"My lords and gentlemen and all of my kingdom," she added in a clear
voice, insistent in its force, "ye have come upon May Day to take delight
of England in my gardens, and ye are welcome. Ye have seen such a sight
as doeth good to the eyes of brave men. It hath pleased me well, and I
am constrained to say to you what, for divers great reasons, I have kept
to my own counsels, labouring for your good. The day hath come, however,
the day and the hour when ye shall know that wherein I propose to serve
you as ye well deserve. It is my will--and now I see my way to its good
fulfilment--that I remain no longer in that virgin state wherein I have
ever lived."

Great cheering here broke in, and for a time she could get no further.
Ever alive to the bent of the popular mind, she had chosen a perfect
occasion to take them into her confidence--however little or much she
would abide by her words, or intended the union of which she spoke. In
the past she had counselled with her great advisers, with Cecil and the
rest, and through them messages were borne to the people; but now she
spoke direct to them all, and it had its immediate reward--the
acclamations were as those with which she was greeted when she first
passed through the streets of London on inheriting the crown.

Well pleased, she continued: "This I will do with expedition and
weightiest judgment, for of little account though I am, he that sits
with the Queen of England in this realm must needs be a prince indeed....
So be ye sure of this that ye shall have your heart-most wishes, and
there shall be one to come after me who will wear this crown even as
I have worn, in direct descent, my father's crown. Our dearest sister,
the Queen of the Scots, hath been delivered of a fair son; and in high
affection the news thereof she hath sent me, with a palfry which I shall
ride among you in token of the love I bear her Majesty. She hath in her