Introduction
In 664, a particularly nasty epidemic of plague struck the British Isles and lasted for over twenty years. It nearly killed monk Cuthbert, who was never completely well for the rest of his days. Shortly after he was consecrated bishop of Lindisfarne in 685, the plague broke out again. Undaunted, Cuthbert left his beloved island retreat to tour the villages of the mainland, bringing comfort to the sick and bereaved.
AT the same time the plague made great ravages in those parts, so that there were scarcely any inhabitants left in villages and places which had been thickly populated, and some towns were wholly deserted.* The holy father Cuthbert, therefore, went round his parish, most assiduously ministering the word of God, and comforting those few who were left. But being arrived at a certain village, and having there exhorted all whom he found there, he said to his attendant priest, “Do you think that any one remains who has need that we should visit and converse with him? or have we now seen all here, and shall we go elsewhere?”
* At about this same time, in 686, the plague carried off almost everyone in the monastery of St Paul in Jarrow, where Bede was a teenage pupil of Abbot Ceolfrid. See A Quick Study. The existence of bacteria was unknown until Dutch microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) published his observations in a series of letters to the Royal Society of London, and it would be almost another three centuries before antibiotics provided a cure. See Penicillin. This was not the first encounter with the plague for Cuthbert: see ‘Why Am I Still Lying Here?’.
Précis
In 686, a devasting outbreak of the plague gripped Northumbria, such that some villages were wholly wiped out. In one particular village there were some survivors, and after spending time in several homes there Bishop Cuthbert, who had come from Lindisfarne to comfort the sick and the bereaved, turned to his companion and asked if everyone there had been seen. (60 / 60 words)
In 686, a devasting outbreak of the plague gripped Northumbria, such that some villages were wholly wiped out. In one particular village there were some survivors, and after spending time in several homes there Bishop Cuthbert, who had come from Lindisfarne to comfort the sick and the bereaved, turned to his companion and asked if everyone there had been seen.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, may, not, ought, unless, whereas, whether.
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