The Visitation: Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year

A podcast reading of Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, a novel about the plague that afflicted London in 1665. read less

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Apr 9 2020

An Introduction to The Visitation: Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year

Welcome to The Visitation! This podcast is a reading of Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, an account of the plague that afflicted London in 1665. Published in 1722, the work represents itself as the testimony of an eyewitness living in London at the time of the plague, but it is actually a work of fiction, based on exhaustive historical research. Many of the topics related in the novel will have an immediate resonance with our own experiences, particularly as we are now facing a pandemic of our own (granted that COVID-19 is nearly so devastating). They include the author’s indecision about whether to stay in the city or to flee to the countryside, the relaxing of sectarian religious affiliations in a population united by terror, the role class distinctions played in determining who lived and who died, and the proliferation of quacks, faith healers, fortune tellers, and others, who profited from the general misery. To make the work accessible to modern readers, we have

Episodes

Apr 9 2020

An Introduction to The Visitation: Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year

Apr 9 2020

Episode 1: Terrible Apprehensions Were Among the People

Defoe begins his story with an account of the discovery of a few cases of the plague in St. Giles parish in the winter of 1664-65. The slow and close-grained way in which he describes the alternating terror and relief caused by the reporting of new cases followed by periods of abatement builds dramatic tension very effectively. One of the highlights of this episode is the little editorializing he does about the ability of the media to both report rumors and to embellish them for effect. This, along with his remarks about the speed at which news traveled in the author’s day—"instantly over the whole nation,”—lend a faint irony to the account, as they are pretty much how we would describe our situation today. Defoe concludes the episode with descriptions of the mass exodus from the city of those who were wealthy enough and of rumors of restrictions on travel soon to come. For an account of a modern-day exodus, see https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/15/upshot/who-left-n

Apr 14 2020

Episode 2: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

With the plague now beginning to spread and intensify, and having witnessed so many of his neighbors fleeing the city, the author realizes that he must soon decide whether to stay or go himself, and he offers his reflections and decision-making process as a guide to others who might find themselves in similar circumstances. Like many of us would be, he is torn between the desire to protect his belongings and property or to flee and perhaps save his life. In a particularly interesting conversation with his more well-traveled brother, he considers whether his fate is foreordained and thus not affected at all by any decision he might make. In the end, after a series of incidents prevents him from leaving, he settles on considering what we might call the “preponderance of the evidence” as a method for making such a decision. By this he means that we should look upon the entirety of opportunities and obstacles that present themselves, to view them “complexly” as

Apr 21 2020

Episode 3: Sorrow and Sadness Sat Upon Every Face

As much as anything, this episode is a meditation on the mood of the city as the plague swept over it. His mind made up to stay, the author now settles into the daily routine of his business, helped in part by the fact that the plague still spared his part of town from the worst of its virulence. Meanwhile, however, further to the west, the death toll mounted steadily through the summer of 1665. As the impact of the plague began to affect a larger area, the author notes that the face of the city was much altered—“sorrow and sadness sat upon every face,” he says—and that the city seemed to be all in tears. In walks through the city, he remarks on how deserted the streets had become, and how frequent the cries and screams coming from the houses of the sick. And he observes that the restoration of the monarchy a scant five years earlier had led to a rapid increase in the population of London, which in turn meant that many more died than might have even a few years before. [For no

Apr 24 2020

Episode 4: Signs and Wonders

The most important element in dealing with the terrible and the inexplicable is to be able to put an interpretative framework around it, to give it meaning. Giving things meaning makes them comprehensible and perhaps even manageable, and if that doesn’t reduce our fears it at least gives us reason to hope. It’s tempting to think that our attempts at explaining natural phenomena are better and more scientific than those of the 17th century, but while it’s certainly true that we have developed powerful mathematical and experimental tools for understanding the world, we are no less prone than our forebears to create comprehensive systems of meanings that are not dependent on empirical evidence alone. In this chapter the author speaks of the attempts of his contemporaries to see in the heavens or in clouds, or through the interpretation of dreams, confirmation of what everyone believes, that the plague is a visitation by God and a judgement on the city. The author believes this as well

