Out May 29th 2017

Hessay Moor

York

2nd July 1644

To my right well-beloved wife Henrietta,

I pray you excuse the quality of my script, which is crook’d at best but when a man is writing using the side of his horse as a writing-desk it is perhaps more understandable that his penmanship is poor.

It has not been one of our better days, lass, and God willing tomorrow will bring better fortune, but for the time I am taking my place on the outposts with the rest of my lads – and thus the writing-desk.

We did expect an attack and we were not disappointed, in truth, and yet – well, I will be plain, we were caught proper unprepared by that man whose name I will not sully my paper with, a pox on him and his dog. He camped himself at Fairfax’s own house two nights since – which did offend my lord Fairfax greatly, the which I suspect was his intent: that, and the expectation of a better quality of provisioning than the likes of us normally enjoy. (That last remark was made by a Captain Singleton of my acquaintance, and is not of my own making, but it amused us greatly and so I share it for your enjoyment also.)

So he being near to Ilkley we did think he likely to move straight on York and engage us that way to relieve Newcastle besieged within. More fool we, then, for he did not, and here we be sat like crows on a fence on the moor drawn up waiting for him. First we on, and then we decided he would not come straight for us after all and they did withdraw the foot thinking he would go to meet his uncle in Lincolnshire, and then in the end he did not after all and we back on the moor instead after some of our rear guard did stumble acros his advance parties . Which is good for the horses, it being as wild and tussocky an expanse of grassland as you might yet set eyes upon, but not so good for engaging an Army which is as yet a handful of miles up the river. We not so clever as we thought we were, our lads were looking quite the other way when that man whose name I will not sully my paper with came up out of the north and beat off Noll Cromwell’s dragoons at Poppleton late in the watches of last night. Lass the hand of Providence is surely with us, for the lads have often made much sport of my dislike of the business of ships and deep water (which your infernal nephew says is unnatural and unreasoning, and yet I say if God had meant me to be at ease in water he would have made me a fish. Which did choke young Lucifer off nicely, though I say it myself as shouldn’t) – they made much mock of me and yet had I not been shy of water we might have chose to stand with Noll’s dragoons, it being the only crossing of the river north of York and thus of much value, and then in all chance I should not be writing these words for those poor lads did take a right pasting.

So – all is yet to win, or all yet to lose, and it must be Yorkshire for it still rains, and here I be at something going on noon and I find myself thinking of thee and the little lass, for very fear that I might not set eyes on thee again in this world. It is a silly maidenly fancy, lass, a thing of no account, and yet of a sudden I wish thee was here. And yet I do not, for I would not have thee know what a soldiers’ camp is – I suspect thee would see a different side to thy gentle nephew than that thee is accustomed to, ay, and know that thy Hollie knows worse words than he says at home, too, especially when he is made to feel a fool by that man whose name I shall not sully my paper with.

We will come about, lass. These coming days must see an end to this war (I have said that before, I know, but if I say it oft enough one day I must be proved right) – we have three Armies camped here, surely, and His Majesty has but one. And surely even he must look out at his window and see the hosts camped here, and think he must at least treat with his Parliament and come to some terms, though it is beyond the likes of me to know how either he or we might come to unpick all this hurt.

Of my other lads – Capt. Venning sends his fond remembrances and would bid me tell thee of an amusing anecdote involving his dog, Lt-Genrall Cromwell, and a meat pie which the Lt-Genrall took his eye off for two minutes. The dog is still alive, and has not been knocked on the head by any of the more zealous members of the Eastern Association – which tells you all you need to know of the incident.

Luce says if you see his mother would you ask her to send more shirts as he seems to have growed like a weed these last few months and all his linen is out at the elbows. You will be glad to hear he is with my company again where I can keep an eye on his welfare, for though he is nigh as tall as I am and presently cultivating a most comically fierce set of whiskers he is in truth still a boy in the things that matter. (Clean shirts and regular bed times being the things that do not, at his age, though that information did not come from me.)

Yr father in law is yet living. I should rather say no more on that head.

Matthew Percey is most vexed presently as we were bid to leave our siege positions at short order and he was in process of making a poppet for our Thomasynn, which he left behind in the confusion. It grieves him mightily to think of some Malignant taking it for his own, for when they came forth from York at the lifting of the siege they did fall on what we left with joy. (This do say much for the parlous state of the inhbitants of that city, and I fear they will be sore disappointed if they think my second-best shirt to be plunder.) I did say to Mattie that it would be a wonder to me if any Malignant might recognise his work as anything more than firewood, at which he did throw a boot at my head and tell me to go forth and be fruitful (or words to the effect of) – which shocked my lord Leven greatly, he overhearing in passing. We are yet seen for a disreputable company of rebels and horse-thieves, it seems, and yr poor husband is much maligned for not being wholly respectable in company. I thank God you know that to be untrue and I am as ever the most conventional of men, and much misunderstood.

Lass I am not a great man for the clever words of a man with a maid (and no I will not ask yr nephew) thee must accept my plain clumsy loving for what it is. Sleep has escaped me this last night and so I have writ too much – tis that, or be alone with my thoughts, the which I would rather not be.

If thee has deciphered my scrawl thus far, lady, thy patience does thee credit, and by God’s grace I may deliver this paper from my own hand.

I remain as I ever was thy own loving husband –

Col. H.T. Babbitt