Hygieinē, or, A plain and practical discourse upon the first of the six non-naturals, viz, air with cautionary rules and directions for the preservation of people in this time of sickness, very necessary for the gentry and citizens that are now in the country to peruse before they come into London / by Tho. Cock.

A PERORATION to the Right Honourable the Lord Maior, with the Right Worshipful the Aldermen his Brethren in general; and all the worthy Members of it In Particular.

My Lord; and Gentlemen,

NOt only my own Resentments; but the desires of divers Deserving Persons, and Eminent Citizens have obliged me to proffer the subsequent Discourse to your Grave and Solemn considerations; least, (as to Physical and Natural Causes) the defect of a Praemunition, and Polemick Praecaution; the next Summer prove as formidable if not fatal as this * 1.1.

In complyance with your necessary Concern∣ments, and weighty Imployments, I have resolv'd against Prolixity; and to keep within the Circle, as much as the lines of its account will permit, and shall only therefore, as it were, prime the Cloth, and strain the Canvis, that I may chalk out a Design, intending some such able Masters

as your selves to finish and put life to it.

At the beginning of this Contagion, I had (in favour of the inclosed Paper) the Honour to wait upon the Committee appointed for this Infecti∣on: I then in person made a proffer, and Transient Discourse on what I now more deliberately per∣form in Paper: But the misfortune then was, (and will be till a way be found out to Retrive the mat∣ter) that their Power was Limited, and they must proceed Legally, and by that means they could not take farther cognizance of the case.

I was thereby justly silenc't, and saw no reason then to do in Person, what I now submissively hope I may in Paper; it being as significant in a time of Death and Sickness to cast about for life and health, as in a time of Peace to make provision for War.

To come (my Lord) now a little nearer the business I aim at, and that is in the behalf of many deserving Citizens who are herein supplicants to your Lordship; That you would at the next Ses∣sions, and Sitting of Parliament, move their Ho∣nours to take into their Considerations the Penal Statute, Primo Jacobi 31. concerning shutting up Vi∣sited and Infected houses.

Unless my Author mis-informs me, it

was then debated,

Whether such Confine∣ment, or Removing the Sick and Well, into se∣veral and distinct places, and Out-parts of the City, (as the Artillery-Ground by Fins∣bery, &c.) were most expedient?

But the state and exigencies of affairs then inclin'd them, (though with some Reluctancy) to determine the former under the Penalty of death, and being proceeded against according to the Statute against Vagabonds made the 39. of Eliz. 4.

His Majesty, our Royal Soveraign, in Christian care and indulgence of his People at the beginning of this Infection also con∣stituted the Lords of his Privie-Council a Committee for Inspection, into what was most expedient and proper, for the prevent∣ing, spreading and increase of this Plague: Their Lordships accordingly required the Honorable and Learned Colledge of Physi∣tians to

Add, alter, and ordain as they should find the present times and occasi∣on to require:

But still with this Restri∣ction, viz. In pursuance of former Presidents in the Reign, &c. or else, surely it would have been thought on as a thing most eli∣gible

to have caus'd a Separation of the Well and Sick, (which cannot but be acknowledg'd as necessary as water to quench fire) but yet by such proper aids and helps as might best answer its end and Intention.

And indeed (to speak candidly) it seems to me, as if the Colledge had some such thoughts in reserve, and in complyance with the Act, went as far as their line would let them, the words in their Sixth Section being these—That upon the discovery of the Infection in any house, there be pre∣sently means used to preserve the whole; or, if the whole be to be removed; no∣tice to be given to the Dverleers of their Remove, that care may be taken they shall not wander until they be sound.

That by the whole is meant that part, or such persons as remained whole and well in Sick-houses, is evident by the Hypothesis—if the whole be to be removed: but I leave that Honourable and Learned Society to be their own Commentators, as the oc∣casion shall require: Errors in this nature, by the Wise mans words, being as stones cast upon the waters; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, one circle raiseth

up another until the latter is bigger then the former.

However, as to my self (others as yet keep∣ing silence) so far as my reason can insure me any thing, I cannot but think, that the medium 'twixt the two extreams of letting all infected persons loose, or * the shutting up all well persons with the infected, would be the only expedient to preserve the whole: the one when things grow to extremity, though never so much endeavoured, cannot be observed, nor the other prevented or avoided: neither can I by all that I have as yet heard in favour of the * latter, perswade my self but that it is as well as the former, rather a great promoter then preventer of the Plague: the Mortality being hereby greatly increased, and after such hard and se∣vere usuage, those that are left alive, having done their penance, and thereby absolved and released, become far more Infectious (un∣less the Longer, the Lesser they are tainted) then if they had been never been so shut up, or restrained. Neither is it any absurd Annota∣tion, That the greatest Plagues that ever were in England, were when it first was Instituted, and most observed▪

Something dissonant to this, An. 36. in as formidable a Plague in its beginning as ours, was with good success constituted by his late Sacred Majesty of ever blessed memory Charles the First: and I have by some persons of good Quality, now alive, then Visited, and so disposed of, been informed that not one of Twenty among the well persons so removed fell sick, nor one in Ten of the sick died; which next to Gods Goodness they imputed to their freedom of Airing, Walking, Recreating, and refreshing of themselves by an honest and free Conversation one with another: hereby also they had the voluntary, free and free∣quent Visits of the best and most able Physi∣tians, Chirurgeons, and Apothecaries, little hazard by this means attending their Cures: the dejection, horror, fear, and consternation of their Spirits (great Incendiaries and Pro∣moters of a Pest) were hereby also taken off, and much abated: Searchers, Bearers, Nurses, and other licensed Visitors (whose walks are far more perillous then divers that are occluded and shut up) would hereby also become almost void and useless.

(Would to God upon no less penalty then death, they were debarred the Society of all well peo∣ple; and not only have some visible and signal badge about them when they go abroad for per∣sons to avoid them, but they also severely en∣joyn'd to avoid others, especially Children and Fools that are not sensible of their danger: Four of each (if any) in every Parish would be requi∣site: Two of each to be assign'd only for such houses, where the diseased upon good grounds, may be thought not to die Infected; it being most unreasonable, that Families which are clear, should run the hazard of such Searchers and Bearers as are allotted for the Infected.

This Paragraph, my Lord, I have added, only with the breath of a Transition, and large Paren∣thesis, to blow upon the feather of Custom and and Opinion, which often weighs down by (a kind of nonsense) its Levity, the most weighty, profound, and solid actions of our lives.)

Hereby also the Publick Magistrate may with Courage, Confidence and Security, man∣age City affairs: Citizens and Tradesmen, safely keep their houses, and follow their imploy∣ments: many childing-women, and sucking children, fatherless, helpless, and friendless per∣sons supported and preserved. The Cunning and Craft of such as have Soars and dissemble

their Sickness to the ruine of those they con∣verse with (only to avoid shutting up) might be detected: The outrages, insolencies, num∣ber, and neglects of Nurses restrained, pre∣vented, and abated: Thousands of persons lives preserved; poor people cheaper and bet∣ter provided for and attended; and above all, God better pleased; and the well effectually kept from the Conversation of the Sick, where∣by the Contagion and Mortality, (as to Na∣tural Causes) is chiefly, (if not only) augmented and increased.

I have given you, my Lord, herein a draught of my private thoughts, but no otherwise then Apelles painted his Pictures, with his Pencil ready to strike out, or put in, what ever may seem necessary and acceptable to

Your Lordship.

Notes

• * 1.1

  If your Honours please to peruse the first Cau∣tion to∣wards the latter end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth page of this fol∣lowing Treatise, you will find some∣thing re∣lating to this Para∣graph.