haps many among the Catholics, contemplated the Queen's marriage with Philip with apprehension, there was a great difference of opinion respecting the means to be used with a view to avert the evil. The more cautious of the nobility considered that as the marriage had not actually taken place, there was still time for remonstrance and negociation; and in general the higher class of people were not inclined to violent proceedings; but the more turbulent, being satisfied that all other means would be ineffectual, formed a conspiracy for the purpose of organizing a general revolt, and thus procuring by force the abandonment of the measure.

The story of the Rebellion that ensued, which is commonly called Wyatt's Rebellion, is well known; but it will be useful to state the outlines of the transaction, in order that the reader may be enabled to follow more readily the circumstances of Throckmorton's trial. Courtenay, the Earl of Devonshire, who had flattered himself at one time with being the successful candidate for the Queen's hand, was believed to have been the first instigator of this insurrection. Sir Thomas Wyatt is said to have stated upon his arraignment* that he should never have thought of the undertaking if it had not been suggested to him by Courtenay; but in his declaration immediately before his execution he entirely exculpated Courtenay from all participation in the scheme. Sir Thomas Wyatt, of Allingham Castle, was a gentleman of great influence in the county of Kent, and his talents as well as his impetuous courage and restless activity, had rendered him conspicuous on several occasions. He was a commander at the siege of Boulogne, and is highly spoken of by the celebrated Earl of Surrey, when governor of that place. "I assure

*Howell's State Trials, vol. i. p. 863.

your Majesty," says Surrey in a letter to Henry VIII., "you have framed him to such towardness and knowledge in the war, that (none other dispraised) your Majesty hath not many like him within your realm for hardiness, painfulness, and circumspection, and natural disposition to the war." Before Surrey undertook the command, Wyatt conducted an expedition from Boulogne against Hardelot, and the capture of that place was in a great measure owing to his personal gallantry. The Despatches† state "that he entered the turnpike, and coming to a gate on the first bridge, he went into the door, which he brake open; and, himself being the first man that entered, slew one of their watchmen upon the said bridge, took the other twain of them, and set his hackbutters in the braye‡ about the castle." Although a near relation of the Duke of Northumberland, he had proclaimed Mary at Maidstone before he knew the state of her affairs, and had received her thanks for the services rendered by him on that occasion §. Burnet says that he was a Catholic, but that having been on several embassies in Spain, he had conceived a great disgust of the Spanish character from what he saw there; but in this account Burnet has probably confounded him *Nott's Memoirs of Surrey, p. 188. State-Paper Office.

A braye means literally a hill, or rising ground, and is bably the same word as brae in the Scottish dialect:

'On that steep bray Lord Guelpho would not then
Hazard his folk, but there his soldiers staid.'

pros

Fairfax's Tasso. The word has, however, another meaning, in which it is undoubtedly used in Surrey's Despatch, namely, a mound or breast-work covering the fosse of a fortified place:

'Order was given that bulwarks, brays and walls should be raised in his castles and strong-holds on the sea-side.'

Lord Herbert's Henry VIII., p. 28.

§ Carte's History of England, vol. iii, p. 303.

VOL. I.

with Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder, styled by Wood "the delight of the Muses and of mankind *," who was an extremely accomplished person, and was sent by Henry VIII. into Spain, and on several other foreign missions. However this may be, Sir Thomas Wyatt cordially joined in the general aversion to the Spanish match, and was one of the most active of that party who determined to use force to prevent it. It was arranged that Wyatt should manage the rising in Kent, Sir Peter Carew in the West of Eng land, and the Duke of Suffolk in the midland counties; while Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was charged with having taken his post at London for the purpose of sounding the citizens, watching the motions of the government, and communicating with the other conspirators as occasion might require.

