Here is an account, as they say, “ripped from the headlines.” In the early fall of the year, following a week in which no fewer than 8,200 people died of all diseases, the plague began to abate, and the mortality rate dropped. No sooner did the epidemic begin to loosen its grip on the city than people began restarting their public lives in earnest, gathering in groups, visiting each other’s homes, going to taverns, and returning to work, where they had it. People who had fled the city, hearing this, began to return. Predictably, as their physicians and clergy warned, this behavior allowed the disease to rebound for a time before finally subsiding in earnest with the onset of winter. The author wonders whether the “precipitant disposition” of people to disregard reason and common sense is the same everywhere but will not commit himself to answer. Our own recent experiences, I think, argue strongly in favor of the proposition. [For notes on the main themes of the novel, visit https://londonplague.com/postscript/. To see some ways in which our reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic are anticipated in the Journal, see https://londonplague.com/concordance/.] Credits: Podcast produced by Sam Brelsfoard. Music from Funeral Sentences of Henry Purcell (1659-1695), performed by the Choir of Clare College at the University of Cambridge, Timothy Brown conducting. Used by permission. Visit our website: www.londonplague.com © 2020 Mark Cummings