at the plan of
the conspirators was not merely to prevent the consummation of the
Spanish match, but to depose Queen Mary entirely, and to raise the Lady
Jane to the throne. However this may be, an extensive and formidable
conspiracy was formed. There were to have been several risings in
different parts of the kingdom. They all failed except the one which
Wyatt himself was to head, which was in Kent, in the southeastern part
of the country. This succeeded so far, at least, that a considerable
force was collected, and began to advance toward London from the
southern side.

Queen Mary was very much alarmed. She had no armed force in readiness to
encounter this danger. She sent messengers across the Thames and down
the river to meet Wyatt, who was advancing at the head of four thousand
men, to ask what it was that he demanded. He replied that the queen must
be delivered up as his prisoner, and also the Tower of London be
surrendered to him. This showed that his plan was to depose the queen.
Mary rejected these proposals at once, and, having no forces to meet
this new enemy, she had to retreat from Westminster into the city of
London, and here she took refuge in the city hall, called the Guildhall,
and put herself under the protection of the city authorities. Some of
her friends urged her to take shelter in the Tower; but she had more
confidence, she said, in the faithfulness and loyalty of her subjects
than in castle walls.

Wyatt continued to advance. He was still upon the south side of the
river. There was but one bridge across the Thames, at London, in those
days, though there are half a dozen now, and this one was so strongly
barricaded and guarded that Wyatt did not dare to attempt to cross it.
He went up the river, therefore, to cross at a higher point; and this
circuit, and several accidental circumstances which occurred, detained
him so long that a considerable force had been got together to receive
him when he was ready to enter the city. He pushed boldly on into the
narrow streets, which received him like a trap or a snare. The city
troops hemmed up his way after he had entered. They barricaded the
streets, they shut the gates, and armed men poured in to take possession
of all the avenues. Wyatt depended upon finding the people of London on
his side. They turned, instead, against him. All hope of success in his
enterprise, and all possibility of escape from his own awful danger,
disappeared together. A herald c