Apparently there were but few
who did not consider this extravagant accusation well founded;
indeed, in many writings of the fourteenth century, we find great
acrimony with regard to the suspected poison-mixers, which plainly
demonstrates the prejudice existing against them. Unhappily,
after the confessions of the first victims in Switzerland, the
rack extorted similar ones in various places. Some even
acknowledged having received poisonous powder in bags, and
injunctions from Toledo, by secret messengers. Bags of this
description were also often found in wells, though it was not
unfrequently discovered that the Christians themselves had thrown
them in; probably to give occasion to murder and pillage; similar
instances of which may be found in the persecutions of the
witches.
This picture needs no additions. A lively image of the Black
Plague, and of the moral evil which followed in its train, will
vividly represent itself to him who is acquainted with nature and
the constitution of society. Almost the only credible accounts of
the manner of living, and of the ruin which occurred in private
life during this pestilence, are from Italy; and these may enable
us to form a just estimate of the general state of families in
Europe, taking into consideration what is peculiar in the manners
of each country.
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