“On the 9th inst., the Earl of Newcastle sent letters to the Earl of Leven and Lord Fairfax for a parley, not taking notice of the Earl of Manchester being there, but in that respect the treaty was refused and notice sent to Newcastle that unless he directed his letters to all three generals he could have no answer, whereupon letters were sent to all three Generals, and a civil excuse by the omission in regard, as he pretended, he did not know the Earl of Manchester in person had been there.” It is possible the mistake may have been intentional, with the object of again causing a delay.
In June, Newcastle was reported to have had a success of some sort, in which he was said to have lost his life.[98]
[98] S. P. Charles I, Dom., June 27, 1644, vol. DII, No. 30.
“Sir E. Nicholas to Sir Gervase Lucas. Oxford.... It is not believed at London that the Marquis of Newcastle is slain, but they confess the Marquis of Newcastle has given the Scots a good blow.” Possibly this may refer to the occasion on which the Duchess says that her husband “killed and took 1500” of the enemy.
CHAPTER XII.
Although Newcastle had been anxious to avoid a junction with Rupert as long as possible, lest he should lose some of the credit of defeating the enemy in the North, he had no personal dislike of that General. The two men were on good terms, and they were correspondents. Among the Rupert letters are four from Newcastle, congratulating him on different victories. In one of them he says of those victories that, “as they are too big for anybody else, so they appear too small for his Royal Highness,” and in another that, although Rupert will not allow them to be talked about in his presence, they will be talked about “to posterity, to His Royal Highness’s everlasting fame”.
Early on 1 July, Newcastle heard that Rupert with his army would arrive that very day, and he immediately wrote, and sent to Rupert, the following letter of welcome:—[99]