Engrafting against Smallpox

IN my opinion, dear S. I ought rather to quarrel with you, for not answering my Nimeguen letter of August, till December, than to excuse my not writing again till now. I am sure there is on my side a very good excuse for silence, having gone such tiresome land journeys, though I don't find the conclusion of them so bad as you seem to imagine. I am very easy here, and not in the solitude you fancy me. The great number of Greeks, French, English and Italians, that are under our protection, make their court to me from morning till night, and I'll assure you, are, many of them, very fine ladies; for there is no possibility for a Christian to live easy under this government, but by the protection of an Ambassador; and the richer they are, the greater is their danger.

In my opinion, dear S.,1 I ought rather to quarrel with you, for not answering my Nimeguen2 letter of August till December, than to excuse my not writing again till now. I am sure there is on my side a very good excuse for silence, having gone such tiresome land journeys, though I don’t find the conclusion of them so bad as you seem to imagine. I am very easy here, and not in the solitude you fancy me. The great number of Greeks, French, English, and Italians that are under our protection make their court to me from morning till night, and, I’ll assure you, are, many of them, very fine ladies; for there is no possibility for a Christian to live easy under this government but by the protection of an ambassador,3 and the richer they are, the greater is their danger.

1. Sarah Chiswell, a friend of Lady Mary’s since their youth. The printed letters hide names behind initials.
2. Nimeguen (modern Nijmegen, in the Netherlands), where she had stopped on her journey east in 1716.
3. Her husband, Edward Wortley Montagu, was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Those dreadful stories you have heard of the Plague, have very little foundation in truth. I own, I have much ado to reconcile myself to the sound of a word, which has always given me such terrible ideas; though I am convinced there is little more in it, than in a fever. As a proof of this, let me tell you, ⟨that⟩ we ⟨passed⟩ through two or three towns most violently infected. In the very next house where we lay (in one of those places) two persons died of it. Luckily for me, I was so well ⟨deceived⟩, that I knew nothing of the matter; and I was ⟨made⟩ believe, that our second cook, had only a great cold. However we left our doctor to take care of him, and yesterday they both arrived here in good health; and I am now let into the secret, that he ⟨has⟩ had the Plague. There are many that escape it, neither is the air ever infected. I am persuaded that it would be as ⟨easy a⟩ matter to root it out here, as out of Italy and France; but it does so little mischief, they are not very solicitous about it, and are content to suffer this distemper, instead of our ⟨tax?⟩, which they are utterly unacquainted with.

Those dreadful stories you have heard of the plague have very little foundation in truth. I own I have much ado to reconcile myself to the sound of a word which has always given me such terrible ideas, though I am convinced there is little more in it than in a fever. As a proof of this, let me tell you that we passed through two or three towns most violently infected. In the very next house where we lay (in one of those places) two persons died of it. Luckily for me, I was so well deceived that I knew nothing of the matter, and I was made believe that our second cook had only a great cold. However, we left our doctor to take care of him, and yesterday they both arrived here in good health; and I am now let into the secret that he has had the plague. There are many that escape it; neither is the air ever infected.4 I am persuaded that it would be as easy a matter to root it out here as out of Italy and France; but it does so little mischief, they are not very solicitous about it, and are content to suffer this distemper instead of our [tax?], which they are utterly unacquainted with.

4. Many believed that disease spread through corrupted air, foul or poisoned air often rising from rot or swamps. She reports that here no one thought the air itself carried the plague.

⟨Apropos⟩ of ⟨distempers⟩, I am going to tell you a thing, that will make you wish yourself here. The small-pox, so fatal, and so general amongst us, is here entirely harmless, by the invention of engrafting, which is the term they give it. There is a set of old women, who make it their business to perform the operation, every autumn, in the month of September, when the great heat is abated. People send to one another to know if any of their ⟨family⟩ has a mind to have the small-pox; ⟨they⟩ make parties for this purpose, and when they are met (commonly fifteen or sixteen together) the old woman comes with a nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox, and asks what veins you please to have open'd. She immediately rips open that you offer to her, with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a common scratch) and puts into the vein, as much matter as can lie upon the head of her needle, and after that, binds up the little wound with a hollow bit of shell, and in this manner opens four or five veins. The Grecians have commonly the superstition ⟨of⟩ opening one in the middle of the forehead, one in each arm, and one on the breast, to mark the sign of the cross; but this has a very ill effect, all these wounds leaving little scars; and is not done by those that are not superstitious, who chuse to have them in the legs, or that part of the arm that is concealed. The children or young patients play together all the rest of the day, and are in perfect health to the eighth. Then the fever begins to seize them and they keep their beds two days, very seldom three. They have very rarely above twenty or thirty in their faces, which never mark, and in eight days time they are as well as before their illness. Where they are wounded, there remain running sores during the distemper, which I don't doubt is a great relief to it.

