And as divers distressed people had
saved some of their goods, of which they knew not where to
dispose, he ordered that churches, chapels, schools, and such
like places in and around Westminster, should be free and open to
receive and protect them. He likewise directed that all cities
and towns should, without contradiction or opposition, receive
the citizens and permit them free exercise of their manual
labours: he promising, when the present exigency had passed
away, to take care the said persons should be no burden to such
towns as received them.
The people were therefore speedily relieved. Many of them found
refuge with their friends and relatives in the country, and
others sought homes in the districts of Westminster and
Southwark: so that in four days from the termination of the
fire, there was scarce a person remaining in the fields, where
such numbers had taken refuge.
The first hardships consequent to the calamity having passed
away, people were anxious to trace the cause of their sufferings,
which they were unwilling to consider accidental. A rumour
therefore sprang up, that the great fire resulted from a wicked
plot, hatched by Jesuits, for the destruction of an heretical
city. At this the king was sorely troubled; for though there was
no evidence which led him to place faith in the report, yet a
great body of the citizens and many members of his council held
it true. Therefore, in order to appease such doubts as arose in
his mind, and likewise to satisfy the people, he appointed his
privy council to sit morning and evening to inquire into the
matter, and examine evidences set forth against those who had
been charged with the outrage and cast into prison during the
conflagration.
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