kindling and glorious sound which ever quickened the pulse and
thrilled the blood,--for along that part of the army now rode King
Edward. His mail was polished as a mirror, but otherwise unadorned,
resembling that which now invests his effigies at the Tower, [The suit
of armour, however, which the visitor to the Royal Armoury is expected
to believe King Edward could have worn, is infinitely too small for
such credulity. Edward's height was six feet two inches.] and the
housings of his steed were spangled with silver suns, for the silver
sun was the cognizance on all his banners. His head was bare, and
through the hazy atmosphere the gold of his rich locks seemed
literally to shine. Followed by his body squire, with his helm and
lance, and the lords in his immediate staff, his truncheon in his
hand, he passed slowly along the steady line, till, halting where he
deemed his voice could be farthest heard, he reined in, and lifting
his hand, the shout of the soldiery was hushed; though still, while he
spoke, from Warwick's archers came the arrowy shower, and still the
gloom was pierced and the hush interrupted by the flash and the roar
of the bombards.

"Englishmen and friends," said the martial chief, "to bold deeds go
but few words. Before you is the foe! From Ravenspur to London I
have marched, treason flying from my sword, loyalty gathering to my
standard. With but two thousand men, on the fourteenth of March, I
entered England; on the fourteenth of April, fifty thousand is my
muster roll. Who shall say, then, that I am not king, when one month
mans a monarch's army from his subjects' love? And well know ye, now,
that my cause is yours and England's! Those against us are men who
would rule in despite of law,--barons whom I gorged with favours, and
who would reduce this fair realm of King, Lords, and Commons to be the
appanage and property of one man's measureless ambition,--the park,