Apropos of distempers, I am going to tell you a thing that will make you wish yourself here. The smallpox, so fatal and so general amongst us, is here entirely harmless, by the invention of engrafting,5 which is the term they give it. There is a set of old women who make it their business to perform the operation every autumn, in the month of September, when the great heat is abated. People send to one another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the smallpox; they make parties for this purpose, and when they are met (commonly fifteen or sixteen together) the old woman comes with a nutshell full of the matter of the best sort of smallpox,6 and asks what veins you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that you offer to her with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a common scratch), and puts into the vein as much matter as can lie upon the head of her needle, and after that binds up the little wound with a hollow bit of shell; and in this manner opens four or five veins. The Grecians7 have commonly the superstition of opening one in the middle of the forehead, one in each arm, and one on the breast, to mark the sign of the cross; but this has a very ill effect, all these wounds leaving little scars, and is not done by those that are not superstitious, who choose to have them in the legs, or that part of the arm that is concealed. The children or young patients play together all the rest of the day, and are in perfect health to the eighth. Then the fever begins to seize them, and they keep their beds two days, very seldom three. They have very rarely above twenty or thirty in their faces,8 which never mark, and in eight days’ time they are as well as before their illness. Where they are wounded, there remain running sores during the distemper, which I don’t doubt is a great relief to it.9

5. Giving a person smallpox on purpose, by putting matter from a smallpox sore into a small cut, so as to cause a milder case and lasting protection. In English it was later called inoculation.
6. Pus from the sores of someone with smallpox. “The best sort” probably means a mild case.
7. Greek Orthodox Christians living under Ottoman rule.
8. That is, twenty or thirty pocks, the sores of smallpox. “Which never mark”: they leave no scars.
9. Like the doctors of her day, she assumes the disease is bad matter in the body that needs an outlet; the open sores let it drain.

Every year thousands undergo this operation, and the French Ambassador says ⟨pleasantly⟩, that they take the small-pox here by ⟨way of⟩ diversion, as they take the waters in other countries. There is no example ⟨of any one⟩ that has died in it, and you may ⟨believe I am very⟩ well satisfied of the safety of this ⟨experiment⟩, since I intend to try it on my dear little son. I am patriot enough to take pains to bring ⟨this⟩ useful invention into fashion in England, and ⟨I⟩ should not fail to write to some of our Doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that I thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their revenue, for the good of mankind. But that distemper is too beneficial to them, not to expose to all their resentment, the hardy wight that should undertake to put an end to it. Perhaps if I live to return, I may, however, have courage to war with them. Upon this occasion, ⟨admire⟩ the heroism in the heart of ⟨your⟩ friend, ⟨&c.⟩

Every year thousands undergo this operation, and the French ambassador says pleasantly that they take the smallpox here by way of diversion, as they take the waters10 in other countries. There is no example of anyone that has died in it, and you may believe I am very well satisfied of the safety of this experiment, since I intend to try it on my dear little son.11 I am patriot enough to take pains to bring this useful invention into fashion in England, and I should not fail to write to some of our doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that I thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their revenue for the good of mankind. But that distemper is too beneficial to them not to expose to all their resentment the hardy wight12 that should undertake to put an end to it. Perhaps, if I live to return, I may, however, have courage to war with them. Upon this occasion, admire the heroism in the heart of your friend, etc.

10. Drink or bathe in mineral springs at a spa, for health.
11. Edward, her son, born in 1713.
12. Bold fellow.