THEN AND NOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 284, 17 March 1941, Page 8

THEN AND NOW

THE FIRES OF LONDON A local resident recently received a copy of the London Daily Mail and in opening the copy Avas struck by the similarity of tAvo articles. One was of the issue dated January 4, 1,941, Avhile the other, a quotation from Pepys Diary, occupied a position alongside. They read:— Midnight was not far aAvay. I walked up Ludgalc-hill, buildings blazing to my left, buildings blazing to my right. A mighty glare lit the sky above, tinting the high clouds with a tinge of pink. Even at this hour, a great crowd of Londoners Avere out to watch the attempted destruction of their beloved City. They Avalked sloavlv— men, smartly dressed girls. Cockney matrons, here and there a child And they walked almost in silence. In the glare of many fires, their faces shoAved AA'hite and bitter. They said little. They Avere aAved and deeply angry. Every noAA r and then you would hear someone mutter to himself, "They'll pay for this —" The First Big Fire . . . they stayed till it AvaS dark almost, and saAV the lire grow; and, as it grew darker, appeared more and more, and in corners and upon steeples, and betAveen churches and the houses, as far as Ave could see up the hill of the City, in a most horrid, malicious, bloody flame, not like the fine flame of an ordinary fire ... it made me AA'cep to sec it ... So home Avith sad heart . . ."—Pepys Diary, September 2, 1606,