But what happened when the infected got out? When they escaped from shut up houses or roamed the streets, delirious, before the authorities became aware of their illness? This episode relates several incidents in which persons dying of the disease ran amok, assaulted others, threw themselves in the river, or other equally dire things. So, notwithstanding his belief in the general inefficacy of the quarantine, the author allows as how it had one beneficial effect: reducing the number of these incidents, thus saving many lives.
[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 by permission.
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