“Down with Wyat!” cried several voices. “Down with the rebels!”
“Never having been a mother,” continued Mary, “I cannot tell how naturally a parent loves her children: but certainly a queen may as naturally and as tenderly love her subjects as a mother her child. Assure yourselves, therefore, that I, your sovereign lady, do as tenderly love and favour you; and thus loving you, I cannot but think that you as heartily and faithfully love me again. And so, joined together in a knot of love and of concord, I doubt not we shall be able to give these rebels a short and speedy overthrow.”
Here she was again interrupted by the most enthusiastic expressions of loyalty and devotion.
“On the word of a queen I promise you,” concluded Mary, “if it shall not appear to the nobility and commons in parliament assembled, that my intended marriage is for the benefit of the whole realm, I will not only abstain from it, but from any other alliance. Pluck up your hearts, then, and like true men stand fast with your lawful queen against these rebels, both my enemies and yours, and fear them not, for I fear them nothing at all.”
Thundering plaudits followed Mary’s oration, which, it was evident, had produced the desired effect upon the assemblage; and if any one entered the council-chamber wavering in his loyalty, he returned confirmed in his attachment to the throne. Mary’s intrepid demeanour was sufficient to inspire courage in the most faint-hearted; and her spirit imparted an expression of beauty to her countenance which awakened the warmest admiration among all the beholders.
“You have proved yourself a worthy daughter of your august sire, madam,” observed Bedingfeld.
“I will prove myself so before I have done, Sir Henry,” rejoined Mary, smiling. “I trust myself wholly to you.”
“Your majesty may depend upon me,” replied the old knight. “And now, with your permission, I will withdraw my forces, and visit the ramparts. After your address no one will forsake his post.”
So saying, he departed with the troops, and, after making his rounds, returned to his lodgings.