One other report from old London is Daniel Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year, " a fictional, though chillingly persuasive, account of the metropolis under siege from the Great Plague in 1665.

WSJ: Novels Set in London | Dear Book Lover

To the extent we continue to amass debt, our children and grandchildren will be saddled with a burden so great that it will make The Black Plague look like a walk in the park (hyperbole intended).

FORBES: Dear Mr. President: STOP THE MADNESS!!