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XVI. To Mr. W: Blois in Suffolk.
SIR,
YOurs of the seventeenth current came safely to hand, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 kiss your hands for it, you mention there two others that can∣not, which makes me condole the loss of such jewells, for I esteem all your Letters so, being the precious effects of your love, which I value at a high rate, and please my self much in the contem∣plation of it, as also in the continuance of this Letter-correspon∣dence, which is perform'd on your part with such ingenuous ex∣pressions, and embroder'd still with new florishes of invention▪ I am stil under hold in this fatall Fleet, and like one in a tempest a•…•… Sea who hath been often near the shoar yet is still toss'd back by contrary winds, so I have had frequent hopes of freedom, but som cross accident or other always intervened, insomuch that I am now in half despair of an absolut release till a generall Gao•…•… delivery; yet notwithstanding this outward captivity, I have in∣ward liberty still I thank God for it.
The greatest News is, that between twenty and thirty thousand well-armed Scots have been utterly routed, riffed, and all taken prisoners, by less than 8000 English; I must confess 'twas a great exploit wherof I am not sorry, in regard that the English have re∣gain'd hereby the honor which they had lost abroad of late yeers in the opinion of the world, ever since the Pacification at Berwick, and divers traverses of War since. What Hamiltons design was, is a mystery, most think that he intended no good either to King or Parlement.
So with my dayly more and more endeared affections unto you, I rest
Yours ever to love and serve you, J. H.
Fleet, 7 May. 1647.