YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY LETTERS ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES GEEAT BEITAIN. FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY TO THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF GLUEEN MARY. _»_*_¦, CHIEFLY FROM THE ORIGINALS IN THE STATE PAPER .OFFICE, THE TOWER OF LONDON, THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND OTHER STATE ARCHIVES, MARY ANNE EVERETT WOOD. ILLUSTRATED WITH FAC-SIMILE AUTOGRAPHS. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : • HENRY COLBURN, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1846. LONDON: PRINTED BY GEORGE BARCLAY, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. No. A.D. Page I. Cecilia marchioness-dowager of Dorset to Thomas Cromwell ....... 1 II. Elizabeth Newhouse to Mr. Roger Wright . 3 III. Anne Treadwell to Henry VIII. ... 4 IV. Margaret queen of Scotland to cardinal Wolsey 1526. . 5 V. Anne countess-dowager of Oxford to cardinal Wolsey 1526. . 10 VI. The same to the duke of Norfolk . . . 1526. . 12 VII. Lady Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII. . vers. 1527. . 14 VIII. Margaret queen of Scotland to Henry VIII. . 16 IX. The same to cardinal Wolsey ... 18 X. The same to doctor Magnus .... 1527. . 19 XI. Elizabeth countess-dowager of Oxford to cardinal Wolsey 1528. . 21 XII. The same to the same . ... 1528. . 25 XIII. Agnes dowager-duchess of Norfolk to cardinal Wolsey 1528. . 26 XIV. Princess Mary to cardinal Wolsey . . . 1528. . 31 XV. Isabel Jordan, abbess of Wilton, to cardinal Wolsey ,1528. . 34 XVI. Elizabeth lady Tailbois to cardinal Wolsey vers. 1528. . 38 XVII. The same to Mr. Thomas Heneage . . . 1529. . 43 XVIII. Lady Anne Boleyn to cardinal Wolsey . vers. 1529. . 45 XIX. The same to the same .... vers. 1529. .48 XX. Margery tMthorpe, abbess of Brosyard, to Cromwell 1529. . 49 b IV CONTENTS. No. A.D. Page XXI. Margaret Vernon to Cromwell . . . 1529.. 52 XXII. The same to the same .... 1530. . 53 XXIII. The same, as prioress of Little Marlow, to the same ...... vera. 1530. . 56 XXIV. The same to the same . . • vers. 1530. . 57 XXV. The same to the same . . . vers. 1530. . 60 XXVI. Elizabeth countess of Kildare to Henry VIII. vers. 1530. . 61 XXVII. The same to the earl of Shrewsbury . . 63 XXVIII. Princess Mary to Cromwell . . vers. 1530. . 65 XXIX. Anne countess-dowager of Oxford to Crom well vers. 1530. . 67 XXX. Lady Storkey and the convent of Stratford to Cromwell XXXI. The nuns of Stratford to Cromwell XXXII. Margaret marchioness-dowager of Dorset to Cromwell .... XXXIII. Lady Anne Boleyn to lady Wingfield XXXIV. Honor viscountess Lisle to Cromwell XXXV. The same to the same XXXVI. Anne lady Weston to lady Lisle . XXXVII. Honor viscountess Lisle to Cromwell XXXVIII. The same to the same XXXIX. Mary queen-dowager of France to viscount Lisle 1533.. 87 XL. Elizabeth Staynings to lady Lisle . vers. 1533. . 88 XLI. Elizabeth lady Wheathell to lady Lisle tiers. 1533. . 90 XLII. Elizabeth Hills to Cromwell . . . 1533. . 92 XLIII. EUzabeth George to her son, John George . 94 XLIV. Gertrude marchioness of Exeter to Henry VIII. 1533. . 96 XLV. Catherine lady Blount to Cromwell . vers. 1533. . 102 XLVI. Margaret marchioness-dowager of Dorset to Cromwell .... vers. 1533. . 104 XLVII. The same to the same . . vers. 1534. . 105 XLVIII. Elizabeth countess of Worcester to Crom well vers. 1534. . 110 XLIX. Anne countess-dowager of Oxford to Crom well vers. 1534. . 112 L. The same to the same . . . vers. 1534. . 114 LI. The same to secretary Cromwell . vers. 1534. . 115 vers, 1531.. 68 vers. 1531.. 70 rset 1531. . 71 1532. . 74 1532. . 75 1532. . 79 1532. . 80 vers. 1533. . 82 vers. 1533. . 85 CONTENTS. V No. A.D. Page LII. Anne countess -dowager of Oxford to Crom . well vers. 1534. . 118 LIII. Lady Catherine Daubeney to secretary Cromwell 1534. . 119 LIV. Lady Elizabeth Dacres to lord Dacres . 1534. . 124 LV. Margaret queen of Scotland to Henry VIII. 1534. . 129 LVI. The same to secretary Cromwell . . 1534.. 133 LVII. Jane Basset to lady Lisle . . vers. 1534. . 137 LVIII. The same to the same . . . vers. 1535. . 139 LIX. The same to the same . . . vers. 1535. . 143 LX. The same to the same . . . vers. 1535. . 148 LXI. Elizabeth Rede, abbess of West Mailing, to Mr. Thomas Wyat . . . vers. 1535. . 150 LXII. Elizabeth Cressener, prioress of Dartford, to secretary Cromwell . . . vers. 1535. . 154 LXIII. Cicely Bodenham, abbess of Wilton, to secretary Cromwell .... 1535. . 156 LXIV. Jane lady Guildford to secretary Cromwell»e«. 1535. . 158 LXV. Mary lady Guildford to secretary Crom well vers. 1535. . 161 LXVI. The same to the same . . . vers. 1535. . 163 LXVII. Catherine lady Blount to secretary Crom well vers. 1535. . 167 LXVIII. Elizabeth countess -dowager of Oxford to secretary Cromwell . . . vers. 1535. . 169 LXIX. Margaret marchioness -dowager of Dorset to secretary Cromwell . . . vers. 1535. . 170 LXX. Catherine countess of Northumberland to secretary Cromwell . . . vers. 1535.. 172 LXXI. Cecil lady Maunsell to secretary Cromwell . 1535. . 176 LXXII. Alice lady More to secretary Cromwell . 1535. . 178 LXXIII. Margaret Vernon, prioress of Little Marlow, to secretary Cromwell . . . vers. 1535. . 181 LXXIV. The same to the same . . vers. 1535. . 183 LXXV. Joyce, late prioress of Catesby, to secretary Cromwell 1535. . 184 LXXVI. Queen Anne Boleyn to the magistrates of Bristol vers. 1535. . 186 LXXVII. The same to Dr. Crome . . vers. 1535. . 188 LXXVIII. The same to secretary Cromwell . . 1535. . 190 VI CONTENTS. No. A.D. Page LXXIX. The same to the abbot of St. Mary's, York vers. 1535. . 191 LXXX. Lady Mary Stafford to secretary Cromwell 1535. . 193 LXXXI. Queen Catherine of Aragon to doctor John Forest 1535. . 197 LXXXII. The same to * * * . . . . 1535. . 201 LXXXIII. Mary lady Willoughby to secretary Crom well 1535.. 207 LXXXIV. Anne lady Berkeley to secretary Cromwell 1535. . 209 LXXXV. Elizabeth Shelley, abbess of St. Mary's, Winchester, to lady Lisle . vers. 1535. . 213 LXXXVI. The same to the same . . tier*. 1535. . 215 LXXXVII. The same to the same . . . vers. 1536. . 216 LXXXVIII. EUzabeth duchess of Norfolk to secretary Cromwell .... vers. 1536. . 218 LXXXIX. The same to the same . . . tier*. 1536. . 222 XC. The same to lord Cromwell . vers. 1536. . 223 XCI. Honor viscountess Lisle to Mr. Popley 1536. . 226 XCII. The same to Mr. Culpepper . . 228 XCIII. The same to Anthoinette de Favences . 229 XCIV. Anne lady Skeffington to secretary Cromwell 1536. . 232 XCV. The same to the same . . . 1536. . 235 XCVI. The same to the same . . . . 1536.. 239 XCVII. Princess Mary to secretary CromweU . 1536. . 242 XCVIII. The same to the same . . . 1536. . 248 XCIX. The same to Henry VIII. . . . 1536.. 249 C. Princess Mary to secretary CromweU . 1536. . 250 CI. The same to Henry VIII. . . . 1536. . 252 CII. Anne lady Shelton to the Privy Council 1536. . 254 CHI. Princess Mary to Henry VIII. . 1536. . 255 CIV. The same to the same .... 1536. . 258 CV. The same to lord Cromwell . . 1536. . 260 CVI. The same to queen Jane Seymour 1536. . 262 CVII. Anne Barneys to lord Cromwell . vers. 1536. . 263 CVIII. Elizabeth Cressener, prioress of Dartford, to lord Cromwell . . . ms. 1536. . 265 CIX. Mrs. Joanna Creke to lord CromweU vers. 1536. . 267 CONTENTS. vii No- A.D. Page CX. Margaret lady Audley to lord Crom weU vers. 1536. . 269 CXI. Elizabeth lady Hungerford to lord Crom well vers. 1536. . 271 CXII. Margaret queen of Scotland to Henry VIII. 1536. . 276 CXIII. The same to the same .... 1536. . 278 CXIV. The same to the same . . . 1536. . 281 CXV. The same to Henry VIII. . . . 1536. . 283 CXVI. Agness Jordan, abbess of Sion, to lord CromweU . . ~ , . . . 1536. , 288 CXVII. Lady Margaret Douglas to lord CromweU 1536. . 292 CXVIII. Anne Basset to lady Lisle . . tiers. 1536. . 294 CXIX. The same to the same .... 1536. . 296 CXX. Mary Basset to lady Lisle . . vers. 1536. . 297 CXXI. The same to the same . . . tiers. 1537. . 299 CXXII. The same to the same .... 1537. . 300 CXXIII. The same to the same .... 1537. .302 CXXIV. The same to the same . . . vers. 1537. . 304 CXXV. Margaret lady Bryan to lady Lisle . 