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    and of some children ; and these circumstances led me to the knowledge of the threats respecting Park Street and Berkeley Square . I proceeded at once to give information , and hoped to excite to an armed defence of the respective houses ; recollecting that in the riots at Birmingham , the defenceless houses alone were attacked , "two brave men-servants were prepared to defend that in Park Street , by hurline stones , &c , from the roof

    ( where I saw them stationed for a long time ) on those who might commence the attack ; and perhaps they might have done it successfully : but the panic which vague and often groundless fear had caused , had left defenceless another house , which , for the sake of the adjoining row , ought to have been defended , and which from twelve to twenty men with fire-arms miglit have completely protected . The Bishop ' s Palace , however , was the last object of the series . * The system of indiscriminate and unopposed incendiarism and pillage had been commenced : and there was no motive to leave certainties for uncertainties . About midnight , the flames from the Custom-house , probably arising in part from the burning of spirits , were so great that they surpassed the many fires which were still fearfully burning more remote from the Square , and even those in the Square itself 5 and Charlotte Street above me , ( in a line between Brandon Hill and Park Street , ) was so vividly illuminated , that I believe persons might have read there by the light . Some of my family continued to observe the conflagration during the night ; and to multitudes in the city , out of the immediate scene of terror , the night was one of fear and watchfulness : but I went myself to rest with the knowledge that almost the whole of my large household were sleeping in peace . Before six on the Monday morning , after a few hours' sleep , I

    went to my window , expecting to witness the smoke of the ruins , in different directions ; but , with a sickness of heart which I cannot describe , or recall without a renewal of it , saw the fires extending far to the West of the part in which I had last seen them . Fearing that the wicked incendiaries had set fire to the shipping , but not conjecturing the extent of the real calamity , I hastened down to the scenes of devastation , partly for

    information , and in part from the fear that aid might be ( if it had not been ) needed for the Bristol Library in King Street . On approaching , I found the flames raging tremendously opposite to it , but the Library did not appear in any immediate danger ; and I soon learned from a friend who was coming from the Square where he had been all night , the extent and dreadful nature of the calamity . This was in Prince ' Street , in which only a small number of persons were scattered , and I was about to proceed to

    * About midnight three Dissenters—a Baptist , a Quaker , and a Unitarian—by a degree of coolness , firmness , and perseverance , which was very honourable to them , prevented the rioters there from setting fire to the Chapter-house , situated between the Palace and the Cathedral .

    Untitled Article

    On the Bristol Riots . 849

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1831, page 849, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2604/page/53/