Hildebrand; or, The Days of Queen Elizabeth, An Historic Romance, Vol. 3 of 3

by Anonymous

  CHAPTER XII.

  As the time drew nigh at which the great armada, boastinglydenominated “invincible” might be looked for in the English seas,Europe stood on the tiptoe of expectation, impatient for theresult. That it would effect the subjugation of England was neveronce doubted. But though such was the general expectation, theworld was seized with surprise, no less than admiration, at theindomitable resolution by which the doomed English were inspired.They were a nation in arms! The noble and the peasant, the oldman and the boy, the Protestant and the Catholic, forgetting alldifferences of rank, age, and religion, had alike risen againstthe emergency, and were all alike prepared to stand and die indefence of their country.

  Yet it was on their great Queen, and her able minister, Burleigh,that admiration was especially fixed. To them, no exertion seemedtoo arduous--no amount of effort wearisome. While Burleigh,in his closet, struck out the resources of the country, ornegotiated for aid with the Prince of Orange and the King ofScotland, Elizabeth’s perseverance and activity brought thoseresources into play. The effect of her example might be traced inthe very meanest of the preparations for the national defence.She would be seen in the drill-grounds as early as six in themorning; in the dockyards, where the din of workmen, the smokeof forges, and a hundred pestilent vapours, seemed to forbidher approach, she would attend continually, encouraging theartificers by the most gracious and animating words, and wherefortifications were in progress, she would go among the engineersunattended, and cheer them to renewed exertion by her words andpresence.

  The good effect of her activity was soon apparent; and in lessthan four months from the time that the invasion was firstthreatened, when the country was almost defenceless, she wasprepared to sustain its onset. A fleet of thirty sail, commandedby Lord Effingham, with Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher for hisrear-admirals, was ready for sea at Portsmouth; and abouttwenty ships more, under Lord Henry Seymour, were stationed offYarmouth, for the purpose of intercepting the Duke of Parma.A regular army, fifty thousand strong, was encamped in theneighbourhood of Portsmouth; and one of the same force, includingthe flower of the nobility and gentry, serving without pay, wasencamped on the banks of the Thames, near Tilbury. Added tothis, every district had raised a regiment of volunteers; and theKing of Scotland, if his aid should be required, was ready tocross the border with an army of Scots, and co-operate with theQueen in her defence of the Protestant faith.

  Affairs were thus situated, when it became whispered abroad, fromsome unknown source, that, if the expected enemy should effecta landing, the Queen intended to take the field in person. Therumour soon acquired confirmation; for a day was fixed, to thedelight of the whole nation, on which the Queen would reviewthe metropolitan army at Tilbury, and take order in the purposeascribed to her.

  The extensive level adjoining Tilbury Fort, on the banks ofthe Thames, and on the London side of the fort, was appointedfor the scene of the review. There, on the day fixed, the armyassembled, under the command of its general, Lord Hunsdon, atan early hour. It was a fair morning in June, and the finenessof the weather, no less than the spectacle itself, and theexpected presence of the idolized sovereign, drew to the spot,not only all the denizens of the surrounding country, but almostall the population of the metropolis. Great as the area was,it hardly sufficed, after the army had taken up its position,to accommodate the multitude of spectators. The crowd was soexcessive, indeed, that thousands who had come to view the sight,despairing of obtaining so much as standing-room, would notventure to land, but sought to obtain a glimpse of the reviewfrom the opposite shore. The little hamlet of Gravesend, whichwas right opposite, was crowded with such adventurers, and evenWindmill Hill, a mile to the rearward, was not overlooked, butwas capped by masses of eager spectators.

