The following is part of the inscription on the Monument, which records this calamitous event " The second day of September, 1666, at the distance of two hundred and two feet, the height of this column, a terrible fire broke out about midnight. It consumed in its progress eighty-nine churches, the city gates, Guildhall, many public structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of stately edifices, thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling-houses, and four hundred streets. The ruins of the city were four hundred and thirty-six acres, from the Tower by the Thames side to the Temple church, and from the north-east gate along the city.wall, to Holborn bridge. Three days after, when this fatal fire had baffled all human counsels and endeavours, it stopped, as it were by a command from Heaven, and was on every side extinguished."