POLITICAL HISTORY 



But before they reached Brentford their advance was discovered ; 1M and 

 the news being carried to London, the queen's forces had ample time in 

 which to take up a strong position across the road by which Wyatt 

 must advance. 800 As Wyatt had been delayed by the dismounting of 

 a piece of artillery, when he heard that London was already warned of 

 his approach, he encamped for the night to refresh his men, who were 

 very weary and faint from want of food. 801 By ten o'clock the following 

 morning Wyatt was advancing through Kensington, and on reaching the 

 corner of Hyde Park he found the queen's troops, under the earl of 

 Pembroke, drawn up across his path. After a sharp skirmish Wyatt's 

 little force was cut in two. Those in the rear found it impossible to 

 rejoin their leader and as many as were able fled back, along the way 

 they had come, to Brentford. 202 Wyatt still went forward, but the story 

 of his subsequent battle at Charing Cross 80S and of his disappointment 

 at Ludgate belong to the history of Westminster and London. 80 * 



Wyatt's rebellion nearly cost Princess Elizabeth her life. The queen 

 sent for her sister to come from Ashridge, Hertfordshire, to answer 

 the charge of implication in the plot, and sent the royal physician to see 

 that Elizabeth did not evade the command by pleading illness. 806 Starting 

 on the day of Lady Jane Grey's execution, 808 and travelling very slowly, 

 Elizabeth came on the third night of her journey to ' Mr. Dodd's at 

 Mimms,' and on the fourth to Mr. Cholmeley's at Highgate, where she 

 stayed for more than a week, too ill to proceed. 807 It is little wonder 

 that Elizabeth journeyed slowly, nor that she could truly plead ill-health, 

 for the future looked black enough. There were gibbets at each of the 

 City gates, and the public buildings were crowded with the heads of the 

 noblest in the land. 808 Whatever her fears, Elizabeth showed a brave 

 front. On the day on which she entered London, the same morning 

 that Suffolk was executed, the road from Highgate was thronged with 

 gazing and weeping crowds. 809 She bade her attendants uncover the 

 litter in which she was carried so that the people might see her as she 

 sat clothed in white ; and though her countenance was pale, her bearing 

 was ' proud, lofty, and disdainful, by which she endeavoured to conceal 

 her trouble.' 81 Elizabeth's popularity, as well as her own prudence and 

 wit, saved her life; but the following Christmas she was again journeying 

 through Middlesex uncertain of her fate, this time to appear before Mary 



m Chron. of Queen Jane and Queen Mary (Camd. Soc.), 47. Before coming to Brentford they 

 were seen by one of the queen's scouts, ' who then by chance meeting Brett and his company, the said 

 Brett said to the scout, " Back, villain : if thou go further to discover any company here, thou shalt die 

 out of hand." The scout returned in great haste.' 



100 Grafton, Chron. 539. 



101 Chron. of Queen Jane and Queen Mary (Camd. Soc.), 48. 



"' Grafton, Chron. 541. m Chron. of the Grey Friars (Camd. Soc.), 87. 



** Chron. of Queen Jane and Queen Mary (Camd. Soc.), 48-9 ; and Appendix, 131. 



>05 Nichols, Progresses of Queen Eliz. i, 6. 



** Lodge, Illus. of Brit. Hist, i, 190. Robert Swift to the earl of Shrewsbury. 



*" Holinshed, Chron. iii, 1 1 5 1 ; cf. Tytler, Engl. under Edw. VI and Mary, ii, 426. 



108 Noailles, Ambassades en Angleterre, iii, 83. 



*" Nichols, Progresses of Queen Eliz. i, 6 (note). 



" Simon Renard to Chas. V, cited by Strickland, Queens of Engl. vi, 66. 



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