They departed, and half an hour afterwards Colonel Ashenhurst, with a
troop of Roundhead horse, rode up to the White-Ladies. The King,
meantime, had been conducted by Richard Penderell into a coppice-wood,
with a bill-hook in his hands for defence and disguise. But his
followers were overtaken near Newport; and here Buckingham, with Lords
Talbot and Leviston, escaped; and henceforth, until Charles's wanderings
were transferred from England to France, George Villiers was separated
from the Prince. Accompanied by the Earls of Derby and Lauderdale, and
by Lord Talbot, he proceeded northwards, in hopes of joining General
Leslie and the Scotch horse. But their hopes were soon dashed: attacked
by a body of Roundheads, Buckingham and Lord Leviston were compelled to
leave the high road, to alight from their horses, and to make their way
to Bloore Park, near Newport, where Villiers found a shelter. He was
soon, however, necessitated to depart: he put on a labourer's dress; he
deposited his George, a gift from Henrietta Maria, with a companion, and
set off for Billstrop, in Nottinghamshire, one Matthews, a carpenter,
acting as his guide; at Billstrop he was welcomed by Mr. Hawley, a
Cavalier; and from that place he went to Brookesby, in Leicestershire,
the original seat of the Villiers family, and the birthplace of his
father. Here he was received by Lady Villiers--the widow, probably, of
his father's brother, Sir William Villiers, one of those contented
country squires who not only sought no distinction, but scarcely thanked
James I. when he made him a baronet. Here might the hunted refugee see,
on the open battlements of the church, the shields on which were
exhibited united quarterings of his father's family with those of his
mother; here, listen to old tales about his grandfather, good Sir
George, who married a serving-woman in his deceased wife's kitchen;[3]
and that serving-woman became the leader of fashions in the court of
James. Here he might ponder on the vicissitudes which marked the destiny