N20568:2536
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
"ON the second instant, at one o'clock in the morning, there happened to break out a sad and deplorable fire, at a baker's in Pudding-lane, near Fish-street, which falling out at that hour of the night, and in a quarter of the town so close built with wooden pitched houses, spread itself so far before day, and with such, distraction to the inhabitants and neighbours, that care was not taken for the timely preventing the further diffusion of it, by pulling down houses, as ought to have been; so that this lamentable fire, in a short time, became too big to be mastered by any engines, or working near it. It fell out most unhappily too, that a violent easterly wind fomented it, and kept it burning all that day, and the night following, spreading itself up to Gracechurch-street, and downwards to Cannon-street to the water-side, as far as the Three Cranes in the Vintry.
THE people, in all parts about it, were distracted by the vastness of it, and their particular care to carry away their goods. Many attempts were made to prevent the spreading of it, by pulling down houses, and making great intervals, but all in vain, the fire seizing upon the timber and rubbish, and so continuing itself even through those spaces, and raging in a bright flame all Monday and Tuesday, notwithstanding his majesty's own, and his royal highness's indefatigable and personal pains to apply all possible remedies to prevent it, calling upon, and helping the people with their guards, and a great number of nobility and gentry unwearied assisting therein, for which they were required with a thousand blessings from the poor distressed people.
BY the favour of God, the wind slackened a little on Tuesday night, and the flames meeting with ⟨p. 241⟩brick buildings at the Temple, by little and little it was observed to lose its force on that side, so that on Wednesday morning we began to hope well, and his royal highness never despairing, or slackening his personal care, wrought so well that day, assisted in some parts by the lords of the council before and behind it, that a stop was put to it at the Temple church, near Holborn bridge, Pie-corner, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, near the lower end of Coleman street, at the end of Basinghall-street, by the Postern, at the upper end of Bishopsgate-street, and Leadenhall-street, at the standard in Cornhill, at the church in Fenchurch-street, near Clothmakers-hall in Mincing-lane, at the middle of Mark-lane, and at the Tower-dock.
ON Thursday, by the blessing of God, it was ••olly be•t down and extinguished. But so as that ••••ing it unhappily burst out again afresh at the ••mple, by the falling of some sparks (as is suppo••) upon a pile of wooden buildings; but his roy•••ighness, who watched there that whole night in person, by the great labours and diligence used, and especially by applying powder, to blow up the hou•• about it, before day most happily mastered it.
ON Thursday, by the blessing of God, it was ••olly be•t down and extinguished. But so as that ••••ing it unhappily burst out again afresh at the ••mple, by the falling of some sparks (as is suppo••) upon a pile of wooden buildings; but his roy•••ighness, who wa•ched there that whole night in person, by the great labours and diligence used, and especially by applying powder, to blow up the hou•• about it, before day most happily mastered it.
HIS majesty then sat hourly in council, and ever since hath continued making rounds about the city, i• all parts of it where the danger and mischief was the greatest, till this morning that he hath sent his •••ce the duke of Albemarle, whom he hath called for to assist him on this great occasion, to put his happy and successful hand to the finishing this memorable deliverance.
HIS majesty then sat hourly in council, and ever since hath continued making rounds about the city, i• all parts of it where the danger and mischief was the greatest, till this morning that he hath sent his •••ce the duke of Albemarle, whom he hath called for to assist him on this great occasion, to put his happy and successful hand to the finishing this me••rable deliverance.
DURING the progress of this dreadful conflagra••••, orders were given for pulling down various houses in the Tower of London, in order to preserve the grand magazine of gunpowder in that •••tress; to the preservation of which, the violent […] wind contributed more than the precaution.
DURING the progress of this dreadful conflagra••••, orders were given for pulling down various houses in the Tower of London, in order to preserve the grand magazine of gunpowder in that •••tress; to the preservation of which, the violent 〈…〉 wind contributed more than the precaution.
