y upon the ground, and communicated itself to the next
block of buildings; so that its circumvention was regarded as almost an
impossibility.

During Monday the flames attacked Cornhill, and then commenced to
demolish the Royal Exchange. Having once made an entrance in this
stately building it revelled in triumph; climbing up the walls, roaring
along the courts and galleries, and sending through the broken windows
volleys of smoke and showers of sparks, which threatened to suffocate
and consume those who approached. Then the roof fell with a mighty
crash, which seemed for a time to subdue the powerful conflagration; the
walls cracked, parted, and fell; statues of kings and queens were flung
from their niches; and in a couple of hours this building, which had
been the pride and glory of British Merchants, was a blackened ruin.

The citizens were now in a state of despair. Upwards of ten thousand
houses were in a blaze, the fire extending, according to Evelyn, two
miles in length and one in breadth, and the smoke reaching near fifty
miles in length. Mansions, churches, hospitals, halls, and schools
crumbled into dust as if at blighting touch of some most potent and
diabolical magician. Quite hopeless now of quenching the flames,
bewildered by loss, and overcome by terror, the citizens, abandoning
themselves to despair, made no further effort to conquer this
inappeasable fire; but crying aloud in their distraction, behaved as
those who had lost their wits. The king and the Duke of York, who on
Sunday had viewed the conflagration from the Thames, now alarmed at
prospect of the whole capital being laid waste, rode into the city,
and by their presence, coolness and example roused the people to fresh
exertions. Accordingly, citizens and soldiers worked with renewed energy
and courage; whilst his majesty and his brother, the courtiers and the
lord mayor, mixed freely with the crowd, commanding and directing them
in their labours.

But now a new terror rose up amongst the citizens, for news spread that
the Dutch and French--with whom England was then at war--and moreover
the papists, whom the people then abhorred, had conspired to destroy
the capital. And the suddenness with which the flames had appeared in
various places, and the rapidity with which they spread, leading the
distracted inhabitants to favour this report, a strong desire for
immediate revenge took possession of their hearts.

Accordingly all foreigners were la