236 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book ii.

flames extending to a great distance—stones, iron,brass, every metal devoured and eaten up by it;nor can it ever be extinguished, but by a mixtureof sand and vinegar in certain proportions. Howhorrid its hiss! 1 And though the city was all in aglare from the Greek fire, and that it whizzedterribly, with long traces of greasy blue, along thewaves, showing their watery mountains rollingwith a terrific violence, yet the sea itself lookeddark and gloomy, nor can I be sure whether it wasfrom the tempest, or that it was night; and the ballof Greek fire expanding to the size of a cask, withits several yards of undulatory tail shining andhissing most viciously, died away at last, afterpiercing more or less into that abyss of obscurity,whose dreadful bellow would have been fearful atany other time. That lasted for I do not knowhow long; no difference then between day and— ;it seemed always, night. Days were years, minutesdays. Who minded sun or moon? Heaven seemedin a fury, and that it was the end of all things.

“ Such a multitude, but chiefly women and chil-dren—some of them young ladies of the highestrank, endeavouring to persuade the boatmen totake them—not only offering jewels and money,but even their own persons, and that they wouldVinisauf.—Bib. Crois., ii. 676.—Oliveri.—Bib. Crois., iii. 143.

1