Profiting by the unexpected fact that _you_ are now master of Naseby
Battlefield, I have gone over the whole matter once more, probably for
the twentieth time; I have copied you my illegible pencil-notes, and re-
verified everything,--that so, if you can understand the meaning (which
will be difficult, I fear), you may append to it what commentary,
collected on the spot, you may judge edifying. Let me, however, again
impress upon you that these statements and descriptions are actual
_facts_, gathered with industry from some seven or eight eyewitnesses,
looking at the business with their own eyes from seven or eight different
sides; that the present figure of the ground, in my recollection,
corresponds very tolerably well with the whole of them;--and that no
'theory,' by what Professor soever, can be of any use to me in
comparison. I wish you had Sprigge's complete Plan of the Battle: but
you have it not; you have only that foolish Parson's {128} very dim copy
of it, and must help yourself with that.
The things I wish you to give me are first: The whole story of your
Blacksmith, or other oral Chronicler, be it wise and credible, be it
absurd and evidently false. Then you can ask, whether there remains any
tradition of a windmill at Naseby? One stands in the Plan, not far from
North of the village, probably some 300 yards to the west of where the
ass of a column now stands: the whole concern, of fighting, rallying,
flying, killing and chasing, transacted itself to the _west_ of that,--on
the height, over the brow of the height, down the slope, in the hollow,
and up again to the grounds of Dust Hill, where the _final_ dispersion
took place. Therefore, again, pray ask.
Where precisely any dead bodies are known to have been found? Where and
when the _last_-found was come upon; what they made of it,--whether no
Antiquarian kept a tooth; at any rate, a button or the like? Cannon-balls
ought to be found, especially musket-balls, down in that hollow, and on
the slope thitherward: is any extant cabinet master of one?
Farther, are there, on the high ground N.W. or W. of Naseby village, any
traces still discoverable of such names as these: 'Lantford hedges' (or
perhaps 'hedge'); a kind of thicket running _up_ the slope, towards the
western environs of Naseby village, nearly from the North;--Fairfax had
dragoons hidden here, who fired upon Rupert's right, as he charged
upwards: 'Rutput Hill': 'Fanny Hill' (according to Rushworth, 'Famny
Hill' in Sprigge),--probably two swellings in the ground, that lie
between the south end of Lantford Hedges and the village; 'Lean Leaf
Hill' seemingly another swelling, parallel to these, which reaches in
with its slope _to_ the very village--from the west: 'Mill Hill' farther
to the east (marked as due west from the windmill, which of course must
have stood upon a part of it), lying therefore upon the north part of the
village? Is it possible, in spite of all ditching and enclosure bills,
there may still some vestige of these names adhere to some fields or
messuages; the exact position of which it would be satisfactory to fix.
You can also tell me whether Burrough Hill is visible from Naseby, and
'what it is like'; and what the Sibbertoft height, on the other side, and
the Harboro' Height are like! I suppose one sees Sibbertoft steeple, but
no houses, from Naseby Height? Also that it was undoubtedly Clipston (as
the good Dr. Arnold and I supposed) that we saw there. Dr. A. and I
came, as I find, thro' Crick, West Hadden, Cold Ashby; and crossed the
Welford and Northampton road, perhaps some three miles from Naseby.
On the whole, my dear Sir, here seems to be work enough for you! But
after all is it not worth your while on other accounts? Were it not a
most legitimate task for the Proprietor of Naseby, a man of scholarship,
intelligence and leisure, to make himself completely acquainted with the
true state of all details connected with Naseby Battle and its
localities? Few spots of ground in all the world are memorabler to an
Englishman. We could still very well stand a good little book on Naseby!
_Verbum sapienti_.
As for myself, had I the wings of an eagle, most likely I should still
fly to you, and to several other quarters; but with railways and
tub-gigs, and my talent for insomnolence, and fretting myself to
fiddlestrings with all terrestrial locomotion whatsoever--alas, alas!
Believe me always,
My dear Sir,
Very truly yours
T. CARLYLE.
FitzGerald's letter to Carlyle, giving an account of the first results of
his excavations, has apparently not been preserved, but it was promptly
acknowledged.
CHELSEA, _Saturday_, 25 [24] _Septr_., 1842.