As soon as the King and Queen were entered into their barge of estate, and had a little put off from the shore, the blockhouse which standeth upon the Kentish shore first let fly all her ordnance, and sent forth a peal, that the rocks and chalky cliffs resounded again, which was no sooner finished, but immediately the blockhouse which standeth on the Essex shore made answer with the like music, and discharged all her ordnance; so that the smoke mixing and meeting together, made a cloud which interposed between the earth and the sun’s brightness, making an evening at noon-day.
After the blockhouses had thus discharged all their ordnance, then as the King and Queen passed along, the ships which lay and anchored in the way, discharged their volleys distinctly after one another; insomuch that the volley was hardly ever found to cease for the passage of twelve or fifteen rails together. And the nearer the King and Queen came to the City of London, the greater and greater still the volley increased. Lastly, a little before the King and Queen had shot the bridge, the Tower of London let fly her ordnance, which did so thunder and rattle in the air, that nothing could be heard for the terror of the noise. The throng of spectators was so great, that about two hundred being in a ship that lay almost dry, and leaning against the wharf, they with their weight and motion overthrew the ship into the Thames. And by the way during all this long passage, both the King and Queen stood publically in the open barge, and not only discovered themselves to every honest and cheerful beholder, but also with all royal affability and grace distributed their favours to all those which came to admire them.
