Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/121

Rh scarcely less astonishing, is the fact, that within a very few days, almost the whole of the individuals thus unexpectedly liberated were recaptured, and lodged either in their old or more secure quarters.

Still more emboldened by this reinforcement of desperate confederates, the rioters proceeded in different detachments to the houses of justice Cox and Sir John Fielding, as also to the public office in Bow Street, and the new prison, Clerkenwell; all of which they broke in upon and gutted, liberating the prisoners in the latter places, and thereby gaining fresh numbers and strength. But the most daring act of all, was their attacking the splendid mansion of lord chief justice Mansfield, in Bloomsbury Square. Having broken open the doors and windows, they proceeded, as was their custom, to fling all the rich and costly furniture into the street, where it was piled into heaps and burned, amid the most exulting yells. The library, consisting of many thousands of volumes, rare MSS., title-deeds, &c., together with a splendid assortment of pictures all were remorselessly destroyed. And all this passed, too, in the presence of between 200 and 300 soldiers, and under the eye of the lord chief justice himself, who calmly permitted this destruction of his property, rather than expose the wretched criminals to the vengeance of the military. At last, seeing preparations made to fire the premises, and not knowing where the conflagration might terminate, a magistrate read the riot act; but without effect. The military were then reluctantly ordered to fire; but although several men and women were shot, the desperadoes did not cease the work of destruction until nothing but the bare and smoking walls were left standing. At this time the British metropolis may be said to have been entirely in the hands of a lawless, reckless, and frenzied mob! The vilest of the rabble possessed more power and authority than the king upon the throne; the functions of government were, for a time, suspended; and the seat of legislation had become the theatre of anarchy and misrule. So confident now were the rioters in their own irresistible strength, that on the afternoon of the above day, they sent notices round to the various prisons yet left standing, to inform the prisoners at what hour they intended to visit and liberate them ! If any one incident connected with a scene of such devastation, plunder, and triumphant villany, could raise a smile on the face of the reader or narrator, it would be the fact, that the prisoners confined in the Fleet, sent to request that they might not be turned out of their lodgings so late in the evening; to which a generous answer was returned, that they would not be disturbed till next day! In order not to be idle, however, the considerate mob amused themselves during the rest of the evening in burning the houses of lord Petre and about twenty other individuals of note protestant as well as catholic, and concluded the labours of the day by ordering a general illumination in celebration of their triumph an order which the inhabitants were actually compelled to obey!

On Wednesday, this horrible scene of tumult and devastation reached its acme. A party of the rioters paid a visit to lord Mansfield's beautiful villa at Caen-wood in the forenoon, and coolly began to regale themselves with the contents of his larder and wine-cellar, preparatory to their commencing the usual work of destruction. Their orgies were interrupted, however, by a party of military, and they fled in all directions. It was not until the evening that the main body seriously renewed their diabolical work; and the scene which ensued is described by contemporary writers, who witnessed the proceedings, as being too frightful for the power of language to convey the slightest idea of. Detachments of military, foot and horse, had gradually been drawing in from different parts of the interior; the civic authorities, who up to that time had been solely occupied consulting and debating upon the course they should pur-