rived
means to bring it into London from great distances, and thus to secure a
supply when the ordinary means were useless. He kept his contrivance
secret, and supplied the city when other men's resources were exhausted;
and he grew exceedingly rich by this exercise of his ingenuity, and
built himself the palace which you see there. But when the failure of
water amounted to absolute famine, the rich people naturally were the
last who wanted; they gave his price, and he supplied them before he
would supply others who had no money to bring. This was endured with
murmurs, which might have gone on a little longer, had not Jephcot, in
the midst of this distress, given a banquet to the great people of
London.

"It was in the second year of the drought, when little thinking what the
end was to be, we all continued to live, as far as possible, as we had
done before. I was in London where the parliament was then sitting, and
among others I was invited to this house, and still remember the scene
of luxury and profusion of these bare rooms. In the midst of the noise
of a crowded assembly, some of us heard sounds outside, which were such
as you will never hear, even if you live--sounds of the feet and voices
of thousands of human beings. Among this tumult, we began to distinguish
individual voices, chiefly those of women, crying out, "water!" We paid
little attention, and those who did, said the police and soldiers were
called out and would prevent violence; but before long it was whispered
that these forces, pressed by extreme want, and seeing their families
perishing, had joined the mob, and were exciting violence. There fell a
silence over all the assembly; every one left the tables, and gathered
together to hear and to consult: and while we did so, there came an
assault on the front of the house, and the voices of the populace all
broke out at once into shouting. They were irresistible; they forced
their way in, and came pouring up the staircase; they uttered cries of
vengeance for imaginary wrongs, saying that the waters of London had
been kept for the rich, and that there was abundance for both rich and
poor, and threatened the lives of Jephcot and his family, even more
eagerly than they demanded water. He tried to address them, but they
caught him down from the head of the staircase where he stood, and flung
him at once over the marble banisters. This was the signal for attack on
all sides. We rushed forward to rescue his bo