1537. . 305 CXXVI. Mary countess of Sussex to lady Lisle . 1537. . 306 CXXVII. Elinor countess of Rutland to lady Lisle 1537. . 308 CXXVIII. Catherine duchess of Suffolk to lady Lisle 310 CXXIX. Honor viscountess Lisle to the countess of Sussex 1537. .311 CXXX. Elizabeth countess of Kildare to lord CromweU vers. 1537. . 317 CXXXI. Elizabeth countess of Worcester to lord Cromwell 1537. . 318 CXXXII. Princess Mary to lord Cromwell . . 1537. . 320 CXXXIII. The same to lord Cromwell . . . 1537. . 321 CXXXIV. Margaret queen of Scotland to Henry VIII. 1537.. 323 CXXXV. The same to the duke of Norfolk . 1537.. 329 CXXXVI. The same to Henry VIII. . . . 1537. .330 CXXXVII. The same to the duke of Norfolk . . » 1537. . 333 CXXXVIII. The same to lord Cromwell . . . 1537.. 336 CXXXIX. The same to Henry VIII. . . . 1537. . 338 CXL. Margaret marchioness-dowager of Dorset to Henry VIII 1537.. 341 iii CONTENTS. No. AI>- PaSe CXLI. Margaret marchioness-dowager of Dorset to lord CromweU . . . tiers. 1537. . 343 CXLII. Lady Catherine Fitz-Alan to lord Crom well vers. 1537. . 346 CXLIII. The same to the same . . . vers. 1537. . 348 CXLIV. DousabeUa lady Darcy to lord Darcy . 1537. . 350 CXLV. EUzabeth lady Ughtred to lord Cromwell 1537.. 353 CXLVI. The same to the same . . . 1537. . 355 CXLVII. Elizabeth duchess of Norfolk to lord CromweU 1537.. 358 CXLVIII. The same to the same . . . 1537. . 360 CXLIX. The same to the same .... 1537. . 365 CL. The same to the same .... 1538. . 369 CLI. MaryduchessofRichmond to lord CromweU 1538. . 373 CLII. The same to the same .... 1538. . 377 •*> 1? 5 % X sf \&§ j* ? € s-x i ^ 'a % 4 FAC-SIMILES IN VOL. II. No. 1. CecUia marchioness of Dorset. Cecyl Dorsett. ,, 2. EUzabeth countess of Oxford. E. Oocynfford. ,, 3. Isabel Jordan, abbess of Wilton. By youre most humbyll oretrys, Isabell eleete at Wylton. ,, 4. Margaret Vernon, prioress of Little Marlow. Margret Vernon. ,, 5. Elizabeth countess of Kildare. Elyzabeth Kyldare. ,, 6. Margaret marchioness of Dorset. Margarett Dorssett. ,, 7. Lady Anne Boleyn, or Rocheford. Anne Rocheford. ,, 8. Honor viscountess Lisle. Honor Lysle. ,, 9. Elizabeth countess of Worcester. Elizabethe Worcestr. „ 10. Anne countess of Oxford. A. Oocynfford. Fac- simile Autograph of Royal and IUustrious Ladies. Volume the Second. FAC-SIMILES IN VOL. II. No. 1. CeciUa marchioness of Dorset. Cecyl Dorsett. ,, 2. Elizabeth countess of Oxford. E. Oxynfford. „ 3. Isabel Jordan, abbess of Wilton. By youre most humbyll oretrys, Isabell eleete at Wylton. ,, 4. Margaret Vernon, prioress of Little Marlow. Margret Vernon. ,, 5. EUzabeth countess of KUdare. Elyzabeth Kyldare. „ 6. Margaret marchioness of Dorset. Margarett Dorssett. „ 7. Lady Anne Boleyn, or Rocheford. Anne Rocheford. ,, 8. Honor viscountess Lisle. Honor Lysle. ,, 9. EUzabeth countess of Worcester. Elizabethe Worcestr. „ 10. Anne countess of Oxford. A. Oxynfford. FAC-SIMILES. No. 11. Margaret queen of Scotland. Vour loweng systar, Margaret R. ,, 12. Lady Margaret Douglas. Margret Dowglas. ,, 13. Mary countess of Sussex. Mary Sussex. ,, 14. Catherine duchess of Suffolk. Katherine Suffoulk. ,, 15. DousabeUa lady Darcy. D. Darcy. LETTERS ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. LETTER I. Cecilia Marchioness-Dowager of Dorset to Thomas Cromwell. [cotton, ms. vespasian, f. xin. art. 123, fol. 108. Original.'] *** Cecil marchioness of Dorset was, at the age of ten years, left heiress of her father, lord Harrington, and of her great-grandfather, lord BouvUe, both of whom feU on the side of the Yorkists in the war of the Roses. By her husband, Thomas marquis of Dorset, she had a large family of seven sons and eight daughters. On his death she married Henry Stafford, earl of WUtshire. She was a woman of great activity and energy, and was warmly attached to her chUdren. In 1524 she made an arrangement of her property, by which she provided small annual incomes for her younger sons and portions of 1000?. each for her four surviving daughters, lady Dorothy Mountjoy, lady CecU Dudley, Elizabeth countess of KUdare, and lady Margaret, and then consented to reUnquish aU her remaining property to pay the VOL. II. B 2 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND debts of her second husband, reserving only three hundred marks a-year for herself.1 By her will, dated March 1527, she gave her body to be buried in the chapel of Astley, where her husband the marquis lay, and ordered that after her death one thousand masses should be said with all convenient haste for her soul. She also pro vides for a tomb for the marquis and herself, and two priests to say masses for their souls for eighty years, at SI. a-year.b The present letter is addressed to CromweU before he entered upon his official career, and is amongst the earUest notices of him extant. Cromwell, I will that you send to me in haste the trussing bed of cloth of tissue, and the feather bed with the fustians and a mattress longing to the same, with the counterpoint (counterpane). Also I will that you de liver all such tents, pavilions, and halls, as you have of mine unto my son (Leonard), as you tender my pleasure. And this shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge at all times. Written at Bedwell this present Thursday before our Lady-day the Assumption. Cecil Dorset. To Cromwell my son Marquis' servant. Endorsed, " My old lady Marchioness." a Miscellaneous Exchequer documents, 2d series. No. 442, Rolls- house. The indenture with Dorothy lady Mountjoy is made a separate article in No. 508 of the same series. Also a concord be tween her and the earl of Wiltshire in 1515, No. 2293. b Dugdale, vol. i. p. 720. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. LETTER II. Elizabeth Newhouse to Mr. Roger Wright. [miscellaneous letters, first series, vol. i. no. 1229, state paper office. Holograph.} *** The writer of the present letter is unknown to historic fame It is inserted simply as a pleasing specimen of the affectionate sim- pUcity of domestic intercourse. Jesu. Well-beloved son Roger Wright, In my most heartiest manner I recommend me unto you, sending you God's blessing and mine, trusting you will deserve it ; for it is shewed me that you be gone from your good mistress, and that I am right sorry for, and I pray you send me word where you be and in whose service. And if you list to hear how I do, I do well and honestly as a poor widow may do, having four children daily at my cost and charge. And also I hare been at Walsingham, and there I spake with your brother Thomas, and he cloth well, blessed be God ; and he shewed me he would be with me within a fortnight after Michael mas. And I pray you send me word in what church in Warwiek your brother Richard is in. Also I pray you to look as wisely to yourself as you can, and to my power I will help you to the best that I can. And your father hath left me the new house that I dwell in, unto me and my children for ever, 4 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND and two closes or fields. Also I have no good token to send you at this time but a Walsingham broach, and your sister Margaret recommendeth her unto vou. No more at this time, and Jesu preserve you. From your mother, Elizabeth Newhouse. To Roger Wright, D.D. in London, be this deUvered with speed. LETTER III. Anne Treadwell to King Henry VIII. [royal letters, vol. b. v. 8, fol. 14, rolls-house. Original.