Sir William found us a place, with some difficulty, where we could
stand without being pushed and hustled by the crowd, but we could
hear nothing at first except the talking and moving about of the
multitude, the cries of those who were hurt or pushed, and the
endeavours of those in authority to induce order and quiet.
When, at length, I was able to hear what the venerable bishop was
saying, I found that his eloquence was being exerted on a theme so
much to my mind that I could have listened all day. He was speaking
of the virtues and abilities of my dear mistress, and praising her
exceedingly for her goodness and her learning, dwelling much upon the
beneficent effect her Protestant rule would be certain to have upon
the people of England, and maintaining her right and her title to the
throne by the best arguments he could devise--I noticed among these
none that were new, however, which I could carry home to Queen Jane.
The fact was, he said nothing but what had been already employed,
only being an orator, he said it more emphatically and more
beautifully, and being a bishop, his words had to my thinking more
weight, and he spoke them as one having great spiritual authority.
I was listening eagerly, with my eyes fixed on the preacher and ears
intent only upon his words, when a man wrapped in a long
foreign-looking cloak pressed so closely against me that I was pushed
a little way from my companions. Glancing at the man with
indignation, I perceived that his face was concealed partly by the
collar of his coat and partly by a large felt hat pulled low over his
brow. It was impossible, therefore, to distinguish his features, and
yet I knew I had seen him before.
'Allow me,' I said, 'to step nearer to my friends.'
The fellow pretended not to hear. He stuck his hands in his pockets
and straightened his broad back between me and my companions. I
thought he was a boor, but no worse, and, giving up the attempt to
move him, became speedily absorbed again in the preaching, if
preaching it could be called, which was now a speech inveighing
against the claims of the late King Henry's daughters, and especially
of the Princess Mary, and representing, moreover, that if the latter
succeeded to the throne it would mean certain destruction to the
reformed religion, which, on the other hand, the amiable and pious
Queen Jane would maintain in its entirety. He spoke, too, of the
likelihood of Mary's contracting a marriage with a prince of the
house of Spain, where the Inquisition, with all its ghastly horrors,
was maintained. Then he went on to tell of an interview he had had
with Mary before the late king's death. He had ridden over to visit
her at Hundson, and she invited him to stay to dinner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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