Guided by these landmarks, Paulett traced
out the plan of the city, and by degrees recognised where the great
streets had run, where the palaces had stood, where the river had
flowed. And all was silent, all an absolute stillness, where there had
been such ceaseless voices, and sounds of life; the libraries were
burned, the statues calcined, the museums in ashes; the mind of man,
which triumphs over the body, had here been subdued by matter, and left
no trace of itself.

"Oh! London, London! So much talent, so much glory and beauty; such
mighty hearts, such mighty works; such ages of story--all buried in one
black mass! Piteous spectacle!" cried Paulett, striking his breast, and
stretching forth his arms over the skeleton of what was once a sovereign
in the world.

He took his son by the hand, and led him over the confused masses,
telling him as they went along what were the ruins by which they passed.

"This great heap of building which has fallen into a square, must be the
palace of our kings. It is that St James's, where they dwelt till nobler
buildings rose with the improving times. See here, Charles--there is
less ruin here. This opener space was park and garden; and time has been
that I have heard the buzz of men filling all this place, when the
sovereigns came to hold their courts in that building. I think that this
dreadful fire must have taken place before life was quite extinct; for
see, there are heaps of bones here, as though men had fled together to
avoid it; and it either overtook them with long tongues of fire, such as
a burning city would send forth, or smothered them before they could
escape, with its smoke. Ha! I see almost a palace there--a wonder of
modern art. It is the house I once saw, and only once, for it was built
during the years of the great drought."

"Who could build in those days, father?" said Charles; "I thought no one
had any heart for doing more than we do, and that is but just keeping
ourselves alive."

"Nay, it was very long before the persuasion came that those were the
last days. We all believed that rain would come again and restore the
earth to its old order, and whoever possessed the means, builded and
projected still. You may see this magnificent place suffered violence
before the fire; for its ornaments are torn from the walls, and its
statues mutilated by other means than the bare fall. It was the property
of a man called Jephcot, who, when the water began to fail, cont