\ Sheweth unto your grace your poor oratrice, Anne Treadwell, how John Ether, yeoman of your crown, took to maintenance one John Cerison some time, which having a wife alive, colourably deceived your said oratrice, and, her having no knowledge of the same, wed to his wife, from whom she was divorced lawfully ; after which divorce the said John- Ether sent his servant, with force and arms, by night to the place of your said oratrice, and took feloni ously away from her cccc. sheep and lx. head of mutton, and on this affrayed her as that she was- like to have lost her mind ; which great trouble hath caused her to spend all her goods and brought her to poverty. Pleaseth you for your good grace, in con sideration of the premises, to take such direction in ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 5 the same, by the advice of your noble council, as may stand with right and good conscience ; and she shall ever pray to God to preserve your most noble estate. Endorsed, " It is determined and agreed by the king's council that the party complaining shall receive of JohnHether v. marks, and x. marks at Christmas next, x. marks at Easter next following, v . marks at Midsummer then next foUowing, and to find sufficient surety for the payment thereof." LETTER IV. Queen Margaret to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1526. [cotton, ms. caligula, b. viii. fol. 160. Original.] *** Archdeacon Magnus, in a letter to Wolsey dated March 6th, 1526, says, "-I have received diverse and sundry letters from out of Scotland, containing that the queen's grace there, at her coming in and repairing to the young king her son, required that Harry Stewart might have Ucence to come to the court and to continue in the same. Whereunto the said young king would not consent nor accord, by occasion whereof the queen's said grace departed, not only displeased for her party but also far out of favour with the king, and as yet so continueth." On the llth of March, 1526, a formal sentence of di vorce was pronounced between the queen and Angus, b and on the 2d of AprU lord Dacres informed the cardinal that the queen had con fessed that she had secretly married Henry Stewart, on which the young king caused t"him to be put into ward.0 These measures "Cotton. MS. Cahg. B. III. fol. 301. b Scottish Correspondence, vol. i. art. 30." State Paper Office. c Cotton. MS. Calig. B. II. fol. 48. O LETTERS OF EOYAL AND against the queen were adopted through the influence of Angus, who was then sole master of the young king's person, and kept him in slavish subjection. Margaret was of course actively engaged in counterplots, which after many failures at length succeeded in 1528, when the young king, released from thraldom, issued the celebrated mandate prohibiting a Douglas to approach within seven mUes of the royal person.a The present letter from Margaret was accompanied by one to Henry VIII. of the same purport.b My lord cardinal, In our most affectionate and hearty manner we commend us unto you. Forasmuch as our dearest son the king's grace has been this long while by- jjast after the time of his perfect age, and ordinance made in parliament by his three estates that his authority should be used by himself, and yet pre sently is withholden in contrary (against) his will, and in thraldom, by the earl of Angus and his partakers ; wherethrough his grace, by fear and compulsion of the said earl of Angus, and against all equity and justice, has granted and subscribed many divers letters inconsonant to reason, as well unto our holy father the pope as within this his realm, and suchlike unto the king's grace our dear est brother your master, and yourself ; and in special contrary my lord of Saint Andrew's, making men tion that he should have usurped our dearest son's authority royal, and conspired against his grace, which was of no verity, but proceeded all by malice a Letter of Northumberland to Wolsey, 2d July, 1 JL'S. Miscel laneous Exchequer documents, 2d series. No. 2559. Chanter-house " Cotton. MS. Calig. B. VIII. fol. 100. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 7 Of them that persuaded the same ; * and not the less my said lord of Saint Andrew's, because of that wrong relation made on him to his grace, is loath to meddle or concur in the matters wherein his counsel and help are necessary to be had for the weal of our said dearest son, while he get letters of request therefor from the king's grace your master and yourself: whereupon sundry great enormities and inconveniences has ensued and followed, and not only his grace's authority is all utterly abused in such wise that none manner of justice is executed within this his said realm, by partial ways of the said. earl of Angus* which under colour of justice causes exercise rigour and cruelty upon his grace's lieges and subjects, whomat the said earl and his partakers has displeasure or indignation by any way ; but likewise his grace's most noble person is misguided in all things referring b unto the estate royal of his majesty ; which were too long and prolix to be written unto you : and therefore this present bearer, master Peter Howstoun, shall declare you the same ; to whom in these behalfs you please give firm credence. And all this must our dearest son aforesaid (en- a James V. in a private letter to Henry VIII. dated August 24th, 1526, says that by compulsion of Angus he has subscribed letters of accusation against St. Andrew's, who is in reaUty only trying, in con junction with his dearest mother and the earl of Lennox, to procure his freedom. Miscellaneous Exchequer documents, 2d series, No. 2527. b Effering in orig. 8 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND dure), standing daily under great fear and dread of the said earl of Angus and his partakers, which are continually about his grace, and will suffer none others of his barons nor lieges to resort amongst them ; to that end and intent that whatsomever thing he or they will have or devise to be done, his grace, for danger of his life, dare not deny the same, howbeit it were never so unreasonable, or might tend to the great hurt of his grace and de struction of the common weal of this his realm ; and thereof his grace bears oftentimes great displea sures in his mind, which may not long endure with tenderness of his most noble complexion. And hereupon his grace has moved heavily by his writ ings unto us his dearest mother, and to my said lord of Saint Andrew's, and my lord of Lennox: wherein we and my said lords, with help of God, and others true lieges of this realm, shall do our duty for putting of remedy ; as at more large we have written unto our said brother the king's grace your master, presently, by the said bearer. And therefore, my lord cardinal, we pray you right affectionately, as in whom we have right sin gular belief and trust, that you have good and sad consideration hereof with his grace, and aid and as sist with the same to the deliverance of our said dear est son his nephew forth of (from) subjection and to kingly freedom : so that the love" of his true barons " La\fm orig. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 9 and lieges may safely and surely resort unto his grace, both for impetration (obtaining) of justice and preserving of his most noble person from such evident dangers and perils as the same stands now daily in. For, an it so happened, as God forbid, that his grace were destroyed or put to confusion by any way, it is not to presume but the king's grace, his dearest uncle your master, should have most high displeasure therefor of any living man, as the case now stands. And for putting of hasty and due remedy hereunto, it will please you, my lord car dinal, to cause and solicit his grace write his good affectionate letters unto my said lords of Saint An drew's and Lennox, and to others lords and barons within this realm, as his grace and you think most expedient in that behalf; and that yourself, my lord, write to my said lord of Saint Andrew's tenderly in that same effect. And likewise, my lord cardinal, we pray you heartily persuade and solicit our said dearest bro ther the king's grace to direct his supplications unto the pope's holiness, in favour of us his loving sister and my said lord of Saint Andrew's, for help and furthering of our matters in the court of Rome ; and write so that we may- have- your own supplications direct for us unto his holiness in semblable manner : and all to be delivered together to the said bearer : whom pleaseth you, my lord, cause have good fur therance) and expedition of his errands and affairs, from the king's grace our dearest brother and yourself. b2 10 LETTERS- OF ROYAL AND Praying eternal God have you, my lord cardinal, in his blessed tuition and government. Written at Dunfermline, the 21st day of August. Yours, Margaret R To my Lord Cardinal of England. LETTER V. Anne Countess-Dowager of Oxford to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1526. [wolsey PAPERS, VOL. VIII. PT. I. NO. 144, state paper office. Original.] *** On the 12th of July, 1526, John Campes. earl of Oxford, husband of the countess Anne, died without issue. His successor was sir John de Vere, a descendant from Richard the eleventh earl. His conduct had already excited the jealousy of the countess ; and, from a letter written to Wolsey by Thomas duke of Norfolk, her brother, it appears that this man was hovering around the dying bed of his relative, eagerly waiting the moment of his decease, and that the countess Anne had determined to reUnquish aU the goods remaining in her hands to him.a No sooner, however, did he enter upon the estates, than he began to revenge himself upon her for her former thwartin; of his schemes, by the outrageous aggressions detaUed in the present letter. Please it your grace to be advertised, that upon Saturday last past I received your honourable letters, at which time I advertised your grace to have " Wolsey Correspondence, vol. viii. part ii. art 10. