m and returned to
England either concealed or avowed Roman Catholics. But the Villiers
brothers "brought their religion home again, wherein they had been
educated under the eye of the most devout and best of kings."[84]

The moment at which the young men returned was a critical one. The royal
cause had been going from bad to worse. And at the beginning of 1648
England was in the hands of Cromwell and Fairfax. The king, given up by
the Scots the year before to the Parliamentarians, was a prisoner at
Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight. The Royalist forces were
scattered and broken; and it seemed an almost hopeless task to make any
further resistance in the king's behalf. Nevertheless, there were still
a few faithful followers left; and the old English love for the monarchy
still blazed up here and there in fierce outbursts against the
Parliament and its army. But the Parliamentarians despised all these
attempts, until in the spring of 1648 a serious rising took place in
Kent, which was suppressed after a heavy fight at Maidstone. It was just
at this juncture that the young Duke of Buckingham and his brother
Francis returned to England. Strong, active, and courageous, they were
burning with zeal to venture their large estates for the crown on the
first opportunity.

They had not long to wait.

No sooner was the Kentish rising quelled than the Royalists crossed the
Thames into Essex, and collected a large force at Colchester, intending
from thence to march on London. Fairfax invested the town, and beseiged
it for two months until it fell, August 27.

Meanwhile the Earl of Holland had offered his services to the queen,
his late mistress, in Paris, and informed her of his resolution to
adventure everything for the king. The young Villiers threw in their lot
with Lord Holland, and declared themselves ready and willing to
sacrifice their estates and their lives if need be in the royal cause.
The siege of Colchester which engaged the main body of the army under
Fairfax seemed to offer a good opportunity for a rising nearer London.
The young Duke of Buckingham was made General of the Horse. Lord Francis
Villiers and various other young noblemen were given other posts. And
these hot-blooded lads, impatient for action, urged Lord Holland to
begin his perilous undertaking without further delay.

Unhappily for them the whole business was miserably mismanaged. Such a
rising could only hope to succeed if it were kept the most