thought himself much more so than he really was; although he had a great
deal of discernment, yet his vanities made him mistake some civilities
as intended for his person which were only bestowed on his wit and
drollery.'

But this very vanity, so unpleasant in an old man, is only amusing in a
younger wit. Whilst thus a gallant of the court and camp, the young
nobleman proved himself to be no less brave than witty. Juvenile as he
was, with a brother still younger, they fought on the royalist side at
Lichfield, in the storming of the Cathedral Close. For thus allowing
their lives to be endangered, their mother blamed Lord Gerard, one of
the Duke's guardians; whilst the Parliament seized the pretext of
confiscating their estates, which were afterwards returned to them, on
account of their being under age at the time of confiscation. The youths
were then placed under the care of the Earl of Northumberland, by whose
permission they travelled in France and Italy, where they
appeared--their estates having been restored--with princely
magnificence. Nevertheless, on hearing of the imprisonment of Charles I.
in the Isle of Wight, the gallant youths returned to England and joined
the army under the Earl of Holland, who was defeated near Nonsuch, in
Surrey.

A sad episode in the annals of these eventful times is presented in the
fate of the handsome, brave Francis Villiers. His murder, for one can
call it by no other name, shows how keenly the personal feelings of the
Roundheads were engaged in this national quarrel. Under most
circumstances, Englishmen would have spared the youth, and respected the
gallantry of the free young soldier, who, planting himself against an
oak-tree which grew in the road, refused to ask for quarter, but
defended himself against several assailants. But the name of Villiers