They
passed them on the road, browsing on the stunted grass; and the driver
told them, that the poor beasts had wandered to the village first, but
had been driven away, lest they should bring the vengeance of the crowd
on any of the inhabitants.
Nor was this feeling confined to such small places, where the people
were timid, ignorant, and unprotected. When they came near London they
met, in the grey light of morning, more than one poor Catholic family
who, terrified by the threats and warnings of their neighbours, were
quitting the city on foot, and who told them they could hire no cart or
horse for the removal of their goods, and had been compelled to leave
them behind, at the mercy of the crowd. Near Mile End they passed a
house, the master of which, a Catholic gentleman of small means, having
hired a waggon to remove his furniture by midnight, had had it all
brought down into the street, to wait the vehicle's arrival, and save
time in the packing. But the man with whom he made the bargain, alarmed
by the fires that night, and by the sight of the rioters passing his
door, had refused to keep it: and the poor gentleman, with his wife and
servant and their little children, were sitting trembling among their
goods in the open street, dreading the arrival of day and not knowing
where to turn or what to do.
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