As the capture of Wallace was an event wholly unexpected by the English, the news of it, which spread with the rapidity of lightning, produced, in every part of the kingdom, a deep and universal sensation. Labour of every kind was abandoned, and people of all ranks flocked to those points of the road where it was expected the illustrious captive would pass. At Carlisle the escort halted for a night; and the tower in which he was secured, long afterwards retained his name. As the _cortège_ approached London, the crowds became more numerous; and, on entering the capital, his conductors found their progress retarded by the multitudes that were collected;--while every elevation or projection, however perilous, from which he could be seen, was occupied with, or clung to, by anxious spectators, eager to behold a man who had filled England with terror, and the fame of whose achievements had resounded through every country in Europe. After much exertion, the cavalcade at length reached the house of William Delect, a citizen in Fenchurch Street, where their prisoner was lodged for the night. From the circumstance of his having been taken to a private house, rather than to a place of greater security, it has been imagined by some, that Edward intended to make a last effort to gain Wallace over to his interest. This conjecture, however, is not sufficiently supported by subsequent proceedings, to entitle it to any degree of credit; and we are more inclined to believe, that the difficulty which the party encountered in making their way through the dense multitudes who had blocked up the streets and lanes leading to the Tower, may, with greater probability, be assigned as the cause for taking him to the house of Delect. The thirst for revenge existed too keenly in the ruthless mind of Edward, to admit of much delay in the sacrifice of his victim. Though a consideration for the opinion of the more enlightened of his subjects, and the manner in which his conduct might be viewed at foreign courts, obliged him to have recourse at least to the formality of a trial--the indecent haste with which it was brought on, made the mockery of judicial procedure but too apparent. The day after his arrival, he was conducted on horseback, from the house which his brief residence had made the scene of universal attraction, to take his trial in Westminster Hall. His progress from Fenchurch Street, according to Stowe, appears to have been a sort of procession, Lord John de Segrave, the fugitive of Roslin, acting as Grand Marshal of England, and armed cap-à-pè, rode on one side, while Geoffrey de Hartlepool, Recorder of London, equipped in a similar manner, rode on the other. The Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen followed, attended by a number of official characters on horseback and on foot, arranged according to their respective grades.[70]