Apr 28 2020

Episode 5: Death was Before Their Eyes

Resuming his comments from the last episode, the author here mounts a spirited criticism of fortune-tellers, cunning men, astrologers, conjurers, witches, and deceivers, but he doesn’t spare their audiences and followers, either, whose ignorance leads them into “a thousand weak, foolish, and wicked things.” He’s particularly keen in observing how, despite the restoration of the Church of England, a multitude of sects continued to attract devotees and how, in their terror, the people flocked to religious leaders of all types, ignoring sectarian divisions in their overwhelming need for consolation. But when the plague abated and the terror had passed, the usual sectarian barriers were re-erected. A significant portion of this episode is devoted to quacks, faith-healers, and purveyors of useless and sometimes poisonous remedies against the plague, a practice that continues even today. In these matters, Defoe displays a dry sense of humor. In one of his accounts, a woman

Apr 30 2020

Episode 6: And None Durst Come Near to Comfort Them

In this episode the author graphically describes the tenor of the moment, saying that death no longer seemed to be hovering overhead but was now entering into homes and staring directly into people’s faces, and he notes the spirit of repentance and confession its presence provoked. He also continues his diatribe against quacks, pretenders, and deceivers, here mentioning what he considers an even greater madness than those previously described, the resort to magic, in the form of things like charms, amulets, and exorcisms. “As if,” he says, “the plague was not the hand of God but a kind of possession of an evil spirit.” He concludes this portion of his narrative by describing how the Lord Mayor, seeing the way the poor, especially, were being victimized, appointed physicians and surgeons for their relief. Of course, there was little medically that could be done for them, given the level of understanding of the disease at that time. But there was another, deeper reason so little cou

May 2 2020

Episode 7: The Shutting Up of Houses

In this episode Defoe includes the text of orders issued by the Lord Mayor concerning the shutting up of houses, notification of the authorities, the appointment of watchers and guards, disposition of the bodies of the dead, public sanitation, and what we now refer to as “social distancing,” with bans on "loose persons and idle assemblies." It’s a grim catalogue. What is perhaps most noticeable about this account, apart from the evident terror the shutting up of houses provoked, was the careful insistence of the authorities on the gathering of accurate information about the number and location of all those infected, mirroring our own contemporary concern for testing and accurate reporting, or the lack thereof. I have to say, the recitation of these orders makes for some tedious listening, but the comparison of the steps taken then with our own is really quite instructive. For an index of contemporary issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and their historical precursors in the

May 5 2020

Episode 8: Prisons without Bars and Bolts

Episode 8: Prisons without Bars and Bolts With this episode the emphasis shifts a bit. Having previously set out a brief history of the onset of the plague and the steps taken to contain it by the authorities, the author now relates a series of incidents that, in the particulars of their telling, lend great emotional depth to his novel. This episode is the first of several that will focus on the plight of families shut up and the stratagems they devised, some of them quite violent, to escape a house arrest that was in many cases tantamount to a death sentence. Of particular note here is the distinction the author draws between the poor and those wealthy enough to have second homes to which they might escape, and means to lay in provisions for a long quarantine. It is distinction he refers to time and again throughout the novel, and as the author has chosen to remain in the city, it is to the fate of those not wealthy enough to flee that he is most often eyewitness. And it is in

May 7 2020

Episode 9: A Speaking Sight

For me, at least, this is one of the grimmest chapters in the entire account. I first read it over thirty years ago, and in revisiting the work now it is the one series of passages I remembered best and sought out first. The author begins by resuming his account of the plight of families whose houses were shut up, illustrated by the graphic story of a young woman who died within hours of falling ill and how her mother went mad with grief before dying herself. He then goes on to describe the pit, “this dreadful gulf,” he calls it, dug in Aldgate for the burial of the parishioners, and in one of the most shocking scenes in the novel, describes his visit to the pit and the burial of the dead. Take your time with this episode; there’s a lot to absorb. ["Great gulfs" for the burial of the poor continue to this day. See, for instance, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/nyregion/coronavirus-deaths-hart-island-burial.html] Credits: Podcast produced by Sam Brelsfoard. Music fr