  It was a scene such as the eye had rarely beheld. On one sideappeared the shore of Kent, backed by the height of WindmillHill, and falling down towards Gravesend, when it swept round agraceful curve of the river, in a long, verdant level, towardsthe point since called Milton. Then came the river, bright asa mirror, with its broad bosom, here seeming to expand into anoble bay, covered with every description of craft, all filledwith passengers, and decked with a thousand streamers. Thegrim fortress, bristling with cannon, yet scarcely rising fromthe low ground on which it was situated, then prepared one forthe warlike scene beyond. There the spirit thrilled before theinterest and singularity of the expansive prospect. The verdantheights in the background, running from the village of Tilburytowards London, sparkled with white tents, and streamer-cappedmarquees, forming the army’s camp. On the extensive level intheir front stood the army, fifty thousand strong, and embracing,as was before stated, the strength and flower of England’schivalry. To conclude, the vast area was enclosed, beyonda picket of volunteer cavalry, by one impenetrable mass ofspectators, men, women, and children, all dressed in their gayestapparel, and animated by one common feeling of nationality andpatriotism.

  Such was the aspect of the locality at the time that, amidstdeafening and renewed acclamations, the royal barges, on board ofwhich were the Queen and her court, approached the landing-placeof the fortress. A guard of honour was waiting to receive them;and the commander-in-chief, Lord Hunsdon, with his staff, werealso in attendance. A troop of sumpter-horses, too, under thecharge of the royal equerries, waited close by, and everythingwas prepared to convey the Queen to the field.

  A salute of one hundred guns was opened as Elizabeth stepped onthe shore. She bowed her head to the guard, who had presentedarms; and then, with a bright smile, extended her hand to thegeneral, Lord Hunsdon.

  “A fair day to you, my Lord General,” she cried. “Are we for thefield to-day?”

  “An’ it shall please your Highness to be our leader,” replied theold warrior.

  “That will it, heartily!” returned the Queen. “Ho, for a horse!”

  A noble steed, white as snow, and brilliantly caparisoned,was brought forward immediately, and drawn up before her. Shepaused to survey him a moment, and, seemingly pleased with hisappearance, then caught up the rein, and suffered herself tobe raised to the saddle. When she had settled herself on thesaddle, she turned to Lord Hunsdon, and, with a smile, directedhim, as her lieutenant, to mount a horse at her side. The ladiesand cavaliers of her train mounted in her rear, and, the wholeparty being horsed, the Queen led the way, in company with LordHunsdon, towards the neighbouring field.

  The gate of the fort on the London side, leading to TilburyLevel, had been thrown wide open, in order that the cavalcademight sustain no delay; and a strong force of archers, selectedfrom the Queen’s guard, walled the avenue on either side, so asto keep it clear of the crowd. But the appearance of the Queenin the gateway quickly altered this state of things. The guardof archers was broken through in a moment; the people coveredthe lately open avenue like dust; and the roar of the artilleryitself, though proceeding from the adjacent batteries, was lostin a tremendous shout of “God save the Queen!”

  Never before or since were subjects so intoxicated at thepresence of their sovereign. Men threw themselves down beforeher, in the dust, to be trampled on by her horse; young gallantsthrew up their plumed caps, when, from the density of the crowd,they could never hope to recover them, merely to show how theyheld everything to be hers; and afar off, above a thousand heads,were seen young children, waving their tiny arms, and invokingHeaven’s benison on their matchless monarch.

  Again and again did the Queen acknowledge, by bowing her head,and waving her fair hand, the gratification she felt at thepopular greeting; but her courteous responses only prolonged theenthusiasm of the multitude. To attempt to penetrate the densemass seemed to be a project that no one would ever think of: thepoor archers, after one vain effort, relinquished all hope ofopening the Queen a passage, and were content to be jammed uphelpless: only the Queen herself, whose resolution nothing couldsubdue, knew how to clear the broken avenue.

  Availing herself of a moment when all eyes were fixed on her,she raised her hand in the air, and t
he loud acclamations of themultitude, which had just before made the welkin shake, subsidedinto a dead silence.

  “Good people, my loving children,” the Queen then cried, “youmust needs let me pass!”

