I can gather, the fire was
accidental.

Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustible
materials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr. Pitt;
and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the flames burst
out at once in different parts of the city; not allowing the wind to have
any hand in it. So much for the plot. But the fabricators of plots in
all countries build their conjectures on the "baseless fabric of a
vision;" and it seems even a sort of poetical justice, that whilst this
Minister is crushing at home plots of his own conjuring up, on the
Continent, and in the north, he should, with as little foundation, be
accused of wishing to set the world on fire.

I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of veracity,
that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the criminal's
blood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And when I animadverted
in the company, where it was mentioned, on such a horrible violation of
nature, a Danish lady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew that
it was not a cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt was
justifiable in search of health. I did not, you may imagine, enter into
an argument with a person the slave of such a gross prejudice. And I
allude to it not only as a trait of the ignorance of the people, but to
censure the Government for not preventing scenes that throw an odium on
the human race.

Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting it
out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the acquiring a
general knowledge of the component parts of the human frame becomes a
part of public education.

Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed in
searching for property secreted during the confusion; and it is
astonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availed
themselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared.
Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference, concealed
what they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for the owners,
though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but amongst the
ruins.

To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a work of
supererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has ever
exercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich the shortest
way. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought to great