was equally unsuccessful in the Midlands. But even so there was a time when the danger was extreme: Wyatt had London and the Queen's person almost at his mercy, and it appeared to be almost certain that he would succeed. At this point of extreme peril the Queen's own courage and determination saved her. She rode to the Guildhall and appealed in person to the Corporation to defend her, pledging herself at the moment to give up the Spanish marriage if it should not appear to Parliament that it would be for the benefit of the whole realm.[1] This was the turning-point of the movement. Wyatt reached the south side of London Bridge, and found it closed against him; and before he could make his way round by Kingston, the Queen and the City were better prepared, his own troops were exhausted, and the enterprise was hopeless. The results of its failure were soon apparent: not only were the leaders executed, but Lady Jane Dudley as well as her father, her husband, and her brothers, were put to death, and the preparations for the marriage went on as before, the proxy marriage taking place on March 6.
Every effort was made by Gardiner and Renard to incense the Queen against Elizabeth, and she was sent to the Tower, and escaped but narrowly, and only by means of the active intervention of several of the Lords of the Council. It was not, however, only in the revenge taken upon the rebels, and their friends as such, that the failure of Wyatt's rebellion showed its fruits. It was looked upon specially, and probably with justice, as pre-eminently the rising of the Protestants; and its failure furnished a pretext, as well as a motive, for further action against them. Accordingly, we find
- ↑ Green, vol. ii. pp. 250-1.
