A.D. 1283, King Philip of France invaded Spain with an army consisting of 200,000 infantry and 8600 cavalry; when at Gerona, this army suffered from pestilence, 4000 being carried off by it. Innumerable swarms of flies, said to be as big as acorns, were generated, and attacked both men and horses, numbers of whom were killed by their poison. This pestilential season was attributed to a miracle wrought by St. Narcissus. According to the veterinary surgeons Martin Arrendondo and Fernando Calvo, in the introduction to the Commentaries of the celebrated Francisco de la Reyna, mention is made of an epizootic of great severity, which occurred in one of the cities of the kingdom of Seville, A.D. 1301, by which there died more than 1000 horses. The above-mentioned authors derive their information from a paragraph of Laurenciscus Rasius, in his work entitled ‘Hippiatria or Marescalia,’ in which, when speaking of the diseases of horses, he thus writes: “Dicta autem infirmitas (febris) epidemialis est, et ex ipsa anno CCCI. fuerunt in urbe mortui plusquam mille.” A.D. 1285, a severe thunder-storm was experienced in various parts of England: as the king and queen were holding converse in their bed-room, a flash of lightning passed by them, doing them no injury; but it struck and killed two of their attendants who were in an ante-room. It was about this period that water was conveyed to London by means of leaden pipes after fifty years’ labour. Severe dysentery prevailed in various parts of the kingdom, as also an epidemic, simulating the influenza of the present day, complicated with typhoid symptoms, which persisted for upwards of ten years. A.D. 1299, a comet was seen. The seasons for three years were inhospitable; severe catarrhs with fluxes pervaded England. A.D. 1302, great drought prevailed in Spain similar to those which had occurred for centuries past; famine ensued, when pestilence raged with great violence, carrying off thousands in various parts of the country. A.D. 1307–8, 1309, and 1310, intemperate seasons were experienced, and famine was the consequence, more especially in England, Ireland, and Scotland, with great mortality in the latter country. It was about this period that coals were first brought into use in England. Various parts of London, as shown by Stow, were in a filthy condition, which, with the mode of living, and the disgusting habits of the inhabitants, gave ample cause for the outbreak of pestilence. Fleet ditch was “of such breadth and depth,” so says Stow, “that ten or twelve ships’ navies at once, with merchandise, were wont to come to the bridge Fleete; for some time this canal had been neglected, and became an intolerable nuisance in a variety of ways.” It was not until 1733 that it was arched over, when the Fleet Market was built on it. Pope denounces the filthy condition of Fleet ditch in the following lines of his ‘Dunciad:’