cr own readers

74 TH E GREAT FIRE ' OF LONDON.
all sorts ; and tents were erected to shelter both people
and what goods they could get away.
5. Oh, th e miserable and calamitous spectacle ! All
the sky was of a fiery aspect, lik e the top of a burning
oven, the light being seen above forty miles round
about for many nights. God grant that m~' eyes may
never behold th e like-above ten thousand houses all
in one flame ! The noise and crackling and th unde r
of th e impetuous flames, th e shrieking of women and
children, th e hurry of people, th e fall of towers, and
houses, and churches, were lik e a hideous storm.
6. The air all about was so hot th at at last one
was not able to approach the fire. :Men were forced
to sta nd still and let the flames burn on, which they
did for nearly two miles in length and one in breadth.
The clouds of smoke were dismal, and reached nearly
fifty miles in length . Thus I left it thi s afternoon.
London was, 'but is no more !
7. 4th.-The burning still rag es, and it has now got
as far as th e Inner Temple. All Fleet Street, the Old
Bailey, Ludgate Hill , Warwi ck Lane, Newgate, Paul's
Chain, and Watling Street are now flmning. The
stones of St. Paul's have been fallin g on all sides, th e
melting lead of the roof running down the streets in
a st ream, and the very pa vements glowing with fiery
redness, so that no horse or man is able to tread on
them. The easte rn wind still more impetuously drives
th e flames forward.
8. 5th.- Men now began to bestir themselves, and
not to stand dismayed, as th ey had done hitherto. It
was seen that nothing was lik ely to put a stop to the
fire, but the blowing up of as many houses as would
mak e a wider gap than any \ rhieh had yet been made