Plague and fire

Charles II was restored (allowed to return to England as king) in 1660. Most people were glad to have him back after the bleak years of the Commonwealth. The laws that made Sundays so dull were cancelled. In London, the theatres were open again.

For some people, London was a cheerful place in Charles II's reign. But it was also deadly dangerous. Disease was everywhere, and the smell must have been awful. The heaps of rubbish in the streets were perfect breeding-places for black rats. And the fleas that lived on the rats carried bubonic plague.

The plague had never gone away since the Black Death of 1348-9. Every few years there was an outbreak. In 1665, after a pause of 30 years, it swept London again, and nearly 70,000 people died. Those who could afford to do so fled, taking the disease with them.

Plague was highly infectious, and killed its victims within hours. Houses where it struck were locked and barred, and those inside could come out only at night. That was when the carts rumbled through the streets, and you could hear the mournful cry, 'Bring out your dead!'

By the end of 1665 the worst was over, and the plague did not come back. The reason was not that doctors found a cure. It was that brown rats drove out the black rats. Brown rats had different fleas, ones that did not carry plague.

A second disaster hit London in 1666. In five days in September, fire wiped out the city's heart. Wooden buildings burned easily, and there was no proper fire brigade. Men pulled down houses, or blew them up, to stop the fire spreading. For a second time, the rich and famous fled.

After the fire, a great chance was missed. London could have become a new, planned city with wide streets and proper sewers. But the houses were put up just as before, with no thought for health or hygiene. On the other hand, fine new churches were built, to Sir Christopher Wren's designs. His greatest work was the new St. Paul's Cathedral.

Walter Robson: Crown, Parliament and People; Oxford University Press, 1992/2002, page 49 f.