Page 103 [103]
OCR
wea GROWTH OF THE CITY SI and the fine priories of St. Helen and the Holy Trinity by Aldgate. St. Paul’s was intact, except that the tower had lost its lofty spire, and at least one hundred parish churches still existed. Stow, counting Westminster, makes them one hundred and twenty-three. Smith, another authority of the same period, says London “hath 108 parish churches within the walles.” After Stow’s time we have the domestic life of the citizens delightfully described in words by Pepys, and by Hollar in prints and views, and can form a clear estimate of the ls Se aa ie wes changes wrought by the 335 fire. Population had immensely increased, and the city had grown more unwholesome in proportion. The plague claimed its. victims every year. Had they but known it, the citizens had the remedy at their doors. The fresh, clean water of the New River had been brought in by Sir Hugh Myddelton as far back as 1620, but was universally neglected in favour of the Thames, the churchyard springs, and the private wells. M
