[1] In the meane time, the lord maior of London was returned into the citie, with one man onelie attend|ing vpon him, and cried to the citizens;Uehement words of the maior of Lo [...]don to the [...] crieng for aid against the rebels. Oh yée good and vertuous citizens, come foorth out of hand, and helpe your king readie to be slaine, & helpe me your [page 433] maior standing in the same perill; or if yée will not helpe me for some faults committed by me against you, yet forsake not your king, but helpe and succour him in this present danger. When the worshipfull ci|tizens and other, that in their loiall hearts loued the king, had heard these words, incontinentlie they put themselues in strong and sure armor,An armie without a capteine. to the number of a thousand men, and gathering themselues togi|ther into the stréets, tarried but for some lord or knight that might conduct them to the king: and by chance there came vnto them sir Robert Knolles, whome all of them requested that he would be their leader, least comming out of arraie and order, they might the sooner be broken, who willinglie led one part of them, and certeine other knights led other of them, clad in faire bright armour vnto the kings pre|sence. The king with the lords, knights and esquires, not a little reioised at the comming of those armed men, and streightwaies compassed the commons a|bout, as they had béene a flocke of sheepe that should haue béene closed within some fold, till it pleased the sheepheard to appoint foorth, which should be thrust into pasture, and which taken to go to the shambels.