distinctions being set aside by some of the rioters, which is another
evidence of the character of the mob. Some fellows marched through
the town extorting money from every one they met, whether Papist or
Protestant; and one ruffian, mounted on a horse, would take nothing
but gold. Other parties were employed in pulling down the prisons, and
before night not a prison was left standing, except the Poultry Compter.
An attack was made on the Bank of England by others, but here they
were repulsed by a strong body of soldiers, who killed many and wounded
others. But the great centre of mischief was Holborn. Here a Mr.
Langdale was doubly exposed as a Papist and as a great distiller. His
premises were fired, and everything was destroyed, except the liquors
which were drunk by the rioters; many of whom literally killed
themselves with drinking, while others too drunk to move out of the
reach of danger perished in the flames which their own hands had
kindled. A writer of the period says:--"Powder and ball do not seem to
have been so fatal to them as their own inordinate appetites. Numbers,
it is said, and at various places, died of inebriation; especially at
the distilleries of the unfortunate Mr. Langdale. In the streets men
were seen lying upon bulks and stalls and at the doors of empty houses,
drunk to a state of insensibility and to a contempt of danger; boys and
women were in the same condition, and many of the latter with infants
in their arms." Men, women, and children were at one time seen on their
knees drinking ardent spirits, as they flowed down the kennel of the
street in Holborn. Thus maddened, who can wonder at the excesses which
followed? Thirty-six fires were seen on this night blazing in different
quarters of the great metropolis, and nothing but the serenity of the
night saved it from destruction. The panic was universal. Persons were
seen on every hand removing their goods, as none could tell but that
they might be destroyed by the merciless mob; or if a wind should
suddenly spring up, by the devouring element. At the same time the
dreadful reports of soldiers' muskets were heard, mingled with the
terrific cries of the infuriated and countless rabble. None could
sleep in their beds on that night: the streets swarmed with people,
and uproar, confusion, and terror reigned on every hand. Some of the
citizens, however, possessing more nerve than others, formed themselves
into associations and acted with the soldier