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 11 knowledge of my lord of Oxford's coming to this town, whereof these shall be [to advertise] your grace farther, that about eleven of the clock of the same day he entered into this town, accompanied with fifty horsemen, and many of them with bows ; and the same day sir John Rainsforth, accompanied with thirty horsemen, came likewise unto this town; and my lord with his company brake the pale of my park, and entered into the same, with their bows ready bent, like as they would have killed all them that had resisted. And at that time they killed seventeen of my deer, and so departed the park, and tarried then in the town till Wednesday then next following. And on the Tuesday he likewise brake the pale and the gate of my park, and entered into the same, accompanied by estimation with five hundred persons, whereof a hundred of the same were bowmen, and every of them their bows bent, and an arrow in their bow, and in array, like as they should have gone unto the wars, and at that time they killed a hundred deer ; and before this hunting he sent unto all the towns hereunto adjoining, giving them knowledge to hunt, as many as would come : by reason whereof it caused the people to assemble. The justice of assize hearing of this same, and being advertised what mischief might rise by reason of the same, repaired unto this town, to the intent to see a stay, that there should [be] no insurrection among the commons; at which time they bound both 12 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND my lord and me to keep the king's peace : but all that notwithstanding, this day he hath been at Campys, accompanied with three hundred persons, and there hath broken up toy house, and beaten my servants, and taken all my goods ; and what he in tends to do further as yet I know not, but except the king's grace be good and gracious lord unto me, I know not what remedy. As knoweth God, who keep your grace in good health. From Lavenham the llth day of August. Yours assured, A. Oxford. To my Lord Cardinal's good grace, Endorsed, ' ' Letters from the young Countess of Oxford."* LETTER VI. Anne Countess-Dowager of Oxford to her Brother, . the Duke of Norfolk, a.d. 1526. [MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, FIRST bERIES, FOL. II. XO. 14, STATE paper office. Original.] *** The violent proceedings detaUed in the former letter succeeded in expelling the widowed countess and her servants from her park of Lavenham and castle of Camps, but she was not of a mood quietly to sustain her injuries, and she wrote her complaints to the king's 1 There were at this time two dowager-countesses of Oxford, widows of the thirteenth and fourteenth earls; Anne was therefore styled "the young," as a distinction. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 13 council. One of the privy counciUors wrote a severe remonstrance to the earl upon his conduct,5 and Wolsey sent a writ to the justices of Cambridgeshire to interfere, which they did j but their efforts proving fruitless, the countess addressed the present letter to her brother, the duke of Norfolk, which was accompanied by a similar one to Suffolk,1" and produced a united and earnest appeal from them and other nobles to Wolsey, to interfere in his office of chancellor and procure her redress.6 Please it your grace to have knowledge that the writ which I had of my lord cardinal into Cam bridgeshire doth nothing prevail me ; for the jus tices of peace, to whom the same was directed, with diverse other justices of peace of the same shire, were at the castle of Camps, there to have avoided (turned out) all such persons as kept the same by force : but that notwithstanding, they answered them not to depart for no man, until such time as they had commandment from my lord their master. And also the same justices perceived theni- self not able to remove them by their own power, nor yet with the raising of the country, without great disturbance of the king's peace, as they will justify at all times when they shall be called. They have not as yet proceeded no further in the execu tion of the said writ ; wherefore, without your grace help now, I know not how to obtain my possession a MisceUaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. xi. fol. 34. State Paper Office. b Ibid. vol. ii. fol. 16. c Wolsey Correspondence, vol. viii. part ii. fol. 60, date Aug. 24. State Paper Office. 14 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND again, whereupon my special trust is; as knoweth God, who keep your grace in good health. From Wittyforth, the 22nd day of August. Your loving sister, A. Oxford. To my lord of Norfolk's good grace. LETTER VII. Lady Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII. a.d. vers 1527. [leli, vita di elisabetha, VOL. II. p. 50.] *%* Some apology may be deemed necessary for introducing into the present volumes a re-translation from LeU's Italian version of letters, which were originally written in EngUsh. A careful compa rison of some of the documents in LeU with their originals, which are stiU in existence, proves that he was a careful though not a verbatim translator, and also affords satisfactory evidence of the genuineness of the letters he quotes. Of those which are here presented, the originals have perished, or are no longer accessible. No choice, therefore, remains but that of letting them continue in comparative obscurity in the pages of an antiquated Italian writer, or of reproducing them in their present form. The latter expedient has been adopted in reference to such as were considered of sufficient interest to merit a perusal. The foUowing letter is placed by Leli under the year 1519. but it was probably not written tiU several years later. Tin' obscurity in which the early history of Anne Boleyn is involved, has hitherto rendered uncertain the date of her appointment as maid of honour to queen Catherine of Aragon, referred to in this letter. The mode in which Anne Boleyn here receives the early addresses of the king ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 15 reflects very unfavourably upon her character. It was written pro bably before any idea of supplanting her royal mistress in her queenly dignity had entered into her head, but it proves that she was not un- wUlingto displace her in her husband's affections. Additional indirect testimony to the genuineness of this letter may be derived from LeU's warm admiration of queen Elizabeth, which would naturaUy render him unwiUing on uncertain evidence to pub lish anything derogatory to the character of her mother. Sire, It belongs only to the august mind of a great king, to whom Nature has given a heart full of generosity towards the sex, to repay by favours so extraordinary an artless and short conversation with a girl. Inexhaustible as is the treasury of your majesty's bounties, I pray you to consider that it cannot be sufficient to your generosity; for if you recompense so slight a conversation by gifts so great, what will