>>512666931It really was hysteria, it was not so much the raw bloodshed, but the fear. It really appeared that anyone could be found guilty, and then come the soldiers with their smoothbores to take you away to be killed. People of note became very quiet, only the radicals spoke, and when they spoke they spoke merely to allay or excite the baying mob. So the streets were very noisy, yet in another sense absolutely nothing of import was being discussed, and so it 'felt' quiet. Like the brief interlude when you injure yourself before you feel the pain.