This  caused  the  Multitude  of  single  People  in  London
to  be  unprovided  for;  as  also  of  Famlics,  whose  living


JOURNAL  OF  THE  PLAGUE  YEAR.  283

depended  upon  the  Labour  of  the  Heads  of  those  Families  ;
I  say,  this  reduced  them  to  extream  Misery ;  and  I  must
confess  it  is  for  the  Honour  of  the  City  of  London,  and
will  be  for  many  Ages,  as  long  as  this  is  to  be  spoken  of,
that  they  were  able  to  supply  with  charitable  Provision,
the  Wants  df  so  many  Thousands  of  those  as  afterwards
fell  sick,  and  were  distressed  ;  so  that  it  may  be  safely
aver'd  that  no  Body  perished  for  Want,  at  least  that  the
Magistrates  had  any  notice  given  them  of.
This  Stagnation  of  our  Manufacturing  Trade  in  the
Country,  would  have  put  the  People  there  to  much  greater
Difficulties,  but  that  the  Master-Workmen,  Clothiers  and
others,  to  the  uttermost  of  their  Stocks  and  Strength,  kept
on  making  their  Goods  to  keep  the  Poor  at  Work,  believing
that  as  soon  as  the  Sickness  should  abate,  they  would  have
a  quick  Demand  in  Proportion  to  the  Decay  of  their  Trade
at  that  Time  :  But  as  none  but  those  Masters  that  were  rich
could  do  thus,  and  that  many  were  poor  and  not  able,  the
Manufacturing  Trade  in  England  suffered  greatly,  and  the
Poor  were  pinch'd  all  over  England  by  the  Calamity  of  the
City  of  London  only.
