compelling 200,000 persons to camp out in the country, has always been
regarded as one of the greatest blessings London ever knew.

London had been visited by a terrible plague, and the city was built
with such cramped and narrow streets, the upper stories of the houses
projecting and nearly touching one another, that the infection was borne
from house to house, and it did not seem possible to stamp out the
disease, because there was no means of properly airing and purifying the
city.

The horrible disease would seem to have passed away, when suddenly there
would be a fresh outbreak, carrying off hundreds of victims, and
bringing terror into every heart again.

Then the great fire broke out. For four days it raged and consumed
everything in its path, but at the same time it so thoroughly purified
the city that the plague was stamped out for good and all.

The present fire occurred in the most crowded part of the city, in the
heart of the business quarter.

London is not laid out like an American city, in blocks and squares,
with broad straight avenues running for miles, crossed at regular
intervals with wide and open streets.

It is, in the older part, a network of narrow roadways, with courts and
alleys lying back of them. The streets turn and bend and twist and go in
every direction, and leading out of them are other little winding
streets. These side turnings are delightful for those who know London
well, because you can turn down here and up there, and cut off corners