you be able to do for those who are ready- to consecrate their entire obedience to your desires ? How great soever may be the bounties I have re ceived, the joy that I feel in being loved by a king whom I adore, and to whom I would with pleasure make a sacrifice of my heart, if fortune had rendered it worthy of being offered to him, will ever be infi nitely greater. The warrant of maid of honour to the queen in duces me to think that your majesty has some re gard for me, since it gives me the means of seeing you oftener, and of assuring you by my own lips 16 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND (which I shall do on the first opportunity) that I am, Your majesty's very obliged and very obedient servant, without any reserve, Anne Boleyn. LETTER VIII. Queen Margaret to Henry VIII. [royal letters, vol. b. iii. 7, fol. 24, rolls-house. Original.] *** The foUowing is one of the few documents left by Queen Margaret which bear upon the welfare of her subjects, rather than her own private interests." Right excellent, right high, noble, and mighty prince, our dearest brother, We recommend us unto you in our most tender and hearty manner, praying your grace right effec- tuously, at this our special request, you please dis charge the arrest and pursuit made and depending in your exchequer upon certain salmon fishes, per taining to our loving and familiar servitors, master Francis Bothwell and Adam Hoppar, merchants of Edinburgh, and to Alexander Kaye, their factor and a Two letters on the same subject are extant in Wolsey Correspon dence, vol. viii. part i. art. 18; and Miscellaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. i. fol. 56, State Paper Office. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. YJ partner, which is moved by your town of Berwick, upon an old statute and act, which had never effect since the first making thereof against Scots mer chants. And our said loved merchants has by their selves and factor resorted within your realm with such wares, and occupied the same at sundry your ports, divers and many years bygone, no trouble nor stop being made to them, nor to no other Scots man, by reason of the said act and statute, unto this year : in the which they suspected no trouble to have been made to them more than of before. Be seeching herefor your noble grace, in consideration of the premises, and at this our special request, you please cause the said merchants to have their said fishes freely again, without further process, so they may perceive this our request to them fructous (effective). Right excellent, right high, and mighty prince, our dearest brother, we pray God Almighty conserve your grace eternally. Written at Edinburgh, the 23d day of De cember. Your loving sister, Margaret R. To the ; right excellent, right high, noble, and mighty prince and our dearest brother, the King of England, &c. 18 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER IX. Queen Margaret to Cardinal Wolsey. [royal letters, vol. b. iii. 7, fol. 22, rolls-house. Original.' *** The present letter is without date, but is probably of th( same period as another on the same subject from Norfolk to Wolsey, in the State Paper Office," and therefore written between 1524 ancj 1529. My lord cardinal, I commend me heartily to you. Please it you to wit that I wrote to the king of England my brother for a certain of barley-wheat for the pro vision of the king's my son's household and mine ; because such grains are somewhat failed in these parts, and the king my brother accorded the quan tity, and your lordship siclike (the sanieV And since, you have made a restrain through all the realm of England that no grains pass forth of the realm of England. Wherefore I pray you for the sober (small) thing that you have licensed and ac corded to my servant John Beatoun, which is in the safe-conduct made to the said John under the king my brother's great seal, the number of the grains that I desire, — notwithstanding any restrain, — that this my desire be granted and licensed, the same to be brought forth of the realm by the said John. This it will please you to do, as my " Wolsey Correspondence, vol. viii. part ii. fol. 31. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 19 singular trust is in you ; for the said John brings as good stuff within the realm as he brings forth of it, such as salmon and all other fishes. I pray God keep you. At our castle of Edinburgh, the 27th day of November. Yours, Margaret R. To my Lord Cardinal. LETTER X. Queen Margaret to Dr. Thomas Magnus. a.d. 1527. [royal letters, vol. b. ii. 10, fol. 205, rolls-house. Original.] *** The martial spirit of James V. early developed itself in the character of his amusements. Magnus gave Wolsey the following interesting account of his early propensities, in reference to some presents destined by Henry VIII. for him : — " And forsomuch as I shewed his grace that the king's said high ness is minded to send unto him some pleasures and remembrances for his hunting and other disports this summer season, right humbly his grace thanketh the king's highness for the same, and right lowly recommendeth him unto his grace, as his dearest and most good uncle, beseeching his said highness to send unto him a good buckler ; for of that he is right desirous, insomuch that when his grace doth see my servants, he commendeth and praiseth much their swords and London bucklers. And the buckler to be provided for his grace may not be ordained as it were for a child, for that his grace loveth not, but to have every thing Uke unto a man, insomuch that the swords he daily useth are a yard afore the hUts, which his grace will as roundly and quickly draw forth and put up again as any man in his court. His 20 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND grace hath heard that the king's highness, his said uncle, at some times weareth and useth a buckler, and that moveth his said grace to be the more desirous thereof."* The young king wrote to Magnus at the same time with his mother for the hounds which she soUcits for her son. Magnus, to whom the letters were addressed, was then an officer in the establishment of the young duke of Richmond, Henry's natural son, who had been sent to the borders in an official capacity, and in almost vice-regal state, and he expressed to Wolsey his suspicion that one reason why the mes senger was sent was that he might have an opportunity of seeing and visiting the young duke, and to "note the manner and fashion of his household, bruited in Scotland of right high estimation." The appU- cation was immediately answered by the duke of Richmond, by a present of ten couple of hounds from his own kennel.6 ' It may be noted incidentaUy that the present is one of the very few letters of queen Margaret which adds the year to the day of the month in the date. In almost aU the others the year has to be ascer tained from internal evidence. The true year wiU be 1527, since at this time the civU or legal year did not commence till March 25th, and therefore all documents dated between Jan. 1st and that day must, to accord with our present computation, be assigned to a year later than the date they bear. Right trusty and well-beloved friend, We commend us unto you in our most hearty manner, praying you right effectuously that you will get and send to us three or four brace of the best ratches (small hounds) in the country, less and more, for hares, foxes, and other greater beasts, with a brace of blood-hounds of the best kind, that are good, and will ride behind men on horseback. And a Cotton. MS. Calig. B. II. fol. 43, date May 31st, 1525. » Magnus to Wolsey, 14th February, 1526. Wolsey Correspond ence, vol. viii. part i. art. 5, State Paper Office. The duke of Richmond to James V., and Magnus to James V. and Margaret. Royal Letters, vol. B. II. 10, fol. 207, Rolls-house. