CHRONICLE. 



113 



crammed with an impenetrable 

 mass of human creatures. Those 

 who were in the interior of the 

 crowd, howsoever distressed, could 

 not be extricated ; while those who 

 were on the outside, were exposed 

 to the most imminent danger of 

 being crushed to death against the 

 booths. The females, hundreds of 

 whom there were, who happened to 

 be intermixed with the mob, were 

 treated with the greatest indignity, 

 in defiance of the exertions of hus- 

 bands, relatives, or friends. This 

 weaker part of the crowd, in fact, 

 seemed to be, on this occasion, the 

 principal object of persecution, or, 

 as the savages who attacked them 

 were pleased to call it, of fun. 

 Some fainted and were trodden 

 under foot, while others, by an ex- 

 ertion almost supernatural, pro- 

 duced by an agony of despair, 

 forced their way to the top of the 

 mass, and crept on the heads of 

 the people until they reached the 

 booths, where they were received 

 and treated with the greatest kind- 

 ness. We lament to state that 

 many serious accidents in conse- 

 quence occurred : legs and arms 

 innumerable were broken, some 

 lives were lost, and the surgeons 

 of St. Bartholomew's Hospital 

 were occupied the whole of the 

 night in administering assistance to 

 the unfortunate objects who were 

 continually brought in to them. 

 The most distressing scene that we 

 observed, arose from the suffocation 

 of a child about a twelvemonth old, 

 in the arms of its mother, who, 

 with others, had been involved in 

 the crowd. The wretched mother 

 did not discover the state of her 

 infant until she reached Giltspur- 

 street, when she rent the air with 

 her shrieks of self-reproach ; while 

 Vol. LIV. 



her husband, who accompanied 

 her, and who had the appearance 

 of a decent tradesman, stood mute 

 with the dead body of his child in 

 his arms, which he regarded with 

 a look of indescribable agony. 

 Such are the heart-rending and 

 melancholy scenes which were ex- 

 hibited, and yet this formsbut afaint 

 picture of the enormities and mi- 

 series attendant upon this disgrace- 

 ful festival. The pick-pockets 

 were, as usual, active, and in many 

 cases eminently successful in their 

 gleanings. Too much praise can- 

 not be bestowed on Mr. Holds- 

 worth and Mr. Nalder, the city 

 marshals, and their officers, for 

 their activity and zeal in preserv- 

 ing the public peace. All that men 

 could do, in their difficult situation, 

 they did ; and many who were 

 apprehended by their vigilance will 

 this day undergo examinations be- 

 fore the magistrate at Guildhall. 



8. The French prisoners at Dart- 

 moor depot, on Sunday last, had 

 worked themselves up to the highest 

 pitch of rage at having a pound 

 and a half of biscuit, and not 

 bread, per day. The use of biscuit, 

 it is to be observed, was to be dis- 

 continued as soon as the bake- 

 house had been rebuilt ; but the 

 Frenchmen were absolutely deaf to 

 remonstrances. A detachment of 

 the Cheshire militia, and of the 

 South Gloucester regiment, was 

 drawn up on the walls surrounding 

 the prison ; and, although they had 

 loaded their pieces with ball, the 

 prisoners appeared undaunted, and 

 insulted them in the grossest terms. 

 A sentinel on duty had his bayonet 

 wrenched off his piece, yet nobly 

 reserved his fire ; an officer, how- 

 ever, followed the Frenchman, 

 Struck him over the shoulder with 

 I his 



