Defoe

In "A Journal of the Plague Year," a 1772 fictionalized account of London's Great Plague of 1665, Daniel Defoe notes that people were quick to turn to quacks and peddlers offering "Sovereign cordials against the corruption of the air."

Defoe praised the preparatory work by London's mayor and the city's councilmen, as well as the College of Physicians, in their efforts to contain the plague.

Nature had gifted Defoe with untiring energy, a keen taste for public affairs, and a special aptitude for chicanery and intrigue.