13. REPORTING THE PLAGUE
Daniel Defoe wrote "Robinson Crusoe". He also gave an accurate and vivid account of the Plague in another of his books. He wrote:-
"They dug a great pit in the churchyard. A terrible pit it was".
So terrible that in 2 weeks it swallowed 1000 bodies.
14. SAMUEL PEPYS
Samuel Pepys actually lived through London's plague. He recorded the sad scenes in his diary.
"Lord how empty the streets are. So many poor, sick people in the streets, full of sores."
15. NO MORE PLAGUE
Mercifully this was the last time Britain was to suffer from the Plague.
The Plague was still to sweep across Spain in 1670 and to infect Messina in 1743 and Marseilles in 1760.
Moscow suffered the last horrifying visitation of the Plague in Europe in 1770. 200,000 people, a third of the population, were to die from it in Moscow and the surrounding area.
16. BENEFACTOR OF MANKIND
No one is certain why the Plague disappeared.
Perhaps the cities became less dirty and overcrowded. Perhaps people built up an immunity to the disease.
One explanation is that the grey rat about this time eliminated the black rat, the carrier of the disease.
The grey rat kept its distance from men and in doing so may be regarded as the greatest benefactor of mankind. |
17. AFTER THE PLAGUE, THE FIRE
As London recovered from the Plague, it was to suffer in the following year another calamity - the Great Fire.
When the fire started in the King's bakery in Pudding Lane, it was to burn for 3 days.
18. LONDON'S HOMELESS
The fire was to burn down the old, crowded city within the walls.
Although only 4 people died in the fire, thousands were made homeless. The estimates of the homeless vary from 80,000 to 200,000.
19. SHELTER
The homeless camped out in tents and makeshift huts.
They spread out in their vast camp from Finsbury across Islington to Hampstead Heath.
It was homelessness on a sudden, gigantic and frightening scale - dwarfing today's problems to puny insignificance.
20. A NEW CITY
Within the city walls a new town was to arise. Now was the time for London to be rebuilt as the most splendid city in the world.
London had the opportunity. It had the man - Sir Christopher Wren, England's most gifted architect. |
