17
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, it was on fire at leaſt in a hundred different places at once, and thus continued burning for ſix days together, without intermiſſion, or the leaſt attempt being made to ſtop its progreſs.
'I could never learn, that this terrible fire was owing to any ſubterraneous eruption, as ſome reported, but to three caules, which all concurring at the ſame time, will naturally account for the prodigious havock it made: the firſt of November being All Saints 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 neighbouring houſes, and being there joined with the fires in the kitchen chimnies, increaſed to ſuch a degree, that it might eaſily have deſtroyed the whole city, though no other cauſe had concurred, eſpecially as it met with no interruption.
'But what would appear incredible to you, were the fact leſs public and notorious, is, that a gang of hardened villains, who had been confined, and got out of priſon when the wall fell, at the firſt ſhock, were buſily employed in ſetting fire to thoſe buildings, which ſtood ſome chance of eſcaping the general deſtruction.
'The fire, by ſome means or other, may be ſaid to have deſtroyed the whole city, at leaſt every thing that was grand or valuable in it; and the damage on this occaſion is not to be esſtimated.
