The Great Plague   of London in 1665 was the last in a long senies of plague that first began in London in June 1499.1t killed between 75,000 and 100,000. First suspected in late 1664,it began to spread eastwards in April 1665 from the poor suburb of St. Giles to the crowded and dirty communities on its way to the walled City of London. The Great Plague at Its Peak By September 1665 ,the death rate had reached 8,000 per week. Helpless city authorities began to abandon quarantine  measures. Houses containing the dead and dying were no longer locked. London's mournful silence was broken by the noise of carts carrying the dead for burial in churches or public plague pits. Well-off residents soon fled to the countryside, leaving the poor behind in poor old commun/ties. Thousands of dogs and cats were killed to remove a feared source of contagion   ,and piles of rotting garbage were burned. Doctors cut swellings and bled black spots in attempts to cure plague victims. Plague Orders prohibited churches from keeping dead bodies in their buildings during public assemblies or services, and camers of the dead had to identify themselves and could not mix with the public. Samuel Pepys: Eyewitness Accounts In his famous diary, Samuel Pepys, a member of Parliament, conveyed the sad image of desperate people wandering the streets in search of relief from the ruins of the plague. His notes during 1665  indicated the severity of London's Great Plague. In July, he mourned " the sad news of the death of so manv in the community, forty last night, the bell always going either for deaths or burials. " A month later, when London's death rate rose sharply, Pepys noted that surviors are forced to carry the dead to be buried by daylight, the nights not enough to do it The Plague Declines and the Government Reacts By February 1666,the Great Plague had nearly run its course.lt died out during the Great Fire that same year and never returned. Central parts of London were rebuilt with wider streets to relieve crowding and better waste water svstems to improve public cleanliness. New Plague Orders were issued in May 1666,which banned the burial of future plague victims in churches and small churchyards, enforced the use of quicklime    at chosen burial sites, and strictly prohibited opening graves less than one year after burial as a safeguard against the spread of infection. How did Samuel Pepys feel when the bell was going all the night during the Great Plague?
Frightened. Relieved. Sorrowful. Moody.