lt fires in the
streets, and encamped around them, to partake of the food and
refreshments which the citizens had bestowed. They were rendered more
good-natured, perhaps, by this kind treatment received from the
citizens, but they soon became excited by the wine which they drank,
and grew more wild and noisy than ever. At length a large party of
them began to move toward the palace of the Duke of Lancaster. This
palace was called the Savoy. It stood on the bank of the river,
between London and Westminster, and was a grand and imposing mansion.

The Duke of Lancaster was an especial object of their hatred. He was
absent at this time, as has been said, being engaged in military
operations on the frontiers of Scotland. The mob, however, were
determined to destroy his palace, and every thing that belonged to it.

So they broke into the house, murdering all who made any resistance,
and then proceeded to break and destroy every thing the palace
contained. They built fires in the court-yard and in the street, and
piled upon them every thing movable that would burn. The plate, and
other such valuables as would not burn, they broke up and threw into
the Thames. They strictly forbade that any of the property should be
taken away. One man hid a silver cup in his bosom, intending to
purloin it; but he was detected in the act, and his comrades threw
him, cup and all, as some say, upon the fire; others say they threw
him into the Thames; at any rate, they destroyed him and his booty
together.

"We are here," said they, "in the cause of truth and righteousness, to
execute judgment upon a criminal, and not to become thieves and
robbers ourselves."

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE SAVOY.]

When they had destroyed every thing that the palace contained, they
set fire to the building, and burned it to the ground. A portion of
the walls remained standing afterward for a long time, a desolate and
melancholy ruin.

The insurgents felt a special animosity against lawyers, whom they
considered mercenary instruments in the hands of the nobles for
oppressing them. They hung all the lawyers that they could get into
their hands, and after burning the Savoy they went to the Temple,
which was a spacious edifice containing the courts, the chambers of
the barristers, and a vast store of ancient legal records. They burned
and destroyed the whole.

It is said, too, that there was a certain man in London, a rich
citizen, named Richard Lyon, who had