THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

nha neal ttt ee

moving near me, and I was induced to
call out again for help; and this, indeed,
was the utmost exertion of which I was
capable, Two servants of a nobleman
being just by us, came within sight of
me, and one of them raised my hopes by
promising to assist me. He then rolled
aside the stone pillar so gently, and took
away the rubbish and broken pieces of
board so carefully from my legs and part
of my thighs, that very little of it fell
over my head ; and [at last found myself
free and unencumbered. Then having
freed me, he told me to stand. I answer-
ed I could not move my legs on account
of the pains I felt in them, for I supposed
they were broken. He therefore took me
on his back and laid me on a large stone,
As I had lost my wig in falling down
with the house, I had nothing to cover
my head, which was covered all over with
clotted blood and gravel; and not know-
ing what to do in that condition, exposed
to the open air at the beginning of the
night, I desired two men to carry me
somewhere under shelter. They consent-
ed, and conveyed me, one by the arms
and another by the waist, to a small church
just by, where there was a priest officiat-
ing, with children who had fled for refuge.
As soon as I entered, the priest came to
me and inquired whether or not I was of
their religion, and whether I chose to be
baptized. I informed him I was a Christ-
ian and had already been baptized. He
replied there was a great difference be-
tween my religion and his; that theirs
was the Catholic religion, the only one
through which a man can be saved, enu-
merating the seven sacraments of theirs,
and those of mine. I answered him
again, that I was by no means in a con-
dition to make so solemn a vow, not hav-

 

ing altogether a sane mind. He replied
again, that such things might be done
even when expiring: upon which he was
called to confess a wounded person in the
church. That done, he said prayers, and
went away with the children. Having
locked the door, he left me there with two
dead persons and three wounded, as I

afterwards found by the light of a lamp
and two tapers that were burning. One
cannot conceive, and indeed I can hardly
account for it myself, how I passed through
this long and tedious night, wounded, and
in the greatest agony, besides being dis-
turbed by the dismal groans of other
wounded men, and exposed to the cold
air of a church, lying on the bare ground,
with scarcely anything to cover me. The
next morning about break of day, a man
came knocking at the window, inquiring
whether there was any one in the church,
and saying the roof was on fire. I there-
fore immediately attempted to. run, in-
tending to go out at one of the doors,
but found, to my great dismay, that they
were all locked; and then I saw no hope
before me, but was in momentary expecta-
tion of being buried under the burning
rafters. I still, with great pain and diffi-
culty, wandered about the church, when
my sight was continually tormented by
seeing in one part a poor creature with a
broken leg crawling towards the door, here
perhaps a corpse, and in another parta
man lying on the cold stones, groaning
with some broken limb. Here the gene-
ral confusion was increased by the falling
in of half the roof. I just managed to
hobble to one of the doors as some one
came to open it. I made my way out as
well as I could to the river side, over dead

bodies, beasts, chaises, and rubbish, some-

times on my hands and knees, sometimes