low, and solemn over the meadows crept on the
mighty crowd of the rebel army.

"We have forestalled the insurgents!" said the earl, throwing himself
from his black steed. "Marmaduke Nevile, advance our banner; heralds,
announce the Duke of Clarence, the Archbishop of York, and the Earl of
Salisbury and Warwick."

Through the anxious town, along the crowded walls and housetops, into
the hall of an old mansion (that then adjoined the church), where the
king, in complete armour, stood at bay, with stubborn and disaffected
officers, rolled the thunder cry, "A Warwick! a Warwick! all saved! a
Warwick!"

Sharply, as he heard the clamour, the king turned upon his startled
council. "Lords and captains!" said he, with that inexpressible majesty
which he could command in his happier hours, "God and our Patron Saint
have sent us at least one man who has the heart to fight fifty times the
odds of yon miscreant rabble, by his king's side, and for the honour of
loyalty and knighthood!"

"And who says, sire," answered Raoul de Fulke, "that we, your lords and
captains, would not risk blood and life for our king and our knighthood
in a just cause? But we will not butcher our countrymen for echoing
our own complaint, and praying your Grace that a grasping and ambitious
family which you have raised to power may no longer degrade your nobles
and oppress your commons. We shall see if the Earl of Warwick blame us
or approve."

"And I answer," said Edward, loftily, "that whether Warwick approve or
blame, come as friend or foe, I will sooner ride alone through yonder
archway, and carve out a soldier's grave amongst the ranks of rebellious
war, than be the puppet of my subjects, and serve their will by
compulsion. Free am I--free ever will I be, while the crown of the
Plantagenet is mine, to raise those whom I love, to defy the threats of
those sworn to obey me. And were I but Earl of March, instead of king
of England, this hall should have swum with the blood of those who
have insulted the friends of my youth, the wife of my bosom. Off,
Hastings!--I need no mediator with my servants. Nor here, nor
anywhere in broad England, have I my equal, and the king forgives or
scorns--construe it as ye will, my lords--what the simple gentleman
would avenge."

It were in vain to describe the sensation that this speech produced.
There is ever something in courage and in will that awes numbers, though
brave themselves. And what with the unquestioned