Lord George Gordon remained in Newgate till his death, from gaol-fever, in 1793. He made two or three ineffectual attempts to put in his bail, but they were objected to as insufficient. It was thought to the last that the government and his friends sought pretences to keep him in confinement and out of mischief. His somewhat premature death must have been a relief to them. But it can hardly be denied that hard measure was meted out to him, and if he escaped too easily at his first trial, he was too heavily punished at the second. It is impossible to absolve him from responsibility for the outrages committed by the rioters in 1780, although he was doubtless shocked at their excesses. Lord George could not have foreseen the terrible consequences which would follow his rash agitation, and little knew how dangerous were the elements of disturbance he unchained. But it can hardly be denied that he meant well. Had he lived a century later, he would probably have found a more legitimate outlet for his peculiar tendencies, and would have figured as an ardent philanthropist and platform orator, instead of as a criminal in the dock. Two more facts must be mentioned concerning these riots and the successful attacks on Newgate. The first is with regard to the prison keys. I find it recorded in Southey’s Commonplace Book (Book iv. p. 371), that on draining the basin in St. James’s Square for the purpose of erecting a statue of King William IV. there, the keys of Newgate were found at the bottom. These keys had been stolen at the fire in 1780, and thrown in here. A quantity of iron chains and fetters were recovered at the same time. The second fact is the probable extent of the damage done, as shown by the amount required for repairs. This must have been about £20,000. I see by the report of a Committee of the House of Commons, dated May 16, 1782, that a sum of £10,000 had been voted to meet the repairs of Newgate, and again in February 1783, at a Court of Common Council, a motion was made to petition Parliament for the grant of a further sum of £10,000 to complete these repairs. END OF VOL. I. FOOTNOTES: [1] This chapter originally appeared in the ‘Fortnightly Review,’ June 1882. [2] See post, chap. iv. [3] See vol. ii. cap. ii. [4] See vol. ii. cap. iii. [5] See vol. ii. cap. v. [6] Something of the same ambition filled the breasts of the projectors of Seville Cathedral. [7] An entry in a letter book at Guildhall speaks of the “heynouse gaol of Newgate,” and its fetid and corrupt atmosphere. Loftie, ‘Hist. of London,’ vol. i. 437. [8] Noorthouck, ‘Hist. of London,’ p. 60. [9] The term “roarer,” and “roaring boy,” signifying a riotous person, was in use in Shakespeare’s day, and still survives in slang (Riley). [10] The word is so given in the text, although this text is in Latin, fol. cxxxii. 6 (Riley).