ended the steps of the market
cross. From this position he addressed us, speaking in a high piping
voice which gathered strength as he proceeded, until it was audible at
the remotest corners of the square.

'Friends in the faith,' he said, 'I thank the Lord that I have been
spared in my old age to look down upon this goodly assembly. For we of
Taunton have ever kept the flame of the Covenant burning amongst us,
obscured it may be at times by time-servers and Laodiceans, but none the
less burning in the hearts of our people. All round us, however,
there was a worse than Egyptian darkness, where Popery and Prelacy,
Arminianism, Erastianism, and Simony might rage and riot unchecked and
unconfined. But what do I see now? Do I see the faithful cowering
in their hiding-places and straining their ears for the sound of the
horsehoof's of their oppressors? Do I see a time-serving generation,
with lies on their lips and truth buried in their hearts? No! I see
before me godly men, not from this fair city only, but from the broad
country round, and from Dorset, and from Wiltshire, and some even as I
hear from Hampshire, all ready and eager to do mighty work in the cause
of the Lord. And when I see these faithful men, and when I think that
every broad piece in the strong boxes of my townsmen is ready to support
them, and when I know that the persecuted remnant throughout the country
is wrestling hard in prayer for us, then a voice speaks within me and
tells me that we shall tear down the idols of Dagon, and build up in
this England of ours such a temple of the true faith that not Popery,
nor Prelacy, nor idolatry, nor any other device of the Evil One shall
ever prevail against it.'

A deep irrepressible hum of approval burst from the close ranks of
the insurgent infantry, with a clang of arms as musquetoon or pike was
grounded upon the stone pavement.

Saxon half-turned his fierce face, raising an impatient hand, and the
hoarse murmur died away among our men, though our less-disciplined
companions to right and left continued to wave their green boughs and to
clatter their arms. The Taunton men opposite stood grim and silent, but
their set faces and bent brows showed that their townsman's oratory had
stirred the deep fanatic spirit which distinguished them.

'In my hands,' continued the Mayor, drawing a roll of paper from his
bosom, 'is the proclamation which our royal leader hath sent in advance
of him. In his great goodness and