Was social distancing being promoted as far back as the 15th century?
WHILE going through my books (as one does during lockdown) it was interesting to read a poem by the late 15th-century Dunfermline schoolmaster and makar Robert Henryson titled “Ane prayer for the Pest”, with the lines: “Allais that we sowld thus be haistely put doun and dye as beists” and “That nane dar mak with uthir residence”, meaning that no-one dares go and visit with another, surely a very early instance of social distancing from such a long time ago, all verses ending with “Preserve us frome this perrellus pestilens”.
What changes?
Richard Easson
Dornoch
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