It was not, however, necessary now to hasten the end of the sick.

The distemper had acquired such force and malignity that it did its work quickly enough--often too quickly--and all she sought was to obtain possession of the poor patients' attire, or any valuables they might possess worth appropriating.

To turn to the brighter side of the picture, it must not be omitted that when the pestilence was at its height, and no offers could induce the timorous to venture forth, or render assistance to the sufferers, Sir John Lawrence the Lord Mayor, the Duke of Albermarle, the Earl of Craven, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, devoted themselves to the care of the infected, and supplied them with every necessary they required.

Among the physicians, no one deserves more honourable mention than Doctor Hodges, who was unremitting in his attentions to the sufferers.
To return to the grocer.

While the plague was thus raging around him, and while every house in Wood-street except one or two, from which the inmates had fled, was attacked by the pestilence, he and his family had remained untouched.