sely to take the initiative himself, to send Renard his
passports, and commit the country to war with the emperor.[28]
Northumberland would not venture the full length to which Noailles
invited him; but he sent Sir John Mason and Lord Cobham to Renard,
with an intimation that the English treason laws were not to be
trifled with. If he and his companions dared to meddle in matters
which did not concern them, their privileges as ambassadors should not
protect them from extremity of punishment.[29]

[Footnote 28: Noailles, vol. ii.]

[Footnote 29: Ajoutant menace de la rigeur de leurs
lois barbares.--Renard to Charles V.: _Granvelle
Papers_, vol. iv.]

Newmarket was chosen for the rendezvous of the army. The men were to
go down in companies, in whatever way they could travel most
expeditiously, with the guns and ammunition waggons. The duke himself
intended to set out on Friday at dawn. In his calculations of the
chances, hope still predominated--his cannon would give him the
advantage in the field, and he trusted to the Protestant spirit in
London to prevent a revolution in his absence. But he took the
precaution of making the council entangle themselves more completely
by taking out a commission under the Great Seal, as general of the
army, which they were forced to sign; and before he left the Tower, he
made a parting appeal to their good faith. If he believed they would
betray him, he said, he could still provide for his own safety; but,
as they were well aware that Lady Jane was on the throne by no will of
her own, but through his influence and theirs, so he trusted her to
their honours to keep the oaths which they had sworn. "They were all
in the same guilt," one of them answered; "none could excuse
themselves." Arundel especially wished the duke God speed upon his
way, and regretted only that he was not to accompany him to the
field.[30]

[Footnote 30: _Chronicle of Queen Jane._]

This was on Thursday evening. Northumberland slept that night at
Whitehall. The following morning he rode out of London, accompanied by
his four sons, Northampton, Grey, and about six hundred men. The
streets were thronged with spectators, but all observed the same
ominous silence with which they had received the heralds'
proclamation. "The people press to see us," the duke said, "but not
one saith God speed us."[31]

[