May 9 2020

Episode 10: Abominable Wickedness

In a direct continuation of the narrative from the preceding episode, the author relates how he went home after visiting the pit at Aldgate but, being unable to sleep, ventures back out in the middle of the night to the tavern where the man grieving for his family had been taken by the buriers. There he confronts “a dreadful set of fellows” who were jeering and mocking the grieving man. When the author admonishes them for their behavior, they turn their insults on him and enlarge upon them by blaspheming God and religion and making fun of all who take comfort in it. Well, later the plague carries this entire gang off, to the barely concealed satisfaction of the author, who spends much time in prayer satisfying himself that his horror at their behavior was not motivated by anger at their insults. Methinks he doth protest too much. [For notes on the main themes of the novel, visit https://londonplague.com/postscript/. To see some ways in which our react

May 12 2020

Episode 11: Houses Inhabited and Houses Forsaken

Here the author continues his insistence that the forced shutting up of houses is not only bad policy but actually led to the death of many more than would have succumbed if they had been able to voluntarily sequester themselves and send away the remainder of their households, who more often than not died as a result of their continued presence there. As it was, those wishing to spare their families were often forced to flee into the streets before notice could be taken of their illness, thereby infecting countless others with whom they came in contact. Defoe ends this episode with his narrator’s personal observations on the causes of the sickness and best course of treatment for its victims, from the standpoint of public health. While he scornfully discounts theories of what sound close to our modern understanding of bacterial infections transmitted through the lungs or skin, his recommendations are otherwise sensible and sound. [For notes on the main themes of the novel, vis

May 14 2020

Episode 12: Social Distancing

The accounts in the first part of this episode will be especially familiar to those of you hearing it during the spring of 2020, particularly if you have been sequestering yourself against the COVID-19 pandemic. Here the author describes how some families attempted to shut themselves in voluntarily, laying in stores of food so that they went to market as infrequently as possible. Some of them spent their time shut in making bread or beer, or, like the author himself, passed the time reading or writing a diary. The all-too-familiar pastimes of the housebound. He also describes the length people went to to avoid contact with each other—and with the bodies of people who literally fell down dead in front of them—during necessary trips to the market and other places. As we learned from the last episode, at that time there was no true understanding of the causes of the disease—which is spread by flea bites and only rarely by simple contact with the infected—but th

May 16 2020

Episode 13: The Most Rash, Fearless, and Desperate Creatures

It was inevitable that in the breakdown of trade and civil authority, and in a time of widespread hunger, that crime would increase. Serious crime, including murder, was widely reported, but the author is skeptical of these accounts. He believes that murder was unlikely, and even unnecessary, in a time when imminent and sudden death was otherwise so prevalent. In fact, the author proves himself a very discerning analyst of what we now call urban legends, noting the patterned similarity in so many of these tales and the fact that they were always said to take place at the other end of town. Petty crime, and crimes of opportunity, on the other hand, were indeed widespread, and he concludes this episode with an account of a visit to his brother’s warehouse, where he found women from the neighborhood making off with stylish “high-crowned” hats, which, they claimed, no longer had an owner. [For notes on the main themes of the novel, visit https://londonplague

May 19 2020

Episode 14: The Story of the Piper

This episode contains one of the better-known anecdotes to emerge from the novel and offers a rare moment of gallows humor amidst the unrelenting horror. The story of the piper was evidently widely known at the time of the visitation itself, for the author remarks on its being a story, “with which the people made themselves so merry.” He also mentions use of what must have been a popular preventative measure, the holding of garlic and rue in one’s mouth, and the liberal use of vinegar. I’ll leave the details to you. In the second part of this episode the author touches upon a theme all too familiar to us today, the general lack of preparedness of both the citizenry and the authorities for situations of this sort. Their slowness to respond to this calamity. Recall also his remarks in a previous episode about the so-called “supine negligence of the people themselves.” Outbreaks of the plague, you’ll remember, were not new to London. The previous one had occurr

