ke away the prisoner. I will hear
nothing further now. Lord! Lord! how the fire rages, to be sure. We
shall have the whole city burnt down, if we do not take care."

"That we shall, indeed," replied Sir Robert Viner, one of the sheriffs,
"unless the most prompt and decisive measures are immediately adopted."

"What would you recommend?" cried the lord mayor, despairingly. Sir
Robert looked perplexed by the question.

"If I might offer an opinion," interposed Leonard, "I would advise your
worship to pull down all the houses in the way of the fire, as the only
means of checking it."

"Pull down the houses!" cried the lord mayor. "Who ever heard of such an
idea? Why, that would be worse than the fire. No, no; that will never
do."

"The young man is in the right," observed Sir Joseph Sheldon, the other
sheriff.

"Well, well--we shall see," replied the mayor. "But we are losing time
here. Forward! forward!"

And while Grant was borne off to Newgate by a guard of javelin-men, the
lord mayor and his company proceeded to Fish-street-hill, where the
whole conflagration burst upon them. The moment the lord mayor appeared,
he was beset on all sides by hundreds of families soliciting his
protection. Others came to give him the alarming intelligence that a
very scanty supply of water only could be obtained, and that already two
engines had been destroyed, while the firemen who worked them had
narrowly escaped with life. Others again pressed him for instructions
how to act--some suggesting one plan--some another,--and being of a weak
and irresolute character, and utterly unequal to a fearful emergency
like the present, he was completely bewildered. Bidding the houseless
families take refuge in the churches, he ordered certain officers to
attend them, and affecting to doubt the statement of those who affirmed
there was no water, advised them to go to the river, where they would
find plenty. In vain they assured him the tide was out, the Thames
water-tower empty, the pipes and conduits dry. He would not believe
anything of the sort, but upbraiding his informants with neglect, bade
them try again. As to instructions, he could give none.

At last, a reluctant assent being wrung from him by Sir Joseph Sheldon,
that a house should be pulled down, as suggested by Leonard,
preparations were instantly made for putting the design into execution.
The house selected was about four doors from the top of
Fish-street-hill, and belonged to