He managed to beat the flames out with a blanket.

My mothers maydes when they did ſowe & ſpyñ they ſang ſometyme a ſong of the feld mowſe that forbicauſe her lyvelood was but thyñ Would nedes goo ſeke her townyſſh ſyſters howſe

Des Cartes himself, who has been the greatest example and inculcator of this suspension […]

[H]e out of meer wantonness attempted to trip up the heels of the soldier that stood next him, but failed in the execution, and received a blow of his breast with the butt end of a fusil, that made him stagger several paces backward.