H.F. continues the story of the three poor laborers, who are joined by another company of refugees and bluff their way past a constable at Walthamstow.

H.F. turns to the story of three poor laborers—a biscuit baker, a sail maker, and a joiner—who resolve to take to the road rather than stay in London.

H.F. turns from the circumstances of maritime tradesmen and their families to the plague's toll among pregnant women, nursing mothers, and infant children.

H.F.'s curiosity causes him to venture to the Thames to see how things fare on the river. He meets a poor waterman working to support his quarantined family and is moved by his story.

H.F. notes the many varieties of working people left without work by the cessation of business and commerce, as well as the response by public authorities to relieve them.

H.F. describes the variety of crimes—from petty theft to murder—reputed to have been committed during the emergency, and offers a humorous story of the poor piper who was nearly buried alive.

H.F. notes that few had sufficient provisions to sustain their households for any length of time, and were compelled to venture out regularly for food, medicine, and other necessaries.

H.F. recounts the horrors of the mass graves in Aldgate Churchyard, and the shocking behavior of a set of men who mocked the people's grief and terror.

H.F. recounts the responses of people confined to their houses, including the subterfuges some took to escape. He tells of the particularly affecting case of a woman driven out of her senses by grief.

H.F. reviews (and reproduces the text of) the public orders given for quarantining and monitoring those suspected of infection.