Here he was checked by loud groans and upbraidings from the bystanders.

“He tells you himself that the period of his confinement is just over,” cried Barcroft.  “It is plain he has no interest in the matter, except that he would have others suffer as he has done.  Heed him not, my friends; but proceed with the good work.  Liberate the poor plague prisoners.  Liberate them.  On! on!”

“Forbear, rash men” cried Bloundel, in an authoritative voice.  “In the name of those you are bound to obey, I command you to desist.”

“Command us!” cried one of the bystanders, raising his staff in a menacing manner.  “Is this your gratitude for the favour we have just conferred upon you?  Command us, forsooth!  You had better repeat the order, and see how it will be obeyed.”

“I do repeat it,” rejoined the grocer, firmly.  “In the Lord Mayor’s name, I command you to desist, and return to your homes.”

The man would have struck him with his staff, if he had not been himself felled to the ground by Leonard.  This was the signal for greater outrage.  The grocer and his apprentice were instantly assailed by several others of the mob, who, leaving them both on the floor covered with bruises, helped themselves to all they could lay hands on in the shop, and then quitted the premises.

It is scarcely necessary to track their course further; and it may be sufficient to state, that they broke open upwards of fifty houses in different streets.  Many of the plague-stricken joined them, and several half-naked creatures were found dead in the streets on the following morning.  Two houses in Blackfriars-lane were set on fire, and the conflagration was with difficulty checked; nor was it until late on the following day that the mob could be entirely dispersed.  The originator of the disturbance, Barcroft, after a desperate resistance, was shot through the head by a constable.

The result of this riot, as will be easily foreseen, was greatly to increase the pestilence; and many of those who had been most active in it perished in prison of the distemper.  Far from being discouraged by the opposition offered to their decrees, the city authorities enforced them with greater rigour than ever, and, doubling the number of the watch, again shut up all those houses which had been broken open during the late tumult.

Bloundel received a visit from the Lord Mayor, Sir John Lawrence, who, having been informed of his conduct, came to express his high approval of it, offering to remit the few days yet unexpired of his quarantine.  The grocer, however, declined the offer, and with renewed expressions of approbation, Sir John Lawrence took his leave.