| 90 | L O N | |
guished; but that evening the fire burst
out again at the Temple, by the falling of
some sparks upon a pile of wooden build-
ings; but upon blowing up the houses
around it with gunpowder, it was extin-
guished the next morning.
By this dreadful conflagration were
consumed 400 streets and lanes, 13,200
houses, the cathedral church of St. Paul,
86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the Royal
Exchange, Blackwell Hall, and the Cus-
tom House, several hospitals and libraries,
52 of the Companies halls, and a vast
number of other stately edifices, together
with three of the city gates, four stone
bridges, and four prisons; the loss of
which, with that of the merchandize and
houshold furniture, amounted, according
to the best calculation, to ten millions,
seven hundred and thirty thousand, five
hundred pounds: but it is amazing, that
in this terrible devastation, only six per-
sons lost their lives by the fire.
As by the dreadful ravages of the plague
the preceding year, the city was depopu-
lated, and the houses deprived of their in-
habitants, so by this conflagration the sur-
viving citizens were deprived of their ha-
bitations, and many thousands of them
compelled to retire to the fields, with
such of their effects as they were able to
|
| | save, |
|
| L O N | 91 |
save, where they continued destitute of the
conveniencies, and almost all the necessary
accomodations of life; lying in the
open air, till tents and slight wooden huts
could be erected, to secure them from the
inclemencies of the weather. Mean-
while the King had the goodness to order
a considerable quantity of naval bread to
be immediately distributed among the
poor, and a proclamation was wisely pub-
lished, ordering the neighbouring Justices
to encourage the bringing in of all sorts
of provisions.
It has been much disputed, whether
this dismal catastrophe was occasioned by
accident or design. An attempt was first
made to fix it upon the dissenters, who
suffered as much by this calamity, as any
other body of men; but having not the
least colour for such a pretence, it dropped
of course; and the English being then at
war with the French and the Dutch, the
latter were charged with concerting this
diabolical scheme; but this was found to
be only an injurious aspersion: however,
Robert Hubert, a Frenchman, of the Ro-
mish church, confessed, that he, at the
sollicitation of one Stephen Piedloe, set
fire to the baker's house in Pudding lane,
by means of a fire-ball which he fixed to
the end of a long pole, and lighting it
|
| | with |
|
HomeVolume IVPage Group 80 - 99
