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.15
every earthly thing they possessed, including their tools,
and the food for their Sunday's dinner. The other houses
suffered each a little less in proportion to its higher level.
It is gratifying to say that the poor people were taken in by
their neighbours, and refused the accommodation of the
workhouse, which was offered them as a temporary refuge.
The immediate source from which the water came
was a large disused branch (formerly the main channel)
of the King's Scholars' Pond Sewer, which appears to
run from the top of Half-Moon Street to the lowest part
of Piccadilly, under No. 102. This sewer seems not to
have been cleansed since it was disused as a main trunk,
and was full of an unusual excess of filth.. Then, immediately
below the spot where it joins the main stream, a
dam or weir is said to have been erected, for the purpose
of gauging the water-flow, and to have been left there,
in spite of the clearest remonstrance of Mr. Richman,
after the flood of the 20th May; and by its obstruction,
it appears to have occasioned the overflow above.
Be this as it may, the Metropolitan Board of Works
promptly set to work to repair the damage and compensate
the sufferers. Floors were taken up, all slush was
carted away, and the earth was sweetened and dried by
quicklime; and in token of the necessity and success of
these operations, that part of Piccadilly stunk intolerably
for many days. Some of the inmates complained, as was
natural, of weakness and loss of appetite. To the poor
people in Hertford Place, after making allowance for the
misery and privation of the first day or two, the affair
was quite a blessing. The old floors and skirtings, rotten
for generations past, were taken up, the earth dried by
lime, new sound pipe drainage, a thing we had long
earnestly desired, laid down in workmanlike order, new