In the western and midland districts the scheme entirely failed: Sir Peter Carew, after in vain attempting to excite the men of Devonshire to take arms, fled to France on the arrival of the Earl of Bedford with the Queen's troops, and the Duke of Suffolk was taken, sent to the Tower, and afterwards beheaded. The insurrection in Kent, however, which had been organized with great secrecy and address by Sir Thomas Wyatt, assumed a more formidable appearance. Having raised about two thousand men, he fixed his head-quarters at the castle of Rochester, near to which place, Winter, one of the confederates, lay in the Thames with a squadron of five large ships, which had been intended for the conveyance of Philip to England; and from thence supplied him with provisions and ammunition. At first his efforts were unsuccessful; he was not joined by many persons of consequence, and several parties of the insurgents were defeated and dispersed by the Queen's troops. Wyatt was * Ath. Oxon. vol. i. p. 58.

so much dejected at this, that he was on the point of abandoning the enterprise, but an unexpected occurrence reanimated his hopes.

The old Duke of Norfolk, who had lately been released from an imprisonment of eight years in the Tower, had marched from London with a detachment of the guards, and was joined at Gravesend by five hundred of the London trained bands, commanded by one Bret. With this force the Duke determined to attack Wyatt at Rochester, and accordingly ordered the bridge at that place to be forced, which had been previously fortified by the insurgents with a few brass guns, in order to oppose the Duke's passage. Before, however, the Queen's troops came upon the bridge, Bret, the captain of the trained bands, suddenly drew his sword, and addressing his men in a flourishing harangue, declared his resolution to go over to Wyatt; and urged them, if they valued their country and detested Spanish slavery, to follow his example. He had hardly ended his speech, when the whole troop shouted "A Wyatt! a Wyatt!" and began to turn their swords and ordnance upon the guards who were following them, Upon this the Duke and his attendants, apprehending a general revolt, immediately fled; and Sir Thomas Wyatt, who had received previous notice of this intended treachery, came up at the moment and seized their guns and baggage †. All the Londoners, part of the guards, and more than three parts of the Duke of Norfolk's retinue, went over to Wyatt.

Encouraged by this incident, which Sir Thomas Wyatt hoped would be the signal for a ge

* Sir Thomas Cheyne, in one of his Despatches to the Council, says, "I would to God my Lord of Norfolk had forborne his attack that day, and then I am out of doubt they had all run away the same night."-State-Paper Office.

+ Godwin's Annals, p. 341. Stow, p. 618.

neral revolt, the insurgents commenced their march towards London. Ön their arrival at Deptford their numbers had increased prodigiously; and a message from the Queen, requiring to know the extent of their demands, and even offering to reconsider the propriety of the marriage with Philip of Spain, added greatly to their confidence. In the mean time precautions had been taken for the safety of the metropolis, the draw-bridge of London Bridge being cut down, the bridge-gates closed and guarded, and the boats on the Thames secured; and orders were issued to the neighbouring nobility to raise their tenants and hasten to the protection of the Court. The Queen in person, accompanied by her ladies and officers of state, went to the Guildhall and addressed the citizens in a judicious speech, which made so general an impression, that in a few hours twenty thousand men had enrolled their names for the protection of the city t.

66

On the 3d of February, 1553-4, Sir Thomas Wyatt reached Southwark, where his followers pillaged the house of the obnoxious Bishop Gardiner, and destroyed the books in his library, so that a man might have gone up to his knees in the leaves of books cut out and thrown under foot." He remained at Southwark till the 6th of February, when being unable to pass London bridge, and being entreated by the inhabitants to depart, that their houses might not be destroyed by the guns from the Tower,

*The original minute of the proposals to be made to Wyatt may be seen at the State-Paper Office.

+ Stow's Chronicle, p. 619. A circumstance is related by Stow which shows the consternation which prevailed at London at this time; he says, "On the Fryday (the day on which Wyatt reached Deptford) the most part of the householders of London, with the Maior and Aldermen, were in harnesse: yea, this day and other days, the justices, serjeants at the law, and other lawyers in Westminster Hall, pleaded in harnesse.”