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
of the house of Villiers, and wonder what should come next.

That the spirit of adventure was strong within him, is shown by his
daring to go up to London, and disguising himself as a mountebank. He
had a coat made, called a 'Jack Pudding Coat:' a little hat was stuck on
his head, with a fox's tail in it, and cocks' feathers here and there. A
wizard's mask one day, a daubing of flour another, completed the
disguise it was then so usual to assume: witness the long traffic held
at Exeter Change by the Duchess of Tyrconnel, Francis Jennings, in a
white mask, selling laces, and French gew-gaws, a trader to all
appearance, but really carrying on political intrigues; every one went
to chat with the 'White Milliner,' as she was called, during the reign
of William and Mary. The Duke next erected a stage at Charing Cross--in
the very face of the stern Rumpers, who, with long faces, rode past the
sinful man each day as they came ambling up from the Parliament House. A
band of puppet-players and violins set up their shows; and music covers
a multitude of incongruities. The ballad was then the great vehicle of
personal attack, and Villiers's dawning taste for poetry was shown in
the ditties which he now composed, and in which he sometimes assisted
vocally. Whilst all the other Cavaliers were forced to fly, he thus
bearded his enemies in their very homes: sometimes he talked to them
face to face, and kept the sanctimonious citizens in talk, till they
found