t, and they immediately became insensible
to all fear; the mere impulse is the dominant one, and then all is
forgotten.

The scene was an impressive one; the beautiful house and grounds looked
desolate and drear; many of the trees were stripped and broken down, and
many scorched and burned, while the gardens and flower beds, the delight
of the Bannerworth family, were rudely trodden under foot by the rabble,
and all those little beauties so much admired and tended by the
inhabitants, were now utterly destroyed, and in such a state that their
site could not even be detected by the former owners.

It was a sad sight to see such a sacrilege committed,--such violence
done to private feelings, as to have all these places thrown open to the
scrutiny of the brutal and vulgar, who are incapable of appreciating or
understanding the pleasures of a refined taste.

The ruins presented a remarkable contrast to what the place had been but
a very short time before; and now the scene of desolation was complete,
there was no one spot in which the most wretched could find shelter.

To be sure, under the lee of some broken and crumbling wall, that
tottered, rather than stood, a huddled wretch might have found shelter
from the wind, but it would have been at the risk of his life, and not
there complete.

The mob became quiet for some moments, but was not so long; indeed, a
mob of people,--which is, in fact, always composed of the most
disorderly characters to be found in a place, is not exactly the
assembly that is most calculated for quietness; somebody gave a shout,
and then somebody else shouted, and the one wide throat of the whole
concourse was opened, and sent forth a mighty yell.

After this exhibition of power, they began to run about like
mad,--traverse the grounds from one end to the other, and then the ruins
were in progress of being explored.

This was a tender affair, and had to be done with some care and caution
by those who were so engaged; and they walked over crumbling and decayed
masses.

In one or two places, they saw what appeared to be large holes, into
which the building materials had been sunk, by their own weight, through
the flooring, that seemed as roofs to some cellars or dungeons.

Seeing this, they knew not how soon some other part might sink in, and
carry their precious bodies down with the mass of rubbish; this gave an
interest to the scene,--a little danger is a sort of salt to an
adventure, and e