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 21 this we exhort you to do, as you will do us singular empleasure, and report special thanks of us there for. And the Trinity preserve you. Written at Edinburgh, the 8th day of January, 1526. Your friend, Margaeet R. To the right honourable our trusty friend master Thomas Magnus, archdeacon of East Riding, &c. LETTER XI. Elizabeth Dowager- Countess of Oxford to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1528. [WOLSEY PAPERS, VOL. VIII. PART I. NO. 140, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original.] *£* Cardinal W7olsey, in the plenitude of his wealth and power, determined to evince his liberality and patronage of learning by erecting and endowing a college at Ipswich. The provisions for its foundation form the subject of the two foUowing letters.1 The writer a For an account of this foundation, see in Grove's Life of Wolsey, vol. iv. p. 192, an interesting letter from WiUiam Capon to Wolsey, p. 194, printed also in Fiddes' CoUections, p. 128, and in sir Henry EUis' Letters, 1st series, vol. i. p. 185. The original is in Cotton. MS. Titus, B. I. fol. 275. Several other letters on the same subject, hitherto inedited, are amongst the Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. v. State Paper Office. 22 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND was EUzabeth, widow of John de Vere, thirteenth earl of Oxford,2 who died in 1513. She was the daughter of sir William Scrope, and had been previously married to William viscount Beaumont, but had no chUdren by either of her husbands. She was much esteemed by king Henry VIII., who, on one occasion, when travelling to Easthamp- stead, where was no convenient lodging for his daughter the princess Mary, chose the old lady of Oxford as the most suitable person to attend upon her." The foUowing curious contemporaneous notice of her occurs in a letter from Richard Dolphine to cardinal Wolsey, date April 19th, 1524.c This man was the master of a vessel, and having been sent on some expedition had lingered too long in the neighbourhood of the residence of the countess, and was reproached by Wolsey with having delayed in order to keep the feast of Easter. He excuses himself on account of the weather, and declares that he has required the mariners to make aU speed, and also that " my old lady of Oxford did require- and command them, on pain of her displeasure, which be her tenants, that they should make aU the speed they could. Who I assure your grace had them before her, and after a gentle manner desired the masters not to delay any time, but make aU the speed they could ; who answered on their faiths they would make aU the speed they could. Farthermore, I deUvered your grace's loving letters of thanks to my old lady of Oxford, who thanked your grace humbly. I assure your grace 1 have not Ughtly seen so noble a woman so rejoice in a letter. And immediately she commanded her steward to have me to her ceUar, and also the same night she sent for aU my feUows that were in the town to her house to supper, where they were n A letter from Margaret, first wife of this earl, was given in a former part of this collection, No. XLV. His marriage with EUza beth took place before or about Dec. 6th. 1509, when certain manors were settled upon them as her dowry. Patent RoU, 1 Hen. VIII. part u. h Letter of Pace to Wolsey, July 24th, 1521. State Papers, vol. i. p. 19. c Wolsey Correspondence, vol. iv. art. 55. State Paper Office. The year is not given in the letter, but Tuesday is named as the 19th of April, shewing the dominical letter to be B, and it is evident that Easter had fallen before the 17th of AprU — a coincidence that took place only in 1524, during the period of Wolsey's elevation. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 23 on Easter-day at night, and had very good cheer." The letter is sub scribed and signed, " By the niiefst of your servant and bedeman to his power during his Ufe, Richard Dolphine." By her wiU, dated 30th May, 1537, the countess of Oxford bequeathed her body to be buried beside the corpse of WiUiam viscount Beaumont, her first husband, and appointed that her executors should cause two hundred masses to be said or sung for her soul, as also for the souls of her father, mother, and husbands, viz. fifty of the Trinity, fifty of the Holy Ghost, fifty of the Five Pounds, and fifty of Requiem. She left to the then earl of Oxford seven tapestries of counterfeit arras, of the story of Solomon; to Lord Bulbeck, her godson, her ring of gold, with a rose of diamonds ; a golden tablet to his wife, lady Dorothy ; and to his sister, lady Ann Vere, a book of gold ; to her sister, lady Mary, wife of sir WiUiam Kingston, knight, she left her Jesus of diamonds set in gold : also many other bequests of a simflar character. Pleaseth it your grace, I have received your honourable letters dated the 2d day of July, whereby I perceive your request is that I would grant unto your grace, for the foundation of your college in Ipswich, as much stone and calionsa out of my cliff of Harwich as will be thought necessary by the masters of your works there for the founda tion of the same ; to the which your grace's request I am as glad and desirous to condescend, if it might there be bad without prejudice or hurt in time coming unto my town there. And where upon the request made in your grace's name by your chaplains, in that behalf, I - Probably a provincial term for the stratified beds of blue lime stone with which this coast abounds. For this conjecture, as well as for several other items of scientific information, the Editor is indebted to her valued friend and brother-in-law, W. C. Williamson, Esq. 24 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND sent my receiver Daniell there to meet your said chaplains, to the intent that they then and there might perceive and know how much might reason ably be borne ; and as it was well perceived, and I credibly informed by the tenants and inhabitants there, little might be forborne, unless to the town's great prejudice, forasmuch as the cliff is not of stone, but only the stone there remaining lieth as a foreland to defend the same : if that were gone the cliff to be washed away within short space, to the utter destruction of the town. Notwithstanding, as much as might be reasonably forborne your grace to have the same, to stay your works for the time. Certifying your grace, in that being nothing preju dicial unto the strength and defence of the town, I would as gladly to do your grace pleasure as any poor woman living. Beseeching your grace to accept herein my good mind, who is always at your commandment; as knoweth our Lord, who preserve your grace in prosperous estate long to endure. Written the 8th day of July. Your continual beadwoman, E. Oxford, To my Lord Cardinal's good grace. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 25 LETTER XII. Elizabeth Dowager-Countess of Oxford to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1528. [wolsey PAPERS, VOL. VIII. PT. I. NO. 141, state paper office. Original.] *** The letter of cardinal Wolsey, to which the present is a reply, is unfortunately not in existence. IU-brooking any opposition to his favourite schemes, the haughty prelate had evidently signified his disapprobation to the countess in such terms that she no longer dared to oppose his wttl, although her objection was a feasible one, because Harwich, being a low wasting coast, consisting of a red friable deposit caUed crag, resting upon the blue London clay, would be injured by any extensive abstraction of the more soUd material. Pleaseth your grace, I have received your honourable letters, dated the 15th day of July ; the contents whereof being not a little to my discomfort. Where your grace doth suppose my denial of your request for the stone and calions was but a pretence of hinderance to my town of Harwich, I humbly beseech your grace to accept therein my true and faithful mind, and not to conject it to be done under any such manner. And to the intent your grace shall well perceive in any wise I would avoid your displeasure, and glad to do the thing to your grace most acceptable, and ever have been, am very well contented you shall take your pleasure in my said haven, and have not denied vol. n. c 26 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND your formal request by any manner wilfulness, but only did give your grace knowledge as I was informed by credible persons. Humbly beseeching your grace in like manner to accept, and be it hurt ful or otherwise, your grace to do your pleasure; forasmuch as I always have found you my most gracious and very singular good lord, not doubting of the same hereafter. And thus the blessed Trinity preserve your grace in prosperous estate, long to ^endure. .