Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/274

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. VL SEPT. 21. 1912

Commissary general of the Army .... Also a fat corpulent knave .... a great eater, much given to luxury, lying and women, his tongue commonly running before his wit and can hardly speak three words without two lies. He hath lately been troubled with a spirit (called guilt) in his conscience and is thought to have hanged or drowned himselfe. He ran away from his wife above a fortnight ago," &c.

On " 17 of 5 month," 1649 (i.e., on 17 August Julian style), Peters wrote to Winthrop :

" Oh that I ever left New England or had never had this wife so sent to me. Oh dear sir, my dayes are gone and I look to my end apace." C.M.H.S., Series IV., vol. vi. p. 113.

Then in his number for 23-30 August (p. 159) The Man-in-the-Moon explained the cause of the quarrel between Peters and his wife : a matter of gross infidelity on his part. The story is that of the " sea- man's wife " (his wife's old maid) and the house-door key. In deciding whether the charge was true or false we must consider Peters' s subsequent actions. As a matter of fact he ran away to Cromwell at Milford, with the offer to raise and command a regiment. This was kept secret. In the mean time no denial of The Man-in-the- Moon's story was forthcoming, even by Peters' s friend Walker.

On 30 August Walker printed in his Perfect Occurrences a letter from Peters at Milford, stating that Cromwell set sail on 13 August, " leaving me here to bring away the rest " of the ships. To this Walker added : " Other letters of a later date say the last vessels mentioned went from Milford Haven the 16th of August instant." If so, Peters must have meant going to Ireland from the first, and the stories about his running away from his wife would have been false. But Walker's assertion was a falsehood, and he himself, in his Perfect Occurrences for 7-14 September, set out an extract from a letter from Peters dated " Milford, 1 Sept." Two Presbyterian, and therefore loyal, journalists now let the cat out of the bag.

John Dillingham, in his Moderate Intelli- gencer for 13-20 September (last page), slipped in the following about Peters :

" Master Peters is landed at Dublin, where its expected he bestir himselfe ; he was in Ireland at the beginning of the rebellion and did there notable service, commanding and leading once a brigade against the enemy in Munster, where he came off with honour and' victory."

This is the origin of the similar statement about Peters's exploits in 1642 in White- locke's ' Memorials,' which up to the present has been the only authority on the subject.

The first authoritative news of the terrible massacre by Cromwell at Drogheda was contained in a letter from Peters to Walker, printed and published as a pamphlet by itself on the day that it was received. In placing a title to this document, Walker was guilty of another falsehood, with the object of con- cealing Peters's occupation. The title ran :

" A Letter from Ireland. Bead in the House of Commons on Friday Septemb. 28. 1649. From Mr. Hugh Peters, minister of Gods Word and Chaplaine to the Lord Lieutenant Cromwell," &c.

This was too much for the staunch Presbyterian writer of The Kingdom's- Weekly Intelligencer. In his newsbook for 2-9 October (last page) this writer let out the whole truth :

" But Master Hugh Peters, who is now to- fight with the sword as well as the word, is made a Collonell of foote and commands a regiment of new levied men, with whom (as heretofore) he is resolved for this great cause to adventure his- warmest blood and the loss both of life and fortune."

On 19 October the "Council of State " decided to refer

" the business of Mr. Peters's regiment to the Irish Comittee to consider whether he may be accomo- dated with some of the recruits now raised to- avoid further charge ."

Peters, therefore, was to be saved expense as far as possible.

Two references to Peters's regiment come from America. Endecote wrote to Win- throp on 28 April, 1650 : " Mr. Peters is- Colonel of a foot regiment in Ireland " (C.M.H.S., Series IV., vol. vi. p. 153) ; and again : " Col. Lockhart, after a victory Mr. Peters gained in Ireland, said he was a fit minister for soldiers " (C.M.H.S., Series I., vol. vi. p. 254).

To these add The Man - in - the - Moon for 14-21 Nov., 1649, stating that Pride

" hath taken his passage to Chester to ship the late raised soldiers for Ireland ; he hath carried with him his only son Robin and hath miscalled him a Captain to serve in the regiment of the Honourable Hugh Peters," &c.

Peters, therefore, took part in the massacrea both of Drogheda and Wexford. A letter from him to Walker, dated Wexford, 3 October, 1649, appeared in Severall Pro- ceedings for 19-26 October, 1649 (Walker was " sxib-author " of this newsbook xmtil the end of the year, and afterwards sole " author ").

After this Peters was taken ill, and re- turned to Milford. Another letter to Walker, dated " Milford, 1 Dec.," fixes the date of his recovery. Then, rather than return ta face the jeers of London, he actually asked to be sent to Spain. On 22 December