Abstract
In our post September 11th society, we know that a letter has the power to kill, calling the nation to attention, but when one method of disseminating information breaks down, we can rely on many others. In plague-time England, however, the very stability of the nation might depend entirely on letters, and although no postal service existed for the average English citizen, the plague tampered with their mail on stages, in prose pamphlets, and in verse, revealing its power over their imaginations. After describing the most prominent scientific and religious theories linking letters with the spread of bubonic plague, I examine the plague letter as a device used by writers of the time (Dekker, Shakespeare, and Defoe among others) to display hope and despair through one of the most private modes of communication.