^Written the 22d day of July. y> •-¦•: Your continual beadwoman, E. Oxford. To my Lord Cardinal's good grace. LETTER XIII. Agnes Dowager-Duchess of Norfolk to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1528. [WOLSEY LETTERS, VOL. VIII. PARTI. NO. 115. STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original.] *** The following letter contains, perhaps, the best account now extant from a private person of the fearful disease called the sweating sickness, which committed such dreadful ravages in England during the summer months of the year 152S. The state correspondence of the period abounds with allusions to it, and the most anxious pre cautions were taken to preserve the king and royal famuy from infec tion. Cardinal Wolsey was attacked by the disorder, but, whether from following the advice here given, or from some other cause, he recovered. A curious volume was published by John Caius, in black letter, in ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 27 1552, entitled, " A Boke, or CounseiU against the disease commonly caUed the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse, made by John Caius, Doc- tour in Phisicke ; uery necessary for euerye Personne, and muche requi site to be had in the handes of al Sortes, for their better instruction, preparacion, and defence, against the soubdein comyng and fearful as- saultyng of the same Disease." His recommendations are somewhat similar to those of the duchess. " Who that lusteth to live in quiet surety," he says, " out of the sudden danger of this English ephemera, he, above aU things, oilittle and good must eat and spare not. The last part wiU please weU (I doubt not) us EngUsh men : the first I think never a deal."1 After recommending mithridate, Venice treacle, and a number of extraordinary compounds, he adds: — " In want of mithridatum, or suche other as I_haue befor mencioned, vse dayly the sirupes of pomegranates, lemones, and sorell, of eche half an unce, with as much of the watres of tormentiUe, sorell, and dragones,11 fasting in the morning and one houre before supper : a toste in vinegre or veriuse of grapes, with a little poulder of cinamome and settewelle c caste vppon it."d The writer of the foUowing epistle was Agnes Tilney, daughter of sir Hugh Tilney, second wife of Thomas second duke of ^Norfolk, and ancestress of the Effingham branch of the Howard famUy. She was the duchess of Norfolk who was implicated in the misfortunes of her husband's grand-daughter, queen Catherine Howard, the par ticulars of which are too weU known to need detaU. A beautiful monumental effigy of this lady is engraved in the Howard Memorials,e from her tomb, now destroyed, but formerly in the Howard Chapel, Lambeth. a Fol. 21 b. b Echium vulgare, or viper's bugloss. c SettweU was the ancient name for the Valeriana hortensis, or garden valerian. See page 916 of the Herbal, or Generall Historie of Plantes"gathered by John Gerarde of London, Master in Chirurgerie. Imprinted at London by John Narton, 1597. FoUo. <" Fol. 25. e By the late Henry Howard, Esq. of Corby. Plate VI. The Cotton. MS. Vesp. F. XIII. art. 200, contains a signature of hers, the only one known besides the present, to a receipt of 13?, 6*. from lord Fitzwalter: date March 19, 1536. 28 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND My lord, In my most humble wise I recommend me unto your grace, and very glad I am to hear of your good health, which I pray God long to continue to his pleasure. My lord, it fortuned me as I went in procession in my parish-church on our Lady-day,a I saw Forest, your servant, alight upon his horse, and so I asked of him the question how your grace did? and he said that your grace did very well, thanked be God ; and after, my servant Hogon communed with him, and he shewed that some of your grace's servants were and had been sick and none dead : whereof I was very glad. My lord, I beseech your grace to have me ex cused that I do write so boldly unto your grace ; it is for my poor love unto your grace. My lord, if it would please you, if that you have the sweat, from the which I pray God defend you, for to send me word, I shall send Hogon and William Hastings unto your grace, the which shall keep you as well as is possible, after the temperate fashion. I have the experience daily in my house of all manner of sorts, both good and bad ; and, thanked be God, there is none miscarried, neither in my house nor within the parish that I am in. For if they that be in danger perceive themselves very sick, they send for such of my house as hath had it and know- " Probably the assumption of the Virgin, August 15th. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 29 eth the experience, whereby, thanked be God, they do escape : and if they be sick at the heart, I give them treacle and water imperial, the which doth drive it from the heart, and thus have holpen them that have swooned divers times,a and that have received the sacraments of the church ; and divers doth swell at their stomachs, to whom I give setwell to eat, the which driveth it away from the stomach. And the best remedy that I do know in it is to take little or no sustenance or drink, until sixteen hours be past. And, my lord, such of your servants as have had it, let them not come about your grace of one week after. And thus I do use my servants, and I thank our Lord as yet I have not had it. Vinegar, wormwood, rosewater, and crumbs of brown bread, is very good and comfortable, to put in a linen cloth, to smell unto your nose, so that it touch not your visage. My lord, I hear say that my lord of Norfolk hath had the sweat, and that divers in his house are dead ; and, as I think, through default of keeping. My lord, the common voice is that the king hath given the two daughters and heirs of master Brough- ton, one to master Cheyne and the other to master Wallop." a Swooning was considered one of the most fatal symptoms of the disorder. b Master Broughton was the son and heir of sir John Broughton of Tuddington, in Berkshire. His mother subsequently married sir John RusseU, afterwards first earl of Bedford. The two wards here mentioned were the daughters of sir John and sisters of master 30 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND My lord, I do not write unto your grace this because I think that your servants cannot keep you; but I hear that other men's servants dare not dis obey their masters' commandments in their sickness. Wisdom will not help in this disease ; but if they have somebody about them that dare take upon them to order them. My lord, I never saw people so far out of the way in no disease as they be in this; and about twelve or sixteen hours is the greatest danger. There be some that sweateth much, and some that sweateth very little, but burneth very sore : but the greatest surety is in any wise to keep your bed twenty-four hours. And our Lord have you in his keeping and send you long life, which I do daily pray for. Your humble beadwoman, A. Norfolk. To my Lord Cardinal's grace, in haste. Broughton. Their stepfather, sir John RusseU. in a letter to Wol sey, dated July 2, (1528), begs that the custody of them may be granted to their mother. " For she would be very loath that another should have her said daughters afore her, for it is aU her joy in this world. Also it is mentioned in your said letter, that your grace is contented that I and my wife shall have the keeping of her said daughters, so that they be kept in clear air, which we wiU do to the best of our powers ; but rather than your grace should have any mis trust of me or my wife, I had Uever they were out of my hands than otherwise. There is great labour made to the king by sir Thomas Cheney and sir John WaUop, and also to mistress Anne for that matter, and the king is very desirous to do the same." Another letter from Heneage to Wolsey on the same subject is printed in the State Papers, vol. i. p. 303 ; another, from sir J. RusseU to T. Armidelly, is in Miscellaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. ii. fol. 116, State Paper Office. