On the evening of the 4th of January, a woman,--the patriotic journalists and pamphleteers of that time did not fail to note that she was a Dutchwoman,--who was employed as a laundress at Whitehall, lighted a charcoal fire in her room and placed some linen round it.

The linen caught fire and burned furiously.

The tapestry, the bedding, the wainscots were soon in a blaze.

The unhappy woman who had done the mischief perished.

Soon the flames burst out of the windows.