l 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
was hateful in Puritan ears. 'Hew them down, root and branch!' was the
sentiment that actuated the soldiery. His very loveliness exasperated
their vengeance. At last, 'with nine wounds on his beautiful face and
body,' says Fairfax, 'he was slain.' 'The oak-tree,' writes the devoted
servant, 'is his monument,' and the letters of F. V. were cut in it in
his day. His body was conveyed by water to York House, and was entombed
with that of his father, in the Chapel of Henry VII.

His brother fled towards St. Neot's, where he encountered a strange kind
of peril. Tobias Rustat attended him; and was with him in the rising in
Kent for King Charles I., wherein the Duke was engaged; and they, being
put to the flight, the Duke's helmet, by a brush under a tree, was
turned upon his back, and tied so fast with a string under his throat,
'that without the present help of T. R.,' writes Fairfax, 'it had
undoubtedly choked him, as I have credibly heard.'[2]

Whilst at St. Neot's, the house in which Villiers had taken refuge was
surrounded with soldiers. He had a stout heart, and a dexterous hand; he
took his resolution; rushed out upon his foes, killed the officer in
command, galloped off and joined the Prince in the Downs.

The sad story of Charles I. was played out; but Villiers remained
stanch, and was permitted to return and to accompany Prince Charles into
Scotland. Then came the battle of Worcester in 1651: there Charles II.
showed himself a worthy descendant of James IV. of Scotland. He resolved
to conquer or die: with