nvirons, they threw into
the city such a number of bombs and red-hot bullets, that by nine in the
morning it was set on fire in three different places; and, the streets
being-narrow, it burned with such fury that all our endeavours to
extinguish it proved ineffectual. At this time the whole atmosphere
appeared like a shower of fiery rain and hail; and the miserable
inhabitants thought of nothing but saving their lives by running
into the open fields. The whole place was filled with terror and
consternation, and resounded with the shrieks of women and children,
who ran about in the utmost distraction, exposed to the shot and
bomb-shells, which, bursting, tore in pieces every thing that stood in
their way. As I led my wife, with a young child in her arms, and
drove the rest of my children and servants half naked before me, those
instruments of death and devastation fell about us like hail; but,
by the mercy of God, we all escaped unhurt. Nothing could be more
melancholy and affecting than a sight of the wretched people flying in
crowds, and leaving their all behind, while they rent the sky with
their lamentations. Many women of distinction I saw without shoes and
stockings, and almost without clothes, who had been roused from their
beds, and ran out naked into the streets. When my family had reached the
open plain, I endeavoured to return, and save some of my effects; but I
could not force my way through a multitude of people, thronging out at
the gate, some sick and bed-ridden persons being carried on horseback
and in carriages, and others conveyed on the backs of their friends,
through a most dreadful scene of horror and desolation. A great number
of families from the open country, and the defenceless towns in Prussia
and Pomerania, had come hither for shelter with their most valuable
effects, when the Russians first entered the king's territories. These,
as well as the inhabitants, are all ruined; and many, who a few days ago
possessed considerable wealth, are now reduced to the utmost indigence.
The neighbouring-towns and villages were soon crowded with the people of
Custrin; the roads were filled with objects of misery; and nothing was
seen but nakedness and despair; nothing heard but the cries of hunger,
fear, and distraction. For my own part, I stayed all night at Goitz,
and then proceeded for Berlin. Custrin is now a heap of ruins. The great
magazine, the governor's house, the church, the palace, the store and
arti