title: By Permission of Heaven: The True Story of the Great Fire of London
author:  Adrian Tinniswood 
description: In this history of the 1666 fire that destroyed almost the entire city of London, Tinniswood focuses on the political, legal and cultural significance of the catastrophe. He describes the blaze through the written accounts of both London's commoners and upper crust during the three-day blaze. These excerpts from journals and newspapers aren't quite able to place the reader in the shoes of Londoners while they ran for their lives or watched all their worldly possessions get swallowed by the fire; Tinniswood's greatest achievement is his ability to re-create the wave of paranoia that engulfed London before, during and after the tragedy. Though he never compares the rumors that the fire was part of a papal plot against the king or the handiwork of Dutch arsonists to today's terrorist fears, the similarities should help keep readers interested while pushing through this meticulous collection of historical references. An architectural scholar, Tinniswood saves his best for last, outlining the myriad factors that went into creating the landscape of modern-day London, including bureaucratic decision making and the emergence of architect Christopher Wren, about whom Tinniswood wrote in His Invention So Fertile. Illus., maps. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  **THE COSY ROOM AND OTHER STORIES**
  
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  **Arthur Machen**
  
    
  
  **CONTENTS**
  
    
    
    
  
  The Cosy Room
  
  >  **I**
  
  >  **II**
  
  >  **III**
  
  >  **IV**
  
  >  **V**
  
  >  **VI**
  
  >  **VII**
  
  A Double Return
  
  Munitions of War
  
  The Gift of Tongues
  
  The Islington Mystery
  
  >  **I**
  
  >  **II**
  
  >  **III**
  
  >  **IV**
  
  >  **V**
  
  >  **VI**
  
  >  **VII**
  
  Awaking
  
  >  **I**
  
  >  **II**
  
  >  **III**
  
  >  **IV**
  
  Opening the Door
  
  The Compliments of the Season
  
    
    
  
   **The Cosy Room**
  
    
  
   **I**
  
    
  
  And he found to his astonishment that he came to the appointed place with a
  sense of profound relief. It was true that the window was somewhat high up in
  the wall, and that, in case of fire, it might be difficult, for many reasons,
  to get out that way; it was barred like the basement windows that one sees now
  and then in London houses, but as for the rest it was an extremely snug room.
  There was a gay flowering paper on the walls, a hanging bookshelf — his
  stomach sickened for