Winter, 1664–1665 • 33statistics could not hide London’s political dysfunction, for the front side of
the weekly sheet counted the burials in each of the 130 parishes within four
groupings. Most of the page was taken up with the week’s burials in the city,
parish by parish, followed by the caption: “Buried in the 97 Parishes within
the Walls.” Below this came parish-by-parish tabulations within the other
three categories: “Buried in the 16 Parishes without the Walls, and at the
Pesthouse,” “Buried in the 12 out Parishes in Middlesex and Surrey,” and
“Buried in the 5 Parishes in the City and Liberties of Westminster.” The ref-
erence to the “city” of Westminster was especially misleading. All urban areas
in England with a cathedral were called cities,so royal Westminster with its
ancient abbey held that honor—but no self-governing body like London’s
Guildhall.
Routine maintenance of public order was left to justices of the peace in
their separate jurisdictions at Old Bailey inside the walls, royal Westminster,
and the counties of Middlesex and Surrey. The Guildhall’s political jurisdic-
tion stopped just beyond the seven gates and single bridge. The king and his
councilors, while calling Westminster their home and London the nation’s
capital, did not meddle in most metropolitan affairs. They kept an eye on
taxes from the city and suburbs, reckoned by the number of hearths in each
building (always a large part of the royal budget), and maintained a military
force at the Tower of London and around Whitehall to intimidate restive
dissenters. However, it was unthinkable that the carefree Charles II would
focus his attention on the capital unless a major crisis erupted there—like the
foiled plot of diehard Puritan soldiers immediately after the Restoration in
1660 or something on the order of another Great Plague. The king’s passions
were his personal pleasure and the Royal Navy. The possibility of war with
England’s greatest rival on the seas loomed large in his thoughts.
English and Dutch fleets were already engaged in piratelike skirmishes on
the high seas and in the channel, capturing each other’s merchant ships and
removing the bounty to their respective ports. A Major Holmes had been
clapped into the Tower by King Charles—not for seizing a Hollander off the
coast of Guinea but for stashing away as private booty its three chests of gold
worth £ 100 , 000. The king wanted his share!^42 Windfalls like this would, it
was hoped, tide the king over until the “Royal Aid” voted by Parliament to
fight the Dutch was gathered.
Fortunately for the king, the merchant guildsmen who ran the Guildhall
government in London desired his good will as much as he eyed their
money. They wanted peace and order in their city, and supporting Charles
II’s Dutch war would help them gain his support when the city faced its next