The coal and wood wharfs, and magazines of oil, resin, etc., did infinite
mischief, so as the invective which a little before I had dedicated to his
majesty and published, giving warning what might probably be the issue of
suffering those shops to be in the city, was looked on as a prophecy.

The poor inhabitants were dispersed about St. George's Fields and
Moorfields, as far as Highgate, and several miles in circle, some under
tents, some under miserable huts and hovels, many without a rag, or any
necessary utensils, bed, or board; who, from delicateness, riches, and easy
accommodations in stately and well-furnished houses, were now reduced to
extremest misery and poverty.

In this calamitous condition I returned with a sad heart to my house,
blessing and adoring the mercy of God to me and mine, who in the midst of
all this ruin was like Lot, in my little Zoar, safe and sound.

7. I went this morning on foot from Whitehall as far as London bridge,
through the late Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill, by St. Paul's, Cheapside,
Exchange, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, and out to Moorfields, thence through
Cornhill, etc., with extraordinary difficulty clambering over heaps of yet
smoking rubbish, and frequently mistaking where I was. The ground under my
feet was so hot that it even burned the soles of my shoes.

In the mean time his majesty got to the Tower by water, to demolish the
houses about the graff, which, being built entirely about it, had they
taken fire, and attacked the White Tower, where the magazine of powder lay,
would undoubtedly not only have beaten down and destroyed all the bridge,
but sunk and torn the vessels in the river, and rendered the demolition
beyond all expression for several miles about the country.