ep without treading on the dead or dying. In some places lay
coaches, with their masters, horses and riders almost crushed in
pieces; here, mothers with infants in their arms; there, ladies richly
dressed, priests, friars, gentlemen, mechanics, either in the same
condition or just expiring; some had their backs broken, others great
stones on their breasts; some lay almost buried in the rubbish, and
crying out in vain for succor, were left to perish with the rest.

"At length I arrived at the spot opposite to the house where my
friend, for whom I was so anxious, resided; and finding this as well
as the other contiguous buildings thrown down, I gave him up for lost,
and thought only of saving my own life.

"In less than an hour I reached a public house, kept by a Mr. Morley,
near the English burying-ground, about a half a mile from the city,
where I found a great number of my countrymen in the same wretched
circumstances as myself.

"Perhaps you may think the present doleful subject here concluded; but
the horrors of the day are sufficient to fill a volume. As soon as it
grew dark, another scene presented itself, little less shocking than
those already described. The whole city appeared in a blaze, which was
so bright that I could easily see to read by it. It may be said
without exaggeration that it was on fire in at least a hundred
different places at once, and thus continued burning for six days
together, without intermission, or without the least attempt being
made to stop its progress.

"It went on consuming everything the earthquake had spared, and the
people were so dejected and terrified that few or none had courage
enough to venture down to save any part of their substance. I could
never learn that this terrible fire was owing to any subterraneous
eruption, as some reported, but to three causes, which all concurring
at the same time, will naturally account for the prodigious havoc it
made. The first of November being All Saint's Day, a high festival
among the Portuguese, every altar in every church and chapel, some of
which have more than twenty, was illuminated with a number of wax
tapers and lamps, as customary; these setting fire to the curtains and
timber work that fell with the shock, the conflagration soon spread to
the neighboring houses, and being there joined with the fires in the
kitchen chimneys, increased to such a degree, that it might easily
have destroyed the whole city, though no other cause ha