In the following 1574 plague notice, reported in the Antiquarian
Repertory[1],
we find that the occupant of every house
visited by the plague “euery of them shall haue and beare in hys or their hand
or handes openly one white rodde of the length of two foote”. The question as
to how plague houses managed to feed themselves, etc., after More’s notice is
answered. The occupants carried the rods conspicuously in their hands such that
others could give them a wide berth — could social distance.
It can only be presumed that the original appearance of
the bubonic plague, in England, in 1563, revived the same health policies and
notices. The text (if not the requirements)
would seem to have been made more precise. At the very least, we learn that the
precautions were considered sufficiently effective that they remained policy
for decades to come.
By the Maior
FOR auoyding of the increase and spreading of the infection
of the plague wythin this Citie, so much as by good polycie it lyeth in us to
doe: We the Lord Maior and Aldermen of this the Queenes Maiesties citie of London,
doe straightly charge and commaunde in the Queene our soueraigne Ladyes behalf,
all persons of what estate, degree, or condition soeuer they be, wythin thys
said cytie of London or the suburbes of the same, that none of any house so
infected wythin the sayd cytie of London or the suburbes of the same, wythin
one moneth last past, or which shall hereafter be infected, doe come abroad
into any streate, market, shoppe, or open place of resort, wythin thys citie,
or the lybertyes or suburbes of the same, at any tyme hereafter, vntyll the
plague be ceased in the same house, by the space of xx. dayes at the least, but
that euery of them shall haue and beare in hys or their hand or handes openly
one white rodde of the length of two foote, wythout hyding or carrying the same
close from open sight, vpon payne of forfaiture and losse of xl. shillinges, and
euery person not hauing wherwyth to satisfye and pay the same summe of xl.
shillyngs, to haue imprisonment by the space of xx. dayes in ye cage.
And also that the clarke or sexton of euery parishe, doe
with all conuenient speede set vpon euery dore of the house so infected with the
plague, one paper with these wordes therein written, LORD HAUE MERCY VPON VS,
and see that the same be not pulled downe vntill the plague be ceassed in the
same house, by the space of one moneth, & if it be pulled downe, to cause
an other to be set in ye same place, vpon payne of xx. s. to be payd &
forfayted by ye said clarke or sexton in whom default shalbe founde, and euery
person pulling downe any such paper, to forfaite and lose xl. s. or xx. dayes
imprisonment. And that the constable of euery parishe or precinct be ayding and
helping the said clarke in the same, and to see that he doe his dutie therin,
vpon payne to lose and forfaite xl. s. or to suffer xiiij. dayes imprisonment.
And furthermore, that no person within the sayd citie of
London, lyberties or suburbes of the same, now hauing, or that shall haue the plague
sore vpon them, shall come abroad into any streat, market, shoppe, or open
place of resort afforesayd, vntill such tyme as the sayd sore be fully whole,
vpon payne to lose & forfaite v. l'. [₤5] to be leuyed of the
maister of the house where any such person shal dwell, or to haue xl. dayes
imprisonment, the one moytie of all such forfaitures to be to the presenter
prouing the same [offence] before the Lord Maior of the sayd citie, and the
other moytie thereof to be to the poore of the parishe where the same offence
shalbe committed or done. [Given] at the Guildehall of the sayd citie of
London, the xvj. day of September. 1574.
God Save the Queene.
Imprinted at London by John Daye.
But life went on. Through all of the cycles of plague,
from roughly 1550 to his death in 1584, John Day became an original charter
member of the stationers company[2]
and lived a busy life. He fled to the continent shortly after the company was
formed not because of the plague but because he was in mortal danger for being
a Protestant.
Upon Elizabeth’s accession to the crown Day found a
patron in Archbishop Matthew Parker. He worked with John Fox to issue the first
edition of the historical Book of Martyrs and is said to have aroused so
much envy among his fellow printers, around the time of this notice, that they
conspired against him and he was left, as the result, with an enormous backlog
of unsold stock. Again, life was not threatened only by the cyclical plague.
Over the years of that agon, Parker seems to have
used his connections to bring in the help of the Walsinghams and the Royal Court.
This printing of public notices between more substantial work may be a result
of his support.
[1] Jeffrey,
Edward. The Antiquarian Repertory; a Miscellaneous Assemblage (1807). 350-1.
[2] Timperly,
C. H. Dictionary of Printers and Printing (1839). 380-1. “he was the
first person admitted into the livery of the Stationers' company after they had
received their charter from Philip and Mary.”
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