Journal of the Plague Year

continued, by a Gentleman

Heard ſombre Tidings yeſter Eve at the Bloater and Blueſtocking Coffee-houſe, where my Lord Splyce-Chyldebryde diſcourſed upon the wondrous Charm and Adventure of ſtudying at our great Univerſities, eſpecially when many auſtere and diſciplined Clericks are perforce cloiſtered for lengthy Periods with a ſubſtantial ſtudent Boddy. For it ſeemeth the Woo Han Peſtilence in the great Maliciouſneſs and Peſtiferouſneſs of its unnatural Oriental Cunning, hath contrived to infect many among the future Hope of our Nation, deſpite the clear prophylactick Advice of our noble Prime Miniſter, that the expendable Claſses ſhould return to their Labours and the Nation's Youth to its Schooling, while remaining ſeverall Yards apart except where the largeſt Pariſh in the Borough hath no more than ſeventeen Acres of unencloſed Commons at fore-wallopage, or in any other neceſsarie Circumſtances. It is now ordered alſo that the Publick-houſes muſt cloſe earlier by an Hour, which will indubitably confound the Heathen Peſtilence thanks to the abrupt precipitous daily Diminution in the alcoholick Content of every Engliſhman.