Tag Archives: Great Fire of London

fire of london: desolation row

On Sunday, September 2, 1666, fire burst out in a riverside area of London. The season was dry, the city wooden, and a perverse east wind kept fanning the flames. Ever curious, Samuel Pepys climbed a turret to get a … Continue reading

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A career man’s crisis

“Chance without merit,” said Samuel Pepys, had won him his post as the navy’s Clerk of the Acts. Mischance without personal demerit almost cost him all on June 12,1667, when a Dutch squadron sailed boldly up the Thames, burned part … Continue reading

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fire! and “a very fearful stink”

Samuel Pepys diary. There is nothing quite like his account of Restoration England in all its gaudy excess of sex, scandal, fire and plague… The final blow to English morale was the Great Fire of London, which razed most of … Continue reading

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