A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 1 (of 2) by Charles Creighton

[609] _Transcripts from the MS. Archives_, ed. Bayley, 1856. [610] News-letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, _Hist. MSS. Commis._ VI. 455. [611] _Machyn’s Diary_, ed. J. Gough Nichols. Camden Soc., No. 42, p. 310. [612] _Ibid._ p. 396 (note by Nichols); and Guildhall Records, in Furnivall, _l. c._ [613] _Abstract_, &c. as above. [614] Stow’s _Memoranda_ (Lambeth MS.), Camden Soc., 1880, p. 123. [615] _Abstract_, &c. as above. [616] Stow, _ibid._ [617] Record Office. _State Papers_, Elizabeth, vol. XLVIII., No. 70. [618] Endorsed “An abstract of such orders as have been heretofore for the preventing and decreasing of the plague in and about London.” [619] The searchers are mentioned at Shrewsbury as early as 1539 (Phillips). [620] _Survey of London_, _ed. cit._ p. 119. [621] Holinshed, III. p. 1260. [622] John Bell, _London’s Remembrancer_. Lond. 1665. [623] _Liber Albus Londinensis._ Rolls series, ed. Riley. The following instances occur in the report of the commissioners of 1343: P. 446: A water-gate “obturatur ratione unius gutturi exeuntis de una latrina,” etc. P. 449: the Ebbegate obstructed by certain persons named, “qui fecerunt in eadem venella latrinas supra dentes, quarum putredo cadit supra capita hominum transeuntium.” Same page: Wendegoslane “obturatur per fimos et garderobas.” Same page: Rethersgate obstructed “per fimos et alia hujusmodi foetida.” Same page: Dowgate. Two householders named “in eisdem aedificiis diversas latrinas fecerunt, pendentes ultra vicum ejusdem venellae; quarum putredines cadunt supra homines per eandem venellam transeuntes.” P. 450: at Queenhithe a “communis latrina.” P. 451: at Saltwharf the way to the river obstructed “pulvere et aliis putredinibus in eadem projiciendis.” P. 452: Lekynggeslane has two latrinae and is impassable owing to want of paving. Same page: Another venel obstructed by the Earl Marshall; three latrinae in it. In a perambulation of the ground outside the walls, 26 Ed. III. (1552), the following encroachments are noted among others: Outside Ludgate, one has erected a shed (_camera_) 16 ft. × 12¾ ft., and made there “unum profundum puteum et quadratum pro latrina”--a deep well and a latrine-pit together. Also outside Ludgate, William of Wircestre has a house there and two shelters for beasts, and a latrine, and part of the said house is 14 ft. × 7½ ft. [624] _Statutes of the Realm_, 17 Ric. II. [625] Riley, _op. cit._, p. 614. [626] Stow’s _Survey_. [627] Art. “Shakespeare,” _Encycl. Britan._ [628] Wodderspoon’s _Memorials of Ipswich_, p. 285, p. 259. [629] “Now first printed.” Exeter, 1765, p. 181. [630] Poulett Scrope, _op. cit._ p. 333. [631] _D. Erasmi Epistolar. lib. XXX._ London, 1642, Lib. xxii. Epist. 12 (without date). [632] Richard of Devizes. Eng. Hist. Soc. p. 60: “Apud Bristolliam nemo est qui non sit vel fuerit saponarius; et omnis Francus saponarios amat ut stercorarios.” [633] William Harrison’s _Description of England_ (in Holinshed) gives proof enough that the filthy floors described by Erasmus had no existence two generations later, even among the poorer classes. [634] The correspondence is in _Remembrancia_, under the head of “Plague.” [635] From a memorandum of Lord Burghley’s, dated Hertford Castle, 21 Nov. 1582, it appears that a survey had shown 577 beds available for strangers in one parish of Hertford, and 451 in another, “so that there are lying two a bed above 2000 people.” _Cal. State Papers._ Domestic series, Elizabeth 1581-90, p. 75. [636] Stow’s _Survey_. [637] _Remembrancia_, p. 332. [638] _Remembrancia._ [639] Baddeley, _Parish of St Giles, Cripplegate_. Lond. 1888. [640] _Ibid._, under date August, 1672, p. 193. [641] Broadsheets in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. Cited by W. Rendle, F.R.C.S., _Old Southwark and its People_. London, 1878, p.