perceptible odour of some sort experienced in the Exchange building for
some days, and this was afterwards discovered to have arisen from the
woodwork under the council-chamber having taken fire through a flue
communicating from the Loan-office; and there is no doubt it had been
smouldering for days before it actually made its appearance. It could
not have been ten minutes after I arrived on the spot before the flames
burst out in all their fury. It was an awfully grand sight. It was yet
dark. What with the rushing and pushing of the anxious crowd, the
roaring of the fierce flames, and the calling of distracted people, it
was an event and scene never to be forgotten. The building was soon all
in a blaze, and nothing on earth could have stopped that frightful
conflagration. It was a mercy it was a calm frosty morning or the houses
in the four streets adjacent must have caught the flame. From the age of
these houses, the quantity of timber in them, the narrowness of the
streets, and the absence of a copious supply of water, I am sure
Liverpool would have been half consumed if a wind had sprung up. I
thought the building looked like a great funeral pile as the flames
roared out on all sides. It was a grand, yet dreadful sight. The whole
of Castle-street was occupied by people, although, from the position of
the Exchange, a full front view could not be obtained, it being almost
parallel with the west side of Castle-street. The best view of it was
where I stood at the top of Dale-street, by Moss's bank. The dome, being
constructed of wood, soon took fire, was burnt, and fell in. We had not
then as now powerful engines, long reels of hose, and bands of active men
well trained to their arduous and dangerous duties, still, everybody did
his best and seemed desirous of doing something. We did that something
with a will, but without much order, system, or discretion. The engines
in use were not powerful, and the supply of water was not only tardy but
scanty, as you may believe when I tell you it had to be brought from the
town wells, the Dye-house Well in Greetham-street, the Old Fall Well in
Rose-street (where Alderman's Bennett's ironwork warehouse stands, near
the corner of Rose-street--by the way, Rose-street was called after Mr.
Rose, who lived in the house next the Stork Hotel), and the wells on
Shaw's-brow; indeed, every possible source where water could be obtained,
was put in requisition. The inhabitants al