n as
Pembroke. As Wyatt came up Courtenay turned his horse towards
Whitehall, and began to move off, followed by Lord Worcester. "Fie! my
lord," Sir Thomas {p.108} Cornwallis cried to him, "is this the
action of a gentleman?"[244] But deaf, or heedless, or treacherous, he
galloped off, calling Lost, lost! all is lost! and carried panic to
the court. The guard had broken at his flight, and came hurrying
behind him. Some cried that Pembroke had played false. Shouts of
treason rung through the palace. The queen, who had been watching from
the palace gallery, alone retained her presence of mind. If others
durst not stand the trial against the traitors, she said, she herself
would go out into the field and try the quarrel, and die with those
that would serve her.[245]

[Footnote 243: Letter of William Markham: _Tanner
MSS._ Bodleian Library. Compare Stow.]

[Footnote 244: Renard to Charles V., February 8:
_Rolls House MSS._]

[Footnote 245: Holinshed.]

At this moment Knyvet and the Cobhams, who had gone round by the old
palace, came by the gates as the fugitive guard were struggling in.
Infinite confusion followed. Gage was rolled in the dirt, and three of
the judges with him. The guard shrunk away into the offices and
kitchens to hide themselves. But Knyvet's men made no attempt to
enter. They contented themselves with shooting a few arrows, and then
hurried on to Charing Cross to rejoin Wyatt. At Charing Cross,
however, their way was now closed by a company of archers, who had
been sent back by Pembroke to protect the court. Sharp fighting
followed, and the cries rose so loud as to be heard on the leads of
the White Tower. At last the leaders forced their way up the Strand;
the rest of the party were cut up, dispersed, or taken.[246]

[Footnote 246: The dress of the Londoners who came
with Wyatt being the city uniform, they were
distinguished by the dirt upon their legs from
their night march. The cry of Pembroke's men in the
fight was "Down with the daggle-tails!"]

Wyatt himself, meanwhile, followed by three hundred men, had hurried
on through lines of men who still opened to give him passage. He
passed Temple Bar, along Fleet Street, and reached Ludgate. The gate
was open as he approached, when some one seeing a number of men