d
of them all. With this object, large bodies of the soldiery were several
times despatched to the Mansion House to await his orders: but as he
could, by no threats or persuasions, be induced to give any, and as the
men remained in the open street, fruitlessly for any good purpose, and
thrivingly for a very bad one; these laudable attempts did harm rather
than good. For the crowd, becoming speedily acquainted with the Lord
Mayor's temper, did not fail to take advantage of it by boasting that
even the civil authorities were opposed to the Papists, and could not
find it in their hearts to molest those who were guilty of no other
offence. These vaunts they took care to make within the hearing of the
soldiers; and they, being naturally loth to quarrel with the people,
received their advances kindly enough: answering, when they were asked
if they desired to fire upon their countrymen, 'No, they would be damned
if they did;' and showing much honest simplicity and good nature.
The feeling that the military were No-Popery men, and were ripe for
disobeying orders and joining the mob, soon became very prevalent in
consequence. Rumours of their disaffection, and of their leaning towards
the popular cause, spread from mouth to mouth with astonishing rapidity;
and whenever they were drawn up idly in the streets or squares, there
was sure to be a crowd about them, cheering and shaking hands, and
treating them with a great show of confidence and affection.

By this time, the crowd was everywhere; all concealment and disguise
were laid aside, and they pervaded the whole town. If any man among them
wanted money, he had but to knock at the door of a dwelling-house, or
walk into a shop, and demand it in the rioters name; and his demand
was instantly complied with. The peaceable citizens being afraid to lay
hands upon them, singly and alone, it may be easily supposed that
when gathered together in bodies, they were perfectly secure from
interruption. They assembled in the streets, traversed them at their
will and pleasure, and publicly concerted their plans. Business was
quite suspended; the greater part of the shops were closed; most of the
houses displayed a blue flag in token of their adherence to the popular
side; and even the Jews in Houndsditch, Whitechapel, and those quarters,
wrote upon their doors or window-shutters, 'This House is a True
Protestant.' The crowd was the law, and never was the law held in
greater dread, or more impl