With Lord Lauderdale, Lord Derby took his way back to the North, his noble heart well-nigh broken, and his body weak and torn with wounds. At Wigan his course was stopped by a detachment of the victorious Parliamentarians, under Major Edge. The Earl and his friends gave their names, and surrendered, under condition of receiving quarter. This was promised on condition of their yielding up arms, and considering themselves prisoners. Lord Lauderdale was conducted to another part of the country. Lord Derby was taken direct to Chester. Arrived there, he wrote a long letter to his wife, which he obtained leave to be transmitted to her by Mr Bagalay, a prisoner of war in the city—a long letter, full of solicitude for his wife and family, and for all in any way dependent on him. He tells her that though a prisoner in body, his heart is free and at peace, having “no other sadness in it than the regret at knowing her suffering and sorrow, and that of his poor children.” Colonel Duckenfield, he informs her, will proceed in the name of Parliament to take possession of the Isle of Man. Once more, not as from a prisoner, but as from one “whose soul is his own, as in his best days,” he will give her his advice how to receive Duckenfield, but that he will transmit by word of mouth to his trusty messenger. “Take care of yourself, my dearest heart, and of my dear Mall and Ned and Billy. As to those who are here, I will give them the best advice I can. My son,[22] with his wife, and my nephew Stanley have been to see me.... I will only say now that my son shows me much affection, and that he is gone to London with an ardent desire to serve me.” Footnote 22: Lord Strange, now arrived in England. That he hopes little from this filial devotion is evident. “The cold and the wind of the coming winter are more easy to be borne than the malicious attacks of a venomous serpent, or an obstinate and perfidious enemy.... May the Son of God, whose blood was shed for us, preserve our life, so that by God’s mercy and goodness we may see each other once again on this earth, and then in the kingdom of Heaven, where we shall be safe from rapine, theft, and violence!—I remain ever your faithful “DERBY.” There could be but little quarter for the noble prisoner. With the son of Bradshaw, Colonel Birch, and Colonel Rigby, the vanquished hero of Lathom House, among his judges, his doom was virtually pronounced.