Journal of the Plague Year

continued, by a Gentleman

It hath been ſayed abroad to-day by the Criers, that the Deaths in our noble City from the Woo Han Peſtilence are now in exceſs of an hundred thouſand, which unqueſtionably conſtitutes a great Cataſtrophe, given the Quantities of beaſtlie French who might be deterred from our ſacred Shores by ſo vaſt and formidable a Phalanx. And one muſt alſo not forget the Fields untilled, the Guſsets unembroidered, the Tithes unpaid, the Babes in Arms which will ſtarve for want of Motherly Care and thus become doomed to an indolent and unproductive Demiſe, far removed from the buccaneering Heritage of entrepreneurial Britiſhneſs which is the inalienable Due and Birth-right of every Native Son of theſe Iſles with ſufficient Pluck and Gumption to amaſs a proper Inheritance. Yet ſtill any true Patriot will marvell and rejoyce, that our ineffable Realm hath ſuch Degree of Vitality, that in Times ſuch as theſe the Race can breed an entire hundred thouſand Expendables.