The Great Plague lasted from 1665 to 1666 and was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. The plague killed an estimated 100,000 people, almost a quarter of London's population, over a period of 18 months. The plague was caused by a bacterium usually transmitted through the bite of an infected rat flea. Samuel Pepys's diary Wednesday, 4 May 1664 reminds us how...

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