May 21 2020

Episode 15: All Trades Being Stopped, Employment Ceased

Having already treated social distancing, quarantine, crime, fake news, lack of preparation, fake remedies, and the inadequate facilities for the treatment of the sick and the disposition of the dead, the author now takes up another all-too-familiar effect of pandemic: what happens to a great metropolis when the wheels of commerce come to a full stop. Wanting to make his point with even more care than usual, he lists the rolls of the unemployed in several broad areas and describes the cascading effect the shutdown of one trade has on several others. Only a vigorous program of social relief, he asserts, prevented rioting and mass starvation. As part of this program, many of the unemployed were given jobs as watchmen at shut-up houses or as nurses tending victims of the plague. The author notes that, in a grim irony, the high death rate in these occupations actually reduced the burden on the remaining citizenry and the likelihood of widespread starvation. He a

May 23 2020

Episode 16: A Thousand Unaccountable Things

Although Defoe’s account is scarcely chronological, at this point in the novel we have come to the height of the epidemic, when, by official accounts, around 7,000 people were falling victim to the plague every week. Here he describes what are by now the familiar horrors of the epidemic and his growing restlessness at his self-imposed seclusion. By the way, the so-called Solomon Eagle mentioned in this account was a real person, a composer by the name of Solomon Eccles, who became a Quaker and renounced music as profane entertainment. [For notes on the main themes of the novel, visit https://londonplague.com/postscript/. To see some ways in which our reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic are anticipated in the Journal, see https://londonplague.com/concordance/.] Credits: Podcast produced by Sam Brelsfoard. Music from Funeral Sentences of Henry Purcell (1659-1695), performed by the Choir of Clare College at the University of Cambridge, Timothy Brown conducting. Used b

May 26 2020

Episode 17: The Devout Waterman

Here is a pious little tale about an act of loyalty and human kindness that the author witnessed on one of his forays along the waterfront. It contains some information about how the more resourceful among those who lived near the river found provisions for their survival and how some people lived on boats, thinking themselves safer there than on land. Near the end of episode, the narrator is taken to Greenwich, where, from the top of a hill, he sees hundreds of ships moored in the river and estimates that as many as ten thousand people survived the plague sequestering themselves in them. [For notes on the main themes of the novel, visit https://londonplague.com/postscript/. To see some ways in which our reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic are anticipated in the Journal, see https://londonplague.com/concordance/.] Credits: Podcast produced by Sam Brelsfoard. Music from Funeral Sentences of Henry Purcell (1659-1695), performed by the Choir of Clare College at the Universit

May 28 2020

Episode 18: The Most Deplorable Cases

This episode is one of the most disturbing in the novel. It concerns the death of newborn infants and their mothers at or shortly after childbirth as the result, direct or indirect, of the plague. Some died along with their mothers at the moment of birth, others died for lack of skilled midwives, the better of whom had fled, and there were even cases of infants dying at the hands of their mothers driven mad from the disease. From the Bills of Mortality published weekly during the visitation, the author reports that maternal mortality, so-called deaths in Birth-Bed, and incidents of miscarriages, premature births, and stillborn infants were roughly twice as high in 1665 as in the preceding year, on a population base he estimates as one-third smaller. And of course, newborns were no less susceptible to the plague than any others, and many died in their mother’s arms in the first weeks of life as disease swept through the entire household. In sum, this episode is a l

May 30 2020

Episode 19: A Wicked Inclination to Infect Others

Readers of the novel will note that at this point I have entirely passed over a long account about three men from Wapping, whose tale of taking to the highways and fields is instructive, but perhaps too long and detailed for modern listeners. However, the final paragraphs of their story are so compelling, and so seamlessly connected with what follows, that I have inserted them, out of order, at the beginning of this episode. The main theme of this episode centers around a phenomenon seen again in our own times: the resistance of rural areas to the arrival of strangers fleeing the epidemic. More generally, it speaks to our habit of ascribing all manner of wickedness to outsiders. The author mentions the several species of rumor and myth, some even sanctioned by official voices, that charged the victims of the plague with the desire to infect others. On their part, fleeing Londoners spoke of the uniform cruelty and inhumanity of rural folk, who forced th