Old St. Paul's (novel)
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Old St. Paul's, also titled Old Saint Paul's: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire, is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1841. It is a historical romance that describes the events of the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London. It was the basis for the 1914 silent film Old St. Paul's.
Great Plague of London
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The Great Plague of London, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long Second Pandemic, a period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics that originated in Central Asia in 1331, and included related diseases such as pneumonic plague and septicemic plague, which lasted until 1750.
Rattus rattus, the black rat. Smaller than Rattus norvegicus, the brown rat, which later supplanted it, it is also keener to live near humankind. Timber houses and overcrowded slums provided excellent homes. The link between the rat as reservoir of infection and host to fleas which could transfer to man was not understood. Efforts were made to eliminate cats and dogs: if anything, this encouraged the rats. Body lice were also important plague vectors.
Two men discovering a dead woman in the street
Scenes in London during the plague