Charles the Second, son of Charles the Martyr, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, a most gracious prince, commiserating the deplorable state of things, while the ruins were yet smoking, provided for the comfort of his citizens, and the ornament of his city; remitted their taxes, and referred the petitions of the magistrates and inhabitants to the parliament, who immediately passed an act, that public buildings should be restored to greater beauty with public money, to be raised by an imposition on coals; that churches, and the cathedral of St. Paul's, should be rebuilt from their foundations with all magnificence; that bridges, gates, and prisons should be made new; the sewers cleansed; the streets made straight and regular; such as were steep, levelled, and those too narrow, made wider; markets and shambles removed to separate places. They also enacted, that every house should be built with party walls, and all in front raised of equal height, and those walls all of square stone or brick; and that no man should delay beyond the space of seven years. Moreover, care was taken by law to prevent all suits about their bounds. Also, anniversary prayers were enjoined;[19] and to perpetuate the memory hereof to posterity, they caused this column to be erected. The work was carried on with diligence, and London is restored; but whether with greater speed or beauty may be made a question. Three years' time saw that finished which was supposed to be the business of an age. [Footnote 19: By statute 19 and 20, Car. II., it is enacted, That the citizens of London, and their successors for the time to come, may retain the memory of so sad a desolation, and reflect seriously on the manifold iniquities, which are the unhappy causes of such judgments: be it therefore enacted, that the second day of September (unless the same happen to be Sunday, and if so, then the next day following) be yearly for ever hereafter observed as a day of fasting and humiliation within the said city and liberties thereof, to implore the mercy of Almighty God upon the said city; to make devout prayers and supplications unto him, to divert the like calamity for the time to come.] The east side, over the door, has an inscription, thus Englished: This pillar was begun, Sir Richard Ford, knight, being lord mayor of London, in the year 1671: carried on in the mayoralties of Sir George Waterman, knight; Sir Robert Hanson, knight; Sir William Hooker, knight; Sir Robert Viner, knight; Sir Joseph Sheldon, knight; and finished, Sir Thomas Davis, knight, being lord mayor, in the year 1677. The inscription on the plinth of the lower pedestal is in page 245. On a stone in front of the house built on the spot where the fire began, there was (very lately) the following inscription: