Of the proceedings of the victors during that night we are ignorant; but
it does not suggest a very favourable notion of their forbearance, that
in the following morning the great church of St. Peter's was filled with
crowds of townspeople of both sexes, and of every age and condition. The
majority of the women and children sought protection within the body of the
church; a select party of females, belonging to the first families in the
town, procured access to the crypts under the choir, which seemed to offer
more favourable chances of concealment and safety. But the sacred edifice
afforded no asylum to either. The carnage began within the church at an
early hour; and, when it was completed, the bloodhounds tracked their prey
into the vaults beneath the pavement. Among the men who thus descended into
these subterranean recesses, was Thomas Wood, at that time a subaltern,
afterwards a captain in Ingoldsby's regiment. He found there, according
to his own narrative, "the flower and choicest of the women and ladies
belonging to the town, amongst whom a most handsome virgin, arrayed in
costly and gorgeous apparel, kneeled down to him with tears and prayers to
save her life; and being strucken with a profound pitie, he took her under
his arme, and went with her out of the church with intentions to put
her over the works to shift for herself; but a soldier perceiving his
intention, he ran his sword up her belly or fundament.
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