THE RIOTS IN 1780. 345 



the river, and from the exalted station they had thus gained, they 

 insulted the military with additional virulence; this was continued 

 the whole day, but still increasing, till some time after dark, a shot, 

 from either pistol or blunderbuss, was fired from an upper window of 

 the house, and wounded one of the horse-guards ; this put an end to 

 all forbearance on their part, and was a signal to begin the tremendous 

 scene that followed. 



The men were ordered to dismount, secure their horses, unite, and 

 attack the house, break open the door, and while one party remained 

 in the street to prevent any one from escaping, the rest entered sword 

 in hand, attacked and cut down all they met None of the mob who 

 entered that house ever left it alive : when all were prostrate, whether 

 dead, wounded, or dying, the soldiers threw them out of the windows 

 into the river. The house was closed, and the soldiers now remounted 

 their horses. 



It was now determined to attack the mob on the bridge itself; the 

 attack was made on each end at the same time. The horse charged 

 sword in hand, the infantry with bayonets fixed, and firing, at the 

 same time driving the mob from each end towards the centre all 

 were cut down, or otherwise killed, except those who were active 

 enough to climb over the ballustrade and crouch down upon the cor- 

 nice over the arches, in hopes of escaping notice by that artifice, 

 which rendered them but little service. 



When the military were masters of the bridge, they proceeded to 

 throw all the bodies found upon it, without discrimination, into the 

 river ; in doing this, they saw those who fancied they were secure by 

 getting outside the ballustrade, and with fixed bayonets or other 

 means that were at hand, drove them from this, their last refuge, into 

 the water, where they all perished. The amount of human life sacri- 

 ficed in this affair, was never known, though it must have been very 

 great ; for a friend of my own, who lived by the river side, at the 

 bottom of Arundel-street, informed me that he passed many hours of 

 that night at his windows, listening to the firing on the bridge, the 

 cries of the wounded, and the falling of bodies into the water as they 

 were thrown over. Wherever bodies thus disposed of, grounded on 

 the banks of the river, they were buried without notice ; most of them 

 might have been of the mob, but others among them of a different 

 description : young men imprudently mixing in crowds to see what 

 was going on, might have been caught on the bridge and killed, as 

 well as the more guilty, in this indiscriminate slaughter. 



On the same day, the Duke of Bedford's house, in Bloomsbury- 

 square, was attempted, but on throwing open the gates, a strong body 

 of military was seen stationed in the fore-court; there the mob 

 showed no inclination to attack, and made no attempt. The Earl of 

 Mansfield's house, on the north east side of the same square, was 

 burned, and his most valuable library, containing the result of all the 

 professional labours of his long life, were totally destroyed. 



On the following morning the mob seemed to have acquired the 

 greatest degree of assurance. They paraded the principal streets in 

 numerous gangs, going from door to door asking for money to sup- 

 port the POOR MOB, and marked the houses of those who refused to 



M. M. No, 93. 2 Y 



