there the slightest prospect of its abatement. All the king's
better qualities were called into play by the present terrible crisis.
With a courage and devotion that he seldom displayed, he exposed himself
to the greatest risk, personally assisting at all the operations he
commanded; while his humane attention to the sufferers by the calamity
almost reconciled them to their deplorable situation. His movements were
almost as rapid as those of the fire itself. Riding up Cannon-street,
and from thence by Sweeting's-lane, to Lombard-street, and so on by
Fenchurch-street to Tower-street, he issued directions all the way,
checking every disturbance, and causing a band of depredators, who had
broken into the house of a wealthy goldsmith, to be carried off to
Newgate. Arrived in Tower-street, he found the Earl of Craven and his
party stationed a little beyond Saint Dunstan's in the East.

All immediate apprehensions in this quarter appeared at an end. The
church had been destroyed, as before mentioned, but several houses in
its vicinity having been demolished, the fire had not extended eastward.
Satisfied that the Tower was in no immediate danger, the king retraced
his course, and encountering the lord mayor in Lombard-street, sharply
reproved him for his want of zeal and discretion.

"I do not deserve your majesty's reproaches," replied the lord mayor.
"Ever since the fire broke out I have not rested an instant, and am
almost worn to death with anxiety and fatigue. I am just returned from
Guildhall, where a vast quantity of plate belonging to the city
companies has been deposited. Lord! Lord! what a fire this is!"

"You are chiefly to blame for its getting so much ahead," replied the
king, angrily. "Had you adopted vigorous measures at the outset, it
might have easily been got under. I hear no water was to be obtained.
How was that?"

"It is a damnable plot, your majesty, designed by the Papists, or the
Dutch, or the French--I don't know which--perhaps all three," rejoined
the lord mayor; "and it appears that the cocks of all the pipes at the
waterworks at Islington were turned, while the pipes and conduits in the
city were empty. This is no accidental fire, your majesty."

"So I find," replied the king; "but it will be time enough to inquire
into its origin hereafter. Meantime, we must act, and energetically, or
we shall be equally as much to blame as the incendiaries. Let a
proclamation be made, enjoining all those perso