In 1665, the City of London was re-visited by an old an familiar scourge, bubonic plague. A previous outbreak, in 1603, had carried off 30,000, but in 1665 epidemic was of such horrific proportion that it became known as 'The Great Plague.' The Bills of Mortality gave the death figure as 97,306, but this is considered to be an understatement, the records known to have been notoriously inaccurate and also deliberately doctored in order to avoid panic where deaths could possibly be attributed to other causes. King Charles II prorogued parliament for a period so that members might stay away from their London homes and thereby avoid hazard to themselves.