[72] A Chronicle of the Late Intestine War in the Three Kingdoms, etc. By James Heath, London: Thomas Basset, 1676.
After the battle of Adderton Heath, Newcastle had an opportunity of showing courtesy to Fairfax,[73] “whose Lady being behind a Servant on Horse-back, was taken by some of My Lord’s Soldiers, and brought to his Quarters, where she was treated and attended with all civility and respect and within few days sent to York in my Lords own Coach, and from thence very shortly after to Kingstone upon Hull, where she desired to be, attended by my Lords Coach and Servants”.
[73] The Duchess’s account.
Of this incident Fairfax himself wrote:[74] “Not many days after the Earl of Newcastle sent my wife back again in his coach, with some horse to guard her; which generous act of his gained him more reputation than he would have got by detaining a lady prisoner, upon such terms”.
[74] Masère’s Tracts, p. 431.
Although he had captured his enemy’s wife, Newcastle unfortunately failed to capture his enemy’s far more important staff, owing to some dilatoriness on the part of a galloper,[75] “the chief Officers retiring to Hull, a strong Garison of the Enemy ... My Lord, knowing they would make their escape thither, as having no other place of refuge to resort to, sent a Letter to York to the Governour of that City, to stop them in their passage; yet by neglect of the Post, it coming not timely enough to his hands, his Design was frustrated.”
[75] So says the Duchess.
Newcastle had taken Lincoln and retaken Gainsborough, which had been captured shortly before by Cromwell; so altogether, at this part of the campaign, he was a victorious General.
It might seem pretty safe to infer that the Duchess’s account of the war was written from what she heard from her husband’s lips, and it is difficult to believe that he did not insist upon seeing it, either in manuscript or in proof, before it was published. If this surmise be correct, he intended, at the point in the campaign which we have now reached, to have gone to the South, so as to attack the enemy from the North, while the King fought them from the South. Ever afterwards he appears to have believed that, had he done so, he “would doubtless have made an end of the war”. But urgent requests reached him from the General in command at York, as well as from “the nobility and gentry” of the county, to return at once to their assistance, as they declared that the enemy was increasing in number and power every day. His General at York stated that, unless Newcastle came quickly, all would be lost in the North. Hints also reached him, that if he took his army to the South and left Yorkshire to its fate, he would be considered to have betrayed his trust.
Newcastle then hurried back to York, only to find the enemy so weak, that it retreated before him wherever he went, and his presence as well as that of his troops unnecessary.