“ ’Tis a very right and proper letter,” said the Vicar, folding up the sheet with much pride, “and doth the lad great credit. I am rejoiced to think that in the midst of battles and conflicts he doeth his duty as a Christian man should. Yea, indeed, this letter hath much refreshed me. But now, William, let us have thy news, which I doubt not will contain a deal of war and bloodshed, and suchlike. Open thy paper, man, and read.”
“Why, sir,” said I, “there are the people without who have heard that news has come, and they are anxious to hear it. What do you say, mother, if we allow them to come inside here and listen to Jack’s letter being read?”
“ ’Tis a good thought,” said Parson Drumbleforth. “Yea, mistress, let us have them all inside.”
So my mother called them all to come, and presently they appeared—Jacob Trusty, and the maids, and Timothy Grass, and the ploughboys—and stood in a group at the door, ready to listen. Only the messenger stayed by himself in the kitchen, eating and drinking at his ease, with the firelight shining on his rough and weather-beaten countenance.
“Friends,” said I, when they had all assembled, “here is a letter which hath come from the wars, from Mr. John Drumbleforth. We thought you would like to hear what news he sends, so you shall hear it read.”
“Ay,” said Parson Drumbleforth. “Read on, Will.”
But I did not think of reading it myself, Jack’s writing being somewhat clerkly, and not like print. So I handed it over to Rose.
“Mistress Rose,” I said, “you are a greater scholar than I, and have a clear voice. Will you read us Jack’s letter?”
So she consented, standing up by the light, and looking mighty pretty as she stood there. And this is what she read to us:
“At the Camp beyond Edgehill,
“.“To Mr. William Dale, at his farm of Dale’s Field along the Great North Road, near Pontefract, in Yorkshire. These:
“Dear Will—There has been a great battle fought at Edgehill here, and Master Lisle has had a cut across the fingers of his right hand, so that he is unable to write to Mistress Rose himself. However, you will tell her that he is quite well and in good health otherwise, and sendeth his dearest love and blessing to her, hoping that she too is well and that he may see her again erelong. Likewise that he will write unto her with his own hand so soon as he can use it once more, which will not be long, the wound being but insignificant—”
“Thank the Lord for that!” said Jacob Trusty. “For the fingers are but tender things when all is said and done.”
“We came on here, Will, from joining the King’s forces near Nottingham, and we have had one other brush with the enemy before this fight at Edgehill, namely, at Powick Bridge, where we did vanquish the Parliamentarians with very great ease. This affair at Edgehill, however, was a matter of different complexion, and showed me what war is really like when it comes to it. For here was Essex with a considerable force of men, and some of them exceedingly well trained and officered, so that we knew there was some stiff and bloody work before us ere ever we drew sword. And now that it is over I cannot say that we have gained any decided advantage, for though the Parliamentarians are retreating before us, it is very slowly, and seems to savour more of caution than fear. However, the advantage, if any there be, is with us, for which we are thankful.
“I wish, Will, that you could have been side by side with me in this fight, for it was indeed hot work, and gave me many new feelings. I cannot describe to you how the bullets whistled past our ears, or how the cannon thundered, nor how the charges of cavalry shook the ground. Neither have I clerkship enough to tell you how it looked when dead and dying men strewed the ground in all directions. As for myself, there was at first a strange sensation came over me, but then I got hot and earnest, and thought of nothing but winning the day. I wish, too, that you had seen the charge of Prince Rupert and his cavalry, which swept the Parliamentarians away like chaff before the wind, for it was the finest sight ever I saw. Nevertheless, Will, many old campaigners do seem to think that this same Prince Rupert hath somewhat too much of haste about him for a great commander. Certain it is that he is headstrong and impetuous, and doeth everything as if he were a whirlwind rushing over the earth.
“We have heard considerable news of what is going on during these last few weeks, for there are couriers and messengers going and coming continually with tidings from all parts. We understand that there is hardly a town or village where they are not making preparations for war on one side or the other. As to how the land will be divided, they say that the nobility, gentry, and common people will be for the King, while the trading classes and the yeomen of the south and west are for the Parliament. But the common people of London are not for the King, for we have heard that no less than four thousand of them enlisted on the Parliamentary side in one day. Hampden has been down in Buckinghamshire and has there raised a band of two thousand men, whom he hath dressed in green coats, so that they make a brave show. We hear, too, that one Cromwell, a member of Parliament, is raising a band of men in the fen country, and is disciplining them in rare
