But whatever hopes they might have entertained were quickly taken away by an unhappy event, which it was impossible for them to foresee, and in which it is not so much as pretended that they were parties. The cruelty and bigotry of Philip of Spain had made his very name detestable in England; when, therefore, the queen announced her determination to marry him, the whole kingdom was thrown into consternation. The most strenuous efforts were made to dissuade her from her purpose; but, these failing, a general insurrection was concerted, having for its object the substitution of the protestant Elizabeth for Mary upon the throne. Their plans were not yet fully matured, when the arrest of some of those concerned, though for some entirely distinct cause, alarmed Sir Thomas Wyatt, the leader, and drove him into premature rebellion. The queen, when she heard of his rising, sent a herald to command him to dismiss his followers. The herald found the moat about Sir Thomas’ house filled with water, and the drawbridge up; at one spot a ford seemed to offer a safe passage. “On the inside thereof walked the proper case of a man well habited, and his face carrying no despair of wisdom therein. The herald asked him, ‘whether he might safely go over there?’ To whom the other slily replied, ‘Yea, yea;’ but had not the strength of his horse been more than ordinary, he either had been drowned in the water, or buried in the mud.” The herald, on arriving at the house, made loud complaints of the deceit practised upon him; when Sir Thomas summoned all his household to answer the charge. “The herald challengeth the party at the first sight of him. ‘Alas!’ said Sir Thomas, ‘he is a mere natural, as will appear, if you will please to examine him.’ ‘Why, sirrah,’ said the herald, ‘did you direct me to come over where it was almost impossible to pass without drowning?’ To whom the other answered, ‘The ducks came over not long before you, whose legs were shorter than your horse’s.’ Hereat the herald smiled out his anger, adding withal, ‘Sir Thomas, hereafter let your fool wear his motley, that he may deceive no more in this kind.’”