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Gorgon and Centaur, dragon and iron-hoofed lion, vast sea-monster and
gigantic hydra, were but types of the strange and appalling accounts
brought to London concerning our invaders. Their landing was long unknown,
but having now advanced within an hundred miles of London, the country
people flying before them arrived in successive troops, each exaggerating
the numbers, fury, and cruelty of the assailants. Tumult filled the before
quiet streets--women and children deserted their homes, escaping they
knew not whither--fathers, husbands, and sons, stood trembling, not for
themselves, but for their loved and defenceless relations. As the country
people poured into London, the citizens fled southwards--they climbed the
higher edifices of the town, fancying that they could discern the smoke and
flames the enemy spread around them. As Windsor lay, to a great degree, in
the line of march from the west, I removed my family to London, assigning
the Tower for their sojourn, and joining Adrian, acted as his Lieutenant in
the coming struggle.
We employed only two days in our preparations, and made good use of them.
Artillery and arms were collected; the remnants of such regiments, as could
be brought through many losses into any show of muster, were put under
arms, with that appearance of military discipline which might encourage our
own party, and seem most formidable to the disorganized multitude of our
enemies. Even music was not wanting: banners floated in the air, and the
shrill fife and loud trumpet breathed forth sounds of encouragement and
victory. A practised ear might trace an undue faltering in the step of the
soldiers; but this was not occasioned so much by fear of the adversary, as
by disease, by sorrow, and by fatal prognostications, which often weighed
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