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CHAPTER XII.
A cry of fire by night.--Fright and confusion.--The lord mayor is
unmanned.--Spread of the flames.--Condition of the streets.--
Distressful scenes.--Destruction of the Royal Exchange.--Efforts
of the king and Duke of York.--Strange rumours and alarms.--St.
Paul's is doomed.--The flames checked.--A ruined city as seen by
day and night.--Wretched state of the people.--Investigation into
the origin of the fire.--A new city arises.
Scarcely had the city of London recovered from the dire effects
of the plague, ere a vast fire laid it waste. It happened on the
2nd of September, 1666, that at two o'clock in the morning, the
day being Sunday, smoke and flames were seen issuing from the
shop of a baker named Faryner, residing in Pudding Lane, close by
Fish Street, in the lower part of the city. The house being
built of wood, and coated with pitch, as were likewise those
surrounding it, and moreover containing faggots, dried logs, and
other combustible materials, the fire spread with great rapidity:
so that in a short time not only the baker's premises, but the
homesteads which stood next it on either side were in flames.
Accordingly, the watchman's lusty cry of "Fire, fire, fire!"
which had roused the baker and his family in good time to save
their lives, was now shouted down the streets with consternation,
startling sleepers from their dreams, and awaking them to a sense
of peril. Thereon they rose promptly from their beds, and
hastily throwing on some clothes, rushed out to rescue their
neighbours' property from destruction, and subdue the threatening
conflagration.
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