Journal of the Plague Year

continued, by a Gentleman

Before commencing to ſhare with the reſt of the Nation our renewed Confinement againſt the Oriental Depredations of the Woo Han Peſtilence, I ſpent yeſter Night at the Bloater and Blueſtocking Coffee-houſe, where a Mr Shyne-Moontrype of the Royal College of Aſtrologers gave a moſt intereſting Lecture upon the lateſt ſcientifick Method of preventing further Infection. Addreſsing a packed Meeting of the Libertarian Brotherhood of Maſqueleſs Marauders, the intrepid Explorer of the coſmick Myſteries gave a relatively brief Expoſition of the projected Moon-ſhot which hath lately gained much Prominence among our Leaders. According to the lateſt Reſearches, the terrible Progreſs of the Peſtilence beyond its natural and God-given Realm amid the Heathen, reſults from the evil Influence of the Lunar Sphere which, according to certain recently decoded Prophecies in the Revelation of Saint John, the Book of Common Prayer and the Spectator, Heaven hath looſed upon the World thanks to the ſinful Riſe of a deſtructively ſceptical and un-Chriſtian Attitude among the vulgar Publick, ſpecifically in the matter of paying Aſtrologers their Fees. Accordingly the Gentlemen of the College propoſe a Retaliation againſt the ſiniſter ſelenick Boddy, which being a flatte Diſc like the Earth ſhould prove eaſily penetrable by Cannon-fire. In addition to defeating the Peſtilence, the manly Britisſh Aſsertiveneſs behind the Act of ſhooting a Hole in the villainous Orb will inevitably ſerve as a ſalutary Object-leſson to thoſe leſser Breeds, which lurk like ravening Wolves below the Horizons of Britannia's Waves and ſeek to accompliſh our Downfall through the Chinks in our national Bloodſtream.