firſt Part, the Guild-Hall, Blackwell-Hall, Part of Leaden-Hall, Half the Exchange, the Seſſion-Houſe, the Compter; the Priſons of Ludgate, Newgate, &c. ſeveral of the Wharfs, and Stairs, and Landing-places on the River; all which were either burnt down or damaged by the great Fire of London, the next Year after the Plague; and of the ſecond Sort, the Monument, Fleet-ditch with its Bridges, and the Hoſpital of Bethlem, or Bedlam, &c. But poſſibly the Managers of the City’s Credit, at that Time, made more Conſcience of breaking in upon the Orphan’s Money; to ſhew Charity to the diſtreſs’d Citizens, than the Managers in the following Years did, to beautify the City, and reedify the Buildings, tho’ in the firſt Caſe, the Loſers would have thought their Fortunes better beſtow’d, and the Publick Faith of the City have been leſs ſubjected to Scandal and Reproach.
It muſt be acknowledg’d that the abſent Citizens, who, tho’ they were fled for Safety into the Country, were yet greatly intereſted in the Welfare of thoſe who they left behind, forgot not to contribute liberally to the Relief of the Poor, and large Sums were alſo collected among Trading-Towns in the remoteſt Parts of of England; and as I have heard alſo, the Nobility and the Gentry, in all Parts of England, took the deplorable Condition of the City into their Conſideration, and ſent up large Sums of Money in Charity, to the Lord Mayor and Magiſtrates, for the Relief of the Poor; the King alſo, as I was told, ordered a thouſand Pounds a Week to be diſtributed in four Parts; one Quarter to the City and Liberties of Weſtminſter: one Quarter, or Part, among the Inhabitants of the Southwark Side of the Water; one Quarter to the Liberty and Parts within, of the City, excluſive of the City, within the Walls; and, one fourth Part to the Suburbs in the County of Middleſex, and the Eaſt and North Parts of the City: But this latter I only ſpeak of as a Report.
