cess vs plague

cess

verb
  • To levy a cess. 

noun
  • Usually preceded by good or (more commonly) bad: luck or success. 

  • An assessed tax, duty, or levy. 

  • The area along either side of a railroad track which is kept at a lower level than the sleeper bottom, in order to provide drainage. 

plague

verb
  • To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly. 

  • To afflict with a disease or other calamity. 

noun
  • A group of common grackles. 

  • A widespread affliction, calamity or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution. 

  • The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis. 

  • An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but specifically by the above disease. 

  • A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates. 

How often have the words cess and plague occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )