Monmouth's
advisers--before coming over from Holland--had represented that it would
be. They had thought that out of fear of tumults about his own person,
King James would have been compelled to keep near him what troops he
had, sparing none to be sent against Monmouth. This, King James had not
done; he had all but emptied London of soldiery, and, considering the
general disaffection, no moment could have been more favourable than
this for a rising in London itself. The confusion that must have
resulted from the recalling of troops would have given Monmouth not
only a mighty grip of the West, but would have heartened those who--like
Sunderland himself--were sitting on the wall, to declare themselves for
the Protestant Champion. This Wilding saw, and almost frenziedly did he
urge it upon Danvers that all London needed at the moment was a resolute
leader. But the Colonel still held back; indeed, he had neither truth
nor valour; he was timid, and used deceit to mask his timidity; he urged
frivolous reasons for inaction, and when Wilding waxed impatient with
him, he suggested that Wilding himself should head the rising if he were
so confident of its success. And Wilding would have done it but that,
being unknown in London, he had no reason to suppose that men would
flock to him if he raised the Duke's banner.

Later, when the excitement grew and rumours ran through town that
Monmouth had now a following of twenty thousand men and that the King's
forces were falling back before him, and discontent was rife at the
commissioning of Catholic lords to levy troops, Wilding again pressed
the matter upon Danvers. Surely no moment could be more propitious.
But again he received the same answer, that Danvers had lacked time to
organize matters sufficiently; that the Duke's coming had taken him by
surprise.

Lastly came the news that Monmouth had been crowned at Taunton amid the
wildest enthusiasm, and that there were now in England two men each
of whom called himself King James the Second. This was the excuse
that Danvers needed to be rid of a business he had not the courage to
transact to a finish. He swore that he washed his hands of Monmouth's
affairs; that the latter had broken faith with him and the promise
he had made him in having himself proclaimed King. He protested that
Monmouth had done ill, and prophesied that his act would alienate from
him the numerous republicans who, like Danvers, had hitherto looked to
him for the