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 desperate gallantry the English Cavaliers and
the Scotch Highlanders seconded the monarch's valiant onslaught on
Cromwell's horse, and the invincible Life Guards were almost driven back
by the shock. But they were not seconded; Charles II. had his horse
twice shot under him, but, nothing daunted, he was the last to tear
himself away from the field, and then only upon the solicitations of his
friends.
Charles retired to Kidderminster that evening. The Duke of Buckingham,
the gallant Lord Derby, Wilmot, afterwards Earl of Rochester, and some
others, rode near him. They were followed by a small body of horse.
Disconsolately they rode on northwards, a faithful band of sixty being
resolved to escort his Majesty to Scotland. At length they halted on
Kinver Heath, near Kidderminster: their guide having lost the way. In
this extremity Lord Derby said that he had been received kindly at an
old house in a secluded woody country, between Tong Castle and Brewood,
on the borders of Staffordshire.
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