At eleven-fifteen these brands set fire to the roof of a church about three hundred yards from the main fire. I went to see this before there was the sign of a blaze; (I adopted the plan of keeping before the fire, so that in case it spread I should not be cut off from my hotel) some men got on the roof and tried to put it out but they could not. So an engine came, and dilly-dallied about for a few minutes, until a volume of thick black smoke rolled up from it and in two minutes it was in flames. The edifice was wood and it went like a matchbox; it was a Roman Catholic institution. Some one said it was on fire before any sign of a blaze came from it; an old Irish woman that had just come heard the remark and asked: “Where is the foire?” They told her on the roof. “Ah,” said she, “God will put it out,” and appeared quite composed about it. This is where the real trouble commenced. There were two immense fires now, and the fire brigade divided. This left the first fire almost to itself, and in a few minutes it joined the second one; the sight was now dreadful. It swept along, burning wood, bricks, stone, alike; I never saw the equal. The two latter materials gave out sooner than the wood; they melted down like wax, while wood burned so long as a stick remained. It flew from house to house almost as quick as one could walk, until it reached the river. I will stop about the fire now and tell you something of the inhabitants, a great many being burnt out, the fire having come a mile now, and half a mile wide. The people were mostly looking at the fire, but as soon as they saw their homes in danger, a general packing up could be observed in all the houses, and soon after a regular exodus, everyone, old and young, carrying something. The men looked pale and callous as a rule; the women ran about in an excited manner, but none fainted. Children clung to parents, or old friends, too frightened to cry; infants alone made noise, as the mothers had not time to sit down and soothe them. Others of them slept peaceably in the mothers’ arms, ignorant of all danger and care. Old women were carrying weights too heavy for men, and young women were dragging trunks (enough for a donkey to pull), no doubt containing their best clothes, or sat on them and wept quietly when they could not pull any longer, and had to leave them for the fire to lick up as a giant would swallow a midge.