lose him I was afraid he might never find
his way home again. We were distancing our pursuers. I made as many
turns as I could, so as to cause them to lose the scent; but there were
knowing fellows among them, and I conclude that they found as great an
interest in the chase as a foxhunter does when following the hounds. At
last I saw before me a large mob. There is safety in numbers, I thought
to myself, so I called to Tom to dash in among them.

"Hurrah! hurrah! have you caught the fellow?" I sang out.

"No, he's slipped out of his kennel, but we'll take care that he does
not burrow in it again," replied some of the people.

I guessed that they referred to the unfortunate inmate of the mansion
into which numbers of them were forcing their way, while pictures,
books, and pieces of furniture were being thrown out of the windows. I
pretended to be very eager to get into the house, but making my way
round on the opposite side, followed by Tom, we got free; and when I
looked back I saw that no one was following us. We now walked along as
composedly as we could, but it was not without difficulty that we found
our way into Bloomsbury Square. As we got there we saw a mob following
at our heels, and we naturally thought they were after us. We had to
run for it to reach my relative's house. On came the mob. One of the
finest houses in the square belonged to my Lord Mansfield. They rushed
towards it, and began thundering at the door. They soon broke it open,
and in they poured. In an instant the place became the scene of the
most dreadful havoc and destruction. Again did I see pictures, clothes,
books, furniture of the richest sorts, ruthlessly destroyed. I could
scarcely have supposed that the work could have been done so rapidly.
Then the most daring of the ruffians broke into the wine-cellar, and we
saw them coming out with bottles and jugs and glasses, and distributing
the rich liquor to the rabble outside.

What had become of my lord and his lady all this time we could not tell;
we had great fears that they had fallen victims to the blind fury of the
ignorant populace. I wanted to go out, but my relative would not let
me. What the drunken mob might next have done I do not know, when a
fresh party were seen entering the square; but they were a body of the
royal guards with a magistrate at their head. He boldly approached the
mob, and, halting the soldiers at no great distance from them, began to
read the