uld assuredly have prevented their progress; but when
urged to this measure would reply, he "durst not, without the consent of
the owners." And when at last, after great destruction had taken place,
word was brought him from the king to "spare no house, but pull them
down everywhere before the fire," he cried out "like a fainting woman,"
as Pepys recounts, "Lord! what can I do? I am spent; people will not
obey me."

Meanwhile, great bodies of the citizens of all classes had been at work;
some upon the cumbrous engines, others carrying water, others levelling
houses, but all their endeavours seemed powerless to quell the raging
flames. And it was notable when first the pipes in the streets were
opened, no water could be found, whereon a messenger was sent to the
works at Islington, in order to turn on the cocks, so that much time was
lost in this manner. All through Sunday morning the flames extended far
and wide, and in a few hours three hundred houses were reduced to ashes.
Not at midday, nor yet at night, did they give promise of abatement. The
strong easterly wind continuing to blow, the conflagration worked its
way to Cannon Street, from thence gradually encompassing the dwellings
which lay between that thoroughfare and the Thames, till the whole
seemed one vast plain of raging fire.

The streets now presented a scene of the uttermost confusion and
distress. The affrighted citizens, whose dwellings were momentarily
threatened with destruction, hurried to and fro, striving to save those
of their families who by reason of infancy, age or illness were unable
to help themselves. Women on the eve of child-birth were carried from
their beds; mothers with infants clinging to their naked breasts fled
from homes which would shelter them no more; the decrepit were borne
away on the shoulders of the strong. The narrow thoroughfares were
moreover obstructed by furniture dragged from houses, or lowered from
windows with a reckless speed that oftentimes destroyed what it sought
to preserve. Carts, drays, and horses laden with merchandise jostled
each other in their hurried way towards the fields outside the city
walls. Men young and vigorous crushed forward with beds or trunks upon
their backs; children laboured under the weight of bundles, or rolled
barrels of oil, wine, or spirits before them. And the air, rendered
suffocating by smoke and flame, was moreover confused by the crackling
of consuming timber, the thunder of fallin