Description Of A Conflagration

'Tis night: the busy, ceaseless noise of day     No more is heard; the now-deserted-streets     Lie dark and silent; London's weary swarms     Rest in profound repose. Hark! a loud cry     Frightens the silence; 'tis the cry of fire!     I hear the dissonance of rattling wheels,     The tread of hasty feet, the doleful sigh     Of sympathy, and terror's thrilling shriek:     O mercy heaven!                  Behold the fiery Pest!     See, how the flames climb up the lofty walls,     Involve their prey, and greedily devour:     The crowd exert their efforts to controul     The spreading bane; some labour to supply     The numerous engines; others bear aloft     The pliant tubes, guiding their watery store     Amid the fiercer fire; on ladders some     Ascending, scale the walls, and undeterr'd,     Their dangerous office ply; some wildly haste     To save their properties: 'tis bustle all,     And noisy tumult. Doubtful for a time     The strife remains; where'er the Burning winds     His flamy spires, the well-directed streams,     Incessant spouting, damp the sickening flames,     Repelling their advance; but, oft repulsed,     As oft they rally with recruited strength:     Alternate in the mind rise hope and fear.     Tumbles a roof with clattering noise, the sky     Lightens, a burst of clamour! all is hush'd     In awful stillness, save that from beneath     The ruins fall'n is heard a muttering sound,     As if the Demon of the element     In indignation menaced dire revenge.     Ah! now, unchain'd by some mysterious Power,     Some Fiend of air, in league with That of fire,     The wind begins to howl; its breath awakes     The sleepy flames; loud and more loud it howls,     And rushes on them with collected might;     Before the driving spirit burst the flames     In a redoubled tempest, and deride     Opposing man. See! how they proudly toss     Their many heads on high, and through the vault     Of darkness fling a sad, malignant day:     Look! with what fury, what resistless rage,     From street to street the fiery Deluge pours     His rapid billows, swallowing everything     In horrible destruction; lowly roofs,     And gorgeous mansions, lofty spires and domes     Capacious, on whose fair, majestic tops,     As on her throne exalted, Art assumed     Her noblest honours, whose firm pillars braved     Storms, and the still-corroding course of years;     These, these with all their wealth, the various stores     Of luxury and commerce, to the flames     Abandon'd, sink an undefended prey,     Swelling the general wreck; unheeded sink     By their possessors, flying for their lives:     Cries, groans, laments, on every side resound.     Sudden a magazine of nitrous grain     Bursts in a blazing column to the clouds;     The dread explosion shakes the solid ground,     And through the skies in lengthening thunder rolls:     Driven by the furious overwhelming blast     To distance round, the burning fragments fall     On every side; see, see, yon ships catch fire,     Their rigging's in a blaze; affrighted Thames     Shrinks from the sight; his waters cast a gleam     Portentous, dismal, like the light of hell.     Before the Conflagration numbers fly     Frighted, in throngs precipitate, to seek     A refuge in the distant fields secure,     Which, cover'd thick with victims of distress,     Present a wretched world. There Youth, surprised     By hard experience, learns, alas! too soon     The destiny of Man; and from those eyes     Where expectation and unclouded joy     Serenely shone, the streams of sorrow flow:     There helpless Age, robb'd of the scanty means     A life of labour earn'd, driven from his home     To wander, destitute, the vale of years,     Yields to despondence, tears his hoary locks,     Falls on the ground, and eagerly implores     Rest in the grave: there, gazing on the fires,     The tender Mother stands, her frenzied soul     Glares from her look, her bosom heaves a groan,     She hugs her crying infant to her heart,     Despairing, lost: what countless forms of wo!     Lethargic some, and mute; some, giving loose     To their distracted feelings, rave aloud     In all the clamorous vehemence of grief.     The din subsides; a voice, distinctly heard,     A frantic voice exclaims, my child! my child!     My child is in the flames! Oh! horrible!     What succour? what resource? the roaring wind     More fiercely blows, the Burning pours along,     The skies are lighten'd, Uproar opens wide     His thousand mouths, Danger and Ruin prowl     At large with boundless license, all is doubt     And consternation, one tempestuous sea     Of wretchedness, one chaos of despair.     Seized with wild fear Imagination sees     The elements broke loose, Time on the brink     Of dread Eternity, with all the signs     Of that tremendous period when the dead     Shall rise to judgment hush'd in solemn awe     Listening the trump of doom.                      Thus raged the storm,     Till the great God of heaven in mercy bade     The wind be silent, bade the gathering clouds     Pour down abundant rain; the raging Fires,     In prompt obedience to the sovereign will     Of their Creator, dwindled and expired.