Moleskine Pages- 1666

" In the mind of the baying mob, her baby chicks were in fact fire bombs that would destroy their city."
The Great Fire Of London that almost wiped out the City of London in 1666 was such an overwhelming catastrophe, citizens couldn't accept that the cause was a mundane spark that took hold and spread from a bakery. They preferred to attribute it to a supernatural factors. A young woman approaching the city centre  carrying a clutch of chicks to sell, was beset by a mob shouting that the chicks were in fact 'fireballs', whatever they are and that she was a witch ready to cause mischief. The poor woman was beaten almost to death and both her breasts were hacked off. This true story tells us that violence against women is nothing new, and that a mob is an irrational energy that is dangerously suggestible. A true lesson for these troubled times.