ular than before. A discretionary power was assumed
by the king to regulate the distribution of the buildings, and to forbid
the use of lath and timber, the materials of which the houses were
formerly composed. The necessity was so urgent, and the occasion so
extraordinary that no exceptions were taken at an exercise of authority
which otherwise might have been deemed illegal. Had the king been
enabled to carry his power still further, and made the houses be
rebuilt with perfect regularity, and entirely upon one plan, he had much
contributed to the convenience, as well as embellishment of the city.
Great advantages, however, have resulted from the alterations though not
carried to the full length. London became much more healthy after the
fire. The plague, which used to break out with great fury twice or
thrice every century, and indeed was always lurking in some corner or
other of the city, has scarcely ever appeared since that calamity.

The parliament met soon after, and gave the sanction of law to those
regulations made by royal authority; as well as appointed commissioners
for deciding all such questions of property as might arise from the
fire. They likewise voted a supply of one million eight hundred thousand
pounds, to be levied, partly by a poll-bill, partly by assessments.
Though their inquiry brought out no proofs which could fix on the
Papists the burning of London, the general aversion against that
sect still prevailed; and complaints were made, probably without much
foundation, of its dangerous increase. Charles, at the desire of the
commons, issued a proclamation for the banishment of all priests and
Jesuits; but the bad execution of this, as well as of former edicts,
destroyed all confidence in his sincerity, whenever he pretended an
aversion towards the Catholic religion. Whether suspicions of this
nature had diminished the king's popularity, is uncertain; but it
appears that the supply was voted much later than Charles expected, or
even than the public necessities seemed to require. The intrigues of
the duke of Buckingham, a man who wanted only steadiness to render him
extremely dangerous, had somewhat embarrassed the measures of the court:
and this was the first time that the king found any considerable reason
to complain of a failure of confidence in this house of commons. The
rising symptoms of ill humor tended, no doubt, to quicken the steps
which were already making towards a peace with foreign ene