On the other side, on an elevated pavement, stands King Charles II. in a Roman habit, with his temples incircled by a wreath of laurel, and approaching the figure representing the city, with a truncheon in his hand, seems to command three of his attendants to descend to her relief: the first represents the Sciences, with wings on her head, and a circle of naked boys dancing upon it, holding in her hand Nature, with her numerous breasts ready to give assistance to all: the second is, Architecture, with a plan in one hand, and a square and pair of compasses in the other: and the third is, Liberty, waving a hat in the air, shewing her joy at the pleasing prospect of the city’s speedy recovery. Behind the King, stands his brother the Duke of York, with a garland in one hand to crown the rising city, and a sword in the other for her defence. Behind him are Justice and Fortitude, the former with a coronet, and the latter with a reined lion. In the pavement, under the Sovereign’s feet, appears Envy peeping from her cell, and gnawing a heart; and in the upper part of the back ground the re-construction of the city is represented by scaffolds, erected by the sides of unfinished houses, with builders and labourers at work upon them.
The other sides of the pedestal have, each, a Latin inscription. That on the north side may be thus rendered.
‘In the year of Christ 1666, the second day of September, eastward from hence, at the distance of 202 feet, (the height of this column) about midnight, a most terrible fire broke out, which, driven by a high wind, not only laid waste the adjacent parts, but also places very remote, with incredible noise and fury: it consumed 89 churches, the city gates, Guildhall, many public structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of stately edifices, 13,200 dwelling houses, 400 streets: of twenty-six wards it utterly destroyed fifteen, and left eight others shattered and half burnt. The ruins of the city were 436 acres, from the Tower by the Thames side to the Temple church, and from the north east, along the city wall, to Holborn bridge. To the estates and fortunes of the citizens it was merciless, but to their lives very favourable. That it might, in all things, resemble the last conflagration of the world, the destruction was sudden; for in a small space of time, the same city was seen most flourishing, and reduced to nothing. Three days after, when this fatal fire had, in the opinion of all, baffled all human counsels and endeavours, it stopped, as it were, by a command from heaven, and was on every side extinguished.’
The inscription on the south side is translated thus:
‘Charles the Second, son of Charles the Martyr, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, a most gracious Prince, commiserating the deplorable state of things, whilst the ruins were yet smoaking, provided for the comfort of his citizens, and ornament of his city, remitted their taxes, and referred the petition of the magistrates and inhabitants to parliament; who immediately passed an act, that public works should be restored to greater beauty, with public money, to be raised by an impost on coals; that the churches, and the cathedral of St. Paul’s, should be rebuilt from their foundations, with the utmost magnificence: that bridges, gates, and prisons should be new erected, the sewers cleansed, the streets made straight and regular, such as were steep levelled, and those too narrow to be made wider. Markets and shambles removed to separate places. They also enabled, that every house should be built with party walls, and all in front raised of equal height; that those walls should be of square stone or brick; and that no man should delay building beyond the space of seven years. Moreover, care was taken by law to prevent all suits about their bounds. Anniversary prayers were also enjoined; and to perpetuate the memory thereof to posterity, they caused this column to be erected. The work was carried on with diligence, and London is restored; but whether with greater speed or beauty, may be made a question. In three years time the world saw that finished, which was supposed to be the work of an age.’
The inscription on the east side contains the names of the Lord Mayors from the time of its being begun, till its being compleated; and round the upper part of the pedestal is the following inscription in English.
‘This pillar was set up in perpetual remembrance of the most dreadful burning of this protestant city, begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the popish faction in the beginning of September, in the year of our Lord 1666, in order to the carrying on their horrid plot for extirpating the protestant religion, and Old English Liberty, and introducing popery and slavery.’
This inscription, upon the Duke of York’s accession to the crown, was immediately erased; but soon after the revolution it was restored again.
This monument, says the author of The Review of our public buildings, “is undoubtedly the noblest modern column in the world; nay, in some respects, it may justly vie with those celebrated ones of antiquity, which are consecrated to the names of Trajan and Antonine. Nothing can be more bold and surprizing, nothing more beautiful and harmonious: the bas relief at the base, allowing for some few defects, is finely imagined, and executed as well: and nothing material can be cavilled with but the inscriptions round about it.” These, however, Sir Christopher Wren had prepared in a more elegant and masculine style, as appears by the Parentalia; but he was over-ruled.
Monument yard, New Fish street hill, so called from the Monument placed in it.