omo.--Giovanni Michele: Ellis, vol. ii.] series
ii.]

Her subjects had risen in rebellion against her, she said; she had
been told that the cause was her intended marriage with the {p.099}
Prince of Spain; and, believing that it was the real cause, she had
offered to hear and to respect their objections. Their leader had
betrayed in his answer his true motives; he had demanded possession of
the Tower of London and of her own person. She stood there, she said,
as lawful Queen of England, and she appealed to the loyalty of her
great city to save her from a presumptuous rebel, who, under specious
pretences, intended to "subdue the laws to his will, and to give scope
to rascals and forlorn persons to make general havoc and spoil." As to
her marriage, she had supposed that so magnificent an alliance could
not have failed to be agreeable to her people. To herself, and, she
was not afraid to say, to her council, it seemed to promise high
advantage to the commonwealth. Marriage, in itself, was indifferent to
her; she had been invited to think of it by the desire of the country
that she should have an heir; but she could continue happy in the
virgin state in which she had hitherto passed her life. She would call
a parliament and the subject should be considered in all its bearings;
if, on mature consideration, the Lords and Commons of England should
refuse to approve of the Prince of Spain as a fitting husband for her,
she promised, on the word of a queen, that she would think of him no
more.

The spectacle of her distress won the sympathy of her audience; the
boldness of her bearing commanded their respect; the promise of a
parliament satisfied, or seemed to satisfy, all reasonable demands:
and among the wealthy citizens there was no desire to see London in
possession of an armed mob, in whom the Anabaptist leaven was deeply
interfused. The speech, therefore, had remarkable success. The queen
returned to Westminster, leaving the corporation converted to the
prudence of supporting her. Twenty-five thousand men were enrolled the
next day for the protection of the crown and the capital; Lord William
Howard was associated with the mayor in the command; and Wyatt, who
had reached Greenwich on Thursday, and had wasted two days there,
uncertain whether he should not cross the river in boats to Blackwall,
arrived on Saturday morning at Southwark, to find the gates closed on
London Bridge, and the drawbridge flung d