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 31 LETTER XIV. Princess Mary to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1528. [hearxe's sylloge epistolarum, p. 122. From the Holograph Latin.] *„.* So much has recently been done towards the iUustration of the history and character of Mary I. of England, especiaUy during the troublous years of her early Ufe, that very brief notices wiU be suffi cient to link together the letters presented to the reader in the present volumes. It was originaUy intended to have inserted, in chronological order, the whole series of her correspondence as princess, which is replete with more than ordinary interest ; but as part of it is already before the pubUc in the works of Mr. Tytler, sir Frederick Madden, and Miss Strickland, such portions only have been selected as have been hitherto unpublished, or are printed in works only found in the Ubrary of the historical antiquarian. Of the early promise of the princess, and the dignity and courtesy with which she conducted herself, the foUowing extract from an in- edited letter, written by John bishop of Exeter to cardinal Wolsey about the year 1526, dated Shrewsbury, September 1st, when Mary was only ten years old, affords sufficient proof: — " After my most honourable commendations unto your grace, please it the same to wit, that upon my report of your most honourable letters of commendation, with daUy blessing to the princess' grace, and of your manifold labours sustained in expedition of her affairs, she thanked your grace, saying that you shew yourseU' with continuance (continuaUy) unto her as a very kind spiritual father, desiring of Almighty God abiUty partly to deserve the same to your grace, with many other loving weU-set words as may be spoken of any, being of that age or much older. *******- it is intended that the princess' grace shall remove from Thornbury towards Tewksbury the Monday next after our Lady-day, for considerations this bearer, Mr. Kingston, can shew your grace."1 The foUowing letter is the earliest of the princess Mary known to a MisceUaneous Exchequer documents, 1st series, No. 1450, RoUs-house. 32 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND be in existence. Heame has supposed that it was addressed to car dinal Pole, probably because it was directed to " my lord cardinal," or " my lord legate;" but the internal evidence is clear that it was directed not to him, but to cardinal Wolsey, who was always addressed without the mention of his surname. Mary speaks of her corre spondent as the " legate" and her "godfather." Now Wolsey, not Pole, was the godfather of the princess, and Pole was never legate in England till the ascension of Mary to the throne ; nor was he created cardinal tiU 1539, long after Mary had relinquished the title of prin cess, which she here uses, and when he was in such disgrace that he durst not enter England.* The probable date of the letter is 1528, when, on account of the dreadful sweating sickness, the princess was for a whUe permitted to share the residence of her. parents, and would of course be excluded from the company of Wolsey, who was some time absent from court on account of his having been attacked by the disorder. Though Mary was only twelve years old at this time, yet her proficiency in writing Latin when so young has been recorded, and the correctness of the present letter amply corroborates the statement.1' The Latin holograph from which Heame printed it, and which he says is in the Bodleian Library, is not now known by the keeper of the MSS.C to be in existence there, but it may possibly be hidden amongst the vast mass of as yet uncalendared documents in that extensive and valuable depository of national learning. To the right reverend lord the legate and my godfather, greeting worthy of so great and holy a father premised. I confess myself much indebted to your right reverend sanctity, both for your welcome letters delivered to me at the palace of Ampthill, and more especially that it is by your late intercession that I have been allowed for a month to enjoy, to * Pollini, Hist. Ecclesiast. p. 144. b See Miss Strickland's biography of her in the Queens of Eng land, vol. iv. p. 159. c The Rev. Bulkeley Bandinel, D.D. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 33 my supreme delight, the society 'of the king and queen my parents : the health of both of whom may the great Sovereign of kings crown with enduring felicity. One thing has, however, meanwhile vexed me, while mother respects most happy, namely, theoppor- tunity denied me of visiting you, most holy father. If this had been granted to my wishes, I would, having humbly sought your most sacred benediction, have repaid, as far as might be, by personal thanks, your frequent favours vouchsafed to me and mine. That which now remains for me to do, since what I so much desired to obtain before I did not then achieve, is, most meekly imploring your blessing (which is to be named but with profound reverence), to conjure your highness, in my best manner, that you will ever shew as candid mind towards me as you have hitherto done ; so shall I pray more ear nestly, as for many other reasons I ought to do, that the great and good God may ever prolong your health, for the British common good, more than for my own. At Hartlebury.a Your spiritual daughter, Mary, Princess. » Co. Worcester. c2 34< LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XV. Isabel Jordan, Abbess of Wilton, to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1528. [wolsey papers, VOL. XIII. NO. 84. state paper OFFICE. Original.] *** The election of Isabel Jordan as abbess of Wilton, in 1528, was the subject of warm contention between Henry VIII. and cardinal Wolsey. a She had previously been prioress of some other monastery, and was the sister of Agnes abbess of Sion, and ^protegee of the cardi nal ; but reports of her former levity of conduct had reached lady Anne Boleyn, who strongly opposed either her election or that of a sister of dame Eleanor Carey, who was also proposed. On this subject Henry VIII. thus addressed his beautiful favourite : — " And as touching the prioress, Isabel Jordan, or dame Eleanor's eldest sister, though there is not any evident case proved against them, and that the prioress is so old that of many years she could not be as she was named, yet, notwithstanding, to do you pleasure I have done that neither of them shaU have it, but that some other good and weU-disposed woman shall have it, whereby the house shaU be the better reformed, whereof I ensure you it had much need."b Wolsey was, however, either more fuUy convinced of the innocence of the aged Isabel, or less scrupulous in his notions than his master,' 1 Fiddes has printed some of the correspondence between the king and his minister on this subject, and it has been copied from him into the new edition of the Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. U. p. 31$ ; but in neither work does the name of the contested prioress appear. Many particulars about the election are to be found in the printed State Papers, vol. i. pp. 314-317. b Appendix to Hearne's Amesbury, p. 357. c That Wolsey's own character was not immaculate is proved by a very curious letter, addressed to Cromwell, about a natural daughter of the cardinal, whom he had persuaded another man to take and place in a monastery as his own cluld. Miscellaneous Letters, 2i? ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 35 for he persisted in his design, and, against the vehement remonstrances of his friends, a carried the election in the face of royal opposition. Wishing, however, to shew that he did not oppose monastic reform, he sent his chaplain, doctor Benet, to Wilton, to carry into effect the proposed amendments ; one of the principal of which was the ