Interludes, which after the Manner of the French Court, had been ſet up, and began to encreaſe among us, were forbid to Act; the gaming Tables, publick dancing Rooms, and Muſic Houſes which multiply'd, and began to debauch the Manners of the People, were ſhut up and ſuppreſs'd; and the Jack-puddings, Merry-andrews, Puppet-ſhows, Rope-dancers, and ſuch like doings, which had bewitch'd the poor common People, ſhut up their Shops, finding indeed no Trade; for the Minds of the People, were agitated with other Things; and a kind of Sadneſs and Horror at theſe Things, ſat upon the Countenances, even of the common People; Death was before their Eyes, and every Body began to think of their Graves, not of Mirth and Diverſions.
But even thoſe wholeſome Reflections, which rightly manag'd; would have moſt happily led thePeo-
