They took off
his buff-coat, and put on him a 'noggon coarse shirt,' and a green suit
and another doublet--Richard Penderell's woodman's dress. Lord Wilmot
cut his sovereign's hair with a knife, but Richard Penderell took up his
shears and finished the work. 'Burn it,' said the king; but Richard kept
the sacred locks. Then Charles covered his dark face with soot. Could
anything have taken away the expression of his half-sleepy, half-merry
eyes?
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.
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