The Great Fire of London burned for four days and destroyed most of the city. Wilkins lost his house. And because the church where he was Vicar was also destroyed, he lost his job. A few years before, when he had been pushed out of his position as master of Trinity College for political reasons he had bounced back relatively quickly with the help of influential friends. But the disruption to his life was more severe this time and his friends were concerned about his low spirits.
This time he had lost something much more difficult to replace than living quarters or income. The fire had also claimed his “darling” – his universal language. He had been working on it for a decade, through the vagaries of national political upheaval and the pain of chronic kidney stones. His manuscript – hundreds of pages, finally complete, already at the printer’s shop – was now reduced to ashes.
