Fire Ended

‘I lay down in the office again upon W. Hewer’s, quilt, being mighty weary, and sore in my feet with going till I was hardly able to stand. About two in the morning my wife calls me up and tells me of new cryes of fire, it being come to Barkeing Church, which is the bottom of our lane. I up, and finding it so, resolved presently to take her away, and did, and took my gold, which was about 2350l., W. Hewer, and Jane, down by Proundy’s boat to Woolwich; but, Lord! what sad sight it was by moone- light to see, the whole City almost on fire, that you might see it plain at Woolwich, as if you were by it. There, when I come, I find the gates shut, but no guard kept at all, which troubled me, because of discourse now begun, that there is plot in it, and that the French had done it. I got the gates open, and to Mr. Shelden’s, where I locked up my gold, and charged, my wife and W. Hewer never to leave the room without one of them in it, night, or day.’… I up to the top of Barking steeple, and there saw the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw; every where great fires, oyle-cellars, and brimstone, and other things burning. I became afeard to stay there long, and therefore down again as fast as I could, the fire being spread as far as I could see it; and to Sir W. Pen’s, and there eat a piece of cold meat, having eaten nothing since Sunday, but the remains of Sunday’s dinner. Here I met with Mr. Young and Whistler; and having removed all my things, and received good hopes that the fire at our end; is stopped, they and I walked into the town, and find Fanchurch-streete, Gracious-streete; and Lumbard-streete all in dust.’…’

The Great Fire of London began on September 2nd, 1666, burning out on finally on September 5^th, 1666, as Samuel Pepys records in his dairy.  Sir Walter Scott mentions the fire in his “Fortunes of Nigel”, including the location of George Heriot’s resting place in St. Paul’s Cathedral, at ’Saint Gregory's, before the Great Fire of London which consumed the cathedral, formed one of the towers of Old Saint Paul's, and occupied the space of ground now filled by Queen Anne's statue…’

Robert Herrick

‘Sir Walter Scott has given us in his Fortunes of Nigel a delightful picture of the household of Master George Heriot, " jingling Geordie," who shared with Sir William Herrick the honour of being jeweller to his Majesty; by means of it we are able to realize something of the life which Robert Herrick was now leading beneath his uncle's roof in Cheapside. The dignity of Sir William's station would perhaps excuse the apprentice the duty of standing before the shop-door and accosting passers-by with the familiar cry, "What d'ye lack, Sir? What d'ye lack, Madam? Rings, bracelets, carcanets, what d'ye lack?" His time would rather be spent within the house, practising the delicate craft of the jeweller and lapidary which had brought the honour of knighthood to his uncle William. At sunset his labours for the day were over, for a strict injunction of the wardens of the Goldsmiths' Company forbade buying and selling by candle-light; he was accordingly free to wander forth into the streets and visit his brothers, Thomas and Nicholas, or join with other apprentices in some lighthearted mirth…’

The text above comes from Frederic Moorman’s “Robert Herrick”.  Herrick, the English vicar and poet, was born, according to Chambers’ Book of Days, on August 20, 1591.  To Moorman’s point, is text involving George Heriot from “Fortunes of Nigel”:

‘…Such was the monarch, who, saluting Heriot by the name of Jingling

Geordie, (for it was his well-known custom to give nicknames to all

those with whom he was on terms of familiarity,) inquired what new

clatter-traps he had brought with him, to cheat his lawful and native

Prince out of his siller.

"God forbid, my liege," said the citizen, "that I should have any such

disloyal purpose. I did but bring a piece of plate to show to your

most gracious Majesty, which, both for the subject and for the

workmanship, I were loath to put into the hands of any subject until I

knew your Majesty's pleasure anent it."…’

Herrick’s best known work is included in his “Hesperides”, which was published in 1648:

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles to-day

To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

The higher he's a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry:

For having lost but once your prime,

You may for ever tarry.

Anne of Denmark Crowned Queen of Scotland

'George Heriot, the son, pursued his father's occupation of a goldsmith, then peculiarly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-broker. He enjoyed the favour and protection of James, and of his consort, Anne of Denmark...'

Sir Walter Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel" is set during the reign of James I and VI, and being James' goldsmith and banker, George Heriot is an important person.  Presumably, James' Queen, Anne of Denmark, was important as well.  The two were married by proxy on August 20, 1589, James not being present, with an in-person follow-up the following November in Oslo.  It took until May 1590 before the couple reached Scotland, and Anne was crowned Queen of Scotland on May 17, 1590.