MANY thousands of citizens, who, by this calamity, were deprived of their habitations, retired to the fields, destitute of all necessaries, and exposed to the inclemency of the weather, till a sufficient number of huts could be erected for their relief. In order to mitigate the distresses of the people, his majesty ordered a great quantity of naval bread to be distributed among them; and issued a proclamation, commanding the magistrates of the city to encourage the bringing of all kinds of provisions.
BY the certificate of Jonas Moore and Ralph Gatrix, the surveyors appointed to examine the ruins, it appeared, that this dreadful fire over-r•n 373 acres of ground within the walls, and burnt 13,200 houses, 89 parish churches, besides chapels; and that only eleven parish churches within the walls were left standing.
BY the certificate of Jonas Moore and Ralph Gatrix, the surveyors appointed to examine the ruins, it appeared, that this dreadful fire over-r•n 373 acres of ground within the walls, and burnt 13,200 houses, 89 parish churches, besides chappels; and that only eleven parish churches within the walls were left standing.
TO this account may also be added the magnificent buildings of St. Paul's cathedral, Guildhall, the Royal Exchange, Custom-house, and Blackwellhall; many hospitals and libraries, fifty-two halls of the city companies, and a great number of other stately edifices; together with three of the city gates, and the prisons of Newgate, the Fleet, the Poultry and Wood-street Comp•ers; the loss of which, by the best calculation, amounted to upwards of ten millions sterling. And notwithstanding all this destruction, yet only six persons lost their lives.
VARIOUS were the conjectures of the people on the cause of this singular calamity: at first some imagined it to be casual, but from a train of circumstances, it afterwards appeared to have been done from the malice and horrid contrivances of the papists. Several suspected persons were taken into custody; but no positive proof being produced against them, they were discharged.
THOUGH this diabolical scheme took place, in a great measure, to ••ie wishes of the wicked contrivers, yet, instead of being prejudicial, it was in the end, productive of most unhappy consequences to the metropolis. It certainly, for a time, occasioned the most distinguished distress to the inhabitants, but it afforded an opportunity that never happened before, and in all human probability, never may again, of restoring the city with more uniformity, conveniency, and wholesomeness▪ than could be expected in a town of progressive growth. The streets were before narrow, crooked, and incommodious; the houses chiefly of wood, dark, ⟨p. 242⟩close, and ill-contrived; with several stories projecting beyond each other, as they rose, over the narrow streets. The free circulation of the air was, by these means, obstructed; and the people breathed a stagnant unwholesome element, replete with foul effluvia, sufficient of itself to generate putrid disorders, and disposed to harbour any pestilential taint it might receive. All these inconveniences were removed, by the streets being made more open, and the buildings principally formed of brick; so that if, either by accident or otherwise, a fire should happen in future, its progress would be soon stopped, and the direful consequences which generally arise from such circumstances rendered trifling.
BESIDES the conveniences already mentioned, the fire of London was certainly productive of an advantage of the most valuable nature, namely, the extirpation of that contagious and destructive distemper the plague, which, but the year before, had brought thousands to their graves. This horrid disease had made great devastation among the inhabitants, not only of the metropolis, but different parts of the kingdom, at various periods; but, thank God, its baneful influence has never taken place here since the before-mentioned catastrophe, and there is great reason to suppose that the fire materially contributed to the production of so happy a circumstance.
TO perpetuate, however, the remembrance of so singular an occurrence, a monument was erected in that part of the city near which the fire began. It is esteemed the noblest modern column in the world; and may, in some respects, vie with the most celebrated of antiquity, which are consecrated to the names of Trajan and Antoninus.
THE first person we meet with who suffered in Scotland on the score of religion, was one Patrick Hamilton, a gentleman of an independent fortune, and descended from a very ancient and honourable family.
HAVING acquired a liberal education, and being desirous of farther improving himself in useful knowledge, he left Scotland, and went to the university of Wirtenberg, in Germany, in order to finish his studies.
