Soon afterwards there came another, and another, and then the firstreturned again, and so, by little and little, their tale was this:-Thatthe mob gathering round Lord Mansfield"s house, had called onthose within to open the door, and receiving no reply (for Lord andLady Mansfield were at that moment escaping by the backway), forcedan entrance according to their usual custom. That they then began to demolish the house with great fury, and setting fire to it inseveral parts, involved in a common ruin the whole of the costlyfurniture, the plate and jewels, a beautiful gallery of pictures,the rarest collection of manuscripts ever possessed by any oneprivate person in the world, and worse than all, because nothingcould replace this loss, the great Law Library, on almost everypage of which were notes in the Judge"s own hand, of inestimablevalue,--being the results of the study and experience of his wholelife. That while they were howling and exulting round the fire, atroop of soldiers, with a magistrate among them, came up, and beingtoo late (for the mischief was by that time done), began todisperse the crowd. That the Riot Act being read, and the crowdstill resisting, the soldiers received orders to fire, andlevelling their muskets shot dead at the first discharge six menand a woman, and wounded many persons; and loading again directly,fired another volley, but over the people"s heads it was supposed,as none were seen to fall. That thereupon, and daunted by theshrieks and tumult, the crowd began to disperse, and the soldierswent away, leaving the killed and wounded on the ground: which theyhad no sooner done than the rioters came back again, and taking upthe dead bodies, and the wounded people, formed into a rudeprocession, having the bodies in the front. That in this orderthey paraded off with a horrible merriment; fixing weapons in the dead men"s hands to make them look as if alive; and preceded by afellow ringing Lord Mansfield"s dinner-bell with all his might.
The scouts reported further, that this party meeting with someothers who had been at similar work elsewhere, they all united intoone, and drafting off a few men with the killed and wounded,marched away to Lord Mansfield"s country seat at Caen Wood, betweenHampstead and Highgate; bent upon destroying that house likewise,and lighting up a great fire there, which from that height shouldbe seen all over London. But in this, they were disappointed, fora party of horse having arrived before them, they retreated fasterthan they went, and came straight back to town.
There being now a great many parties in the streets, each went towork according to its humour, and a dozen houses were quicklyblazing, including those of Sir John Fielding and two otherjustices, and four in Holborn--one of the greatest thoroughfares inLondon--which were all burning at the same time, and burned untilthey went out of themselves, for the people cut the engine hose,and would not suffer the firemen to play upon the flames. At onehouse near Moorfields, they found in one of the rooms some canarybirds in cages, and these they cast into the fire alive. The poorlittle creatures screamed, it was said, like infants, when they were flung upon the blaze; and one man was so touched that he triedin vain to save them, which roused the indignation of the crowd,and nearly cost him his life.
At this same house, one of the fellows who went through the rooms,breaking the furniture and helping to destroy the building, found achild"s doll--a poor toy--which he exhibited at the window to themob below, as the image of some unholy saint which the lateoccupants had worshipped. While he was doing this, another manwith an equally tender conscience (they had both been foremost inthrowing down the canary birds for roasting alive), took his seaton the parapet of the house, and harangued the crowd from apamphlet circulated by the Association, relative to the trueprinciples of Christianity! Meanwhile the Lord Mayor, with hishands in his pockets, looked on as an idle man might look at anyother show, and seemed mightily satisfied to have got a good place.
Such were the accounts brought to the old vintner by his servantsas he sat at the side of Mr Haredale"s bed, having been unable evento doze, after the first part of the night; too much disturbed byhis own fears; by the cries of the mob, the light of the fires, andthe firing of the soldiers. Such, with the addition of the releaseof all the prisoners in the New Jail at Clerkenwell, and as many robberies of passengers in the streets, as the crowd had leisure toindulge in, were the scenes of which Mr Haredale was happilyunconscious, and which were all enacted before midnight.