INTRODUCTION.                                                                                               i
The second was the great Plague of London ; in which, out of an estimated
population of 500,000 (two-thirds of whom are supposed to have fled panic-
stricken), 68,000 perished within the year.*
From 1666 England was free from Plague. A few sporadic cases indeed
occurred up to 1679, and a column filled up with " 0" is found in the bills of
mortality up till 1703; when it finally disappeared. For its disappearance from
England now (1679), as for its disappearance from the Continent of Europe later,
no reason can be assigned.
18th Century.
In the 18th century Plague was more or less confined to Eastern Europe,
although in 1720-1722 a severe outbreak occurred in Provence; Marseilles and
Toulon being attacked. In this outbreak, out of a total population of 250,000, 87,500
are said to have perished. The Provence epidemic is noteworthy because of the
panic it caused in England : where in consequence quarantine was enforced for the
first time. In 1717 Plague re-appeared at Constantinople: 1719 in Transylvania,
Hungary and Poland: 1743 in Sicily: 1738-1744 in Hungary, Moravia and
Austria: 1755 in European Turkey: 1770 in Moldavia (during the Russo-
Turkish War), Poland, Kieff, and Moscow, at which latter place it developed into
one of the most destructive epidemics of modern times. Over 50,000 persons-
nearly one half of the population-perished. From 1770 the disease, while
re-appearing in the haunts of the terrible early epidemics, was more limited both
in range and duration. In 1799 and 1800 a new epidemic in Syria and Egypt
affected both the French and the English Armies which were operating there.
19th Century.
Throughout the 18th century the tide of Plague had steadily ebbed away from
the West ; in the 19th century this ebb was still more marked. In 1802 Plague
appeared at Constantinople and Armenia: in 1806 at Astrakhan (Russia): in 1808
at Smyrna. In 1812 a more general epidemic affected these places and also Egypt.
From 1813-1815 it appeared in Bucharest, Malta, Corfu, Dalmatia and Egypt : in
1815 at Noja on the East Coast of Italy-so far its last appearance in that coun-
try- and produced a panic throughout Europe. In 1824 it attacked Tutchkoff in
Bessarabia, but the town was strictly isolated by a military Cordon, and the disease
did not spread. In 1828 it appeared in Cronstadt, and is believed to have been
again confined by similar action. In 1828-9, during the campaign of the Russian
Army against Turkey, a more serious outbreak occurred : for Plague appeared in
Odessa, the Crimea, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia ; but it spread no further ;
its limitation being again attributed to the Russian and Austrian military Cordons.
In 1831 Constantinople and Roumelia suffered from Plague ; in 1837 Roumelia
and Odessa ; and, with an isolated outbreak in Dalmatia in 1840, and one in
Constantinople in 1841, the Plague-History of the European Continent comes to a
close.
* " This number is likely to be rather too low than too high ; since, of the 6,432 deaths from spotted fever,
" many were probably really from plague, though not declared so to  avoid painfttl restrictions."-Encyc. Brit., Art,
"Plaguo."