  Her words fell on the crowd like magic; a road was opened for heron the instant; and amidst renewed acclamations, and the thunderof the contiguous batteries, the monarch and her train passedforward, and entered the area of the level.

  The trumpets and drums sounded a stirring flourish as thecavalcade appeared before the army. The royal party, after ridingforward a little distance, stationed themselves on the bound ofthe area, about half way to Tilbury Hills. There, bowing to thepommel of his saddle, Lord Hunsdon took a temporary leave of theQueen, and, together with his staff, spurred to the front, andadvanced to the immediate vicinity of the troops.

  The army was drawn up in a line, in order of battle. On theapproach of the general, however, the trumpets sounded for a newevolution, and the whole body immediately wheeled into companies.The trumpets and drums then broke into a march, and the gallantarmy, still ordered in companies, simultaneously moved forward,and marched round the area before the Queen.

  It was a brilliant spectacle, and there was not one personpresent, among the countless thousands of spectators, that it didnot inspire with the noblest determination. The martial musicwas itself inspiriting; but the glittering arms of the soldiers,their varied costumes, and their gallant and fearless bearing,made the heart bound again, and one derived ardour and couragefrom the mere exhibition of war.

  Having marched round the area, the army was, by another flourishof trumpets, wheeled once more into line. It formed close atfirst, but quickly took open order. As it did so, the Queen andher train, attended by Lord Hunsdon, galloped to the front, androde along before the first rank. Thus passing forward, she cameto the end of the line, and then, wheeling about, turned betweenthe open files, and proceeded to inspect the rear rank. This,though not so select, appeared to satisfy her no less than theforemost one, and she spurred to the front again with a brightsmile.

  A loud flourish was sounded as she once more appeared in thefront. A dead pause ensued, when the Queen, raising her voice toits highest pitch, broke the silence.

  “Soldiers!” she cried--“You have heard that the enemy you areto meet, from his surpassing numbers, and long acquaintancewith war, is deemed invincible; but let not that give youdiscouragement. I, a woman, here throw by my sex, and all carefor my own person, to be your leader. Yes, I myself, your Queen,will be your general, your judge, and the rewarder of every oneof your virtues in the field. Your alacrity has already deservedits rewards, and, on the word of a prince, they shall be dulypaid to you. Persevere, then, in your obedience to command; andwe shall soon have a victory over those enemies of my God, mykingdom, and my people.”

  Her words fell on the ears of the soldiers like an electricshock; there was a pause for an instant; then rose one tremendousshout, from the whole fifty thousand voices, of--“We will! wewill.” The shout was caught up by the surrounding spectators; itwas reverberated from the opposite shore; and from the summit ofWindmill Hill, above two miles distant, thousands of voices wereheard in chorus, saluting their sovereign with hearty hurrahs.

  But the popular enthusiasm suddenly sustained an unexpectedcheck. As the Queen, after receiving the greeting of the army,turned her horse to retire, the acclamations of the peoplestartled the horse, and caused him to rear furiously in the air.Dropping his feet again, he was about to throw the Queen off,when two cavaliers, quick as lightning, sprang from the rearward,and secured his rein. The Queen recovered herself instantly; but,being seated sideways, she saw but one of the cavaliers who hadrescued her, and supposed that he had done it alone.

  “Now, fair befall thee, Raleigh!” she cried, smiling. “Since thouhast been so prompt, be my equerry as far as the fort, and thoushalt afterwards, in requital, be my master of the horse.”

  “Let me say but a word, my gracious liege,” said Sir WalterRaleigh. “My Lord Essex”--

  “Psha!” cried the Queen, laughing. “Lead on my horse, Sir Groom!”

  Sir Walter, with seeming discomposure, led on the horse, whichwas now quite pacified, towards the gate of the fort; and thecavalier who had helped him to rescue the Queen, and who hadunfortunately been overlooked, followed in silence. It was theEarl of Essex.