io6 History of the Company. 



until the January following, the cause being 

 ascribed in the minute to " y'" late contagion." 

 The Company appears to have suffered heavily 

 from the pestilence, as in July, 1666, only four 

 members were assembled at a meeting of the 

 Court, which could not, in consequence, be held. 

 This deduction is likewise supported by the 

 numerous appointments which were shortly after- 

 wards made to the Court and Livery. 



The desolation produced by the Plague was 

 consummated by the Great Fire, 



A.D. 1666. ^ . . T 1 T^l 



The Great Fire which immediately supervened. This 

 of London, fga^j-f^l conflagration, which within four 



days destroyed 13,200 houses and 89 churches, 

 including St. Paul's, and laid waste 400 streets, 

 gave the finishing blow to the material possessions 

 of the Company. Nearly all the Companies' 

 Halls were destroyed, the exceptions being the 

 very few outside the area of conflagration, and of 

 these the principal were the Leathersellers' and 

 the Carpenters'. Saddlers' Hall perished with 

 the others, but the Company fortunately rescued 

 their plate — what little mercifully remained to 

 them — the burial cloth or pall, and a few of their 

 books, such as appear to have been in use at the 

 time, and thus easily accessible. The system of 

 insurance of houses and furniture was not intro- 

 duced until the following year, consequently this 

 final catastrophe, coming upon the Company in 

 their already impoverished condition, completely 

 prostrated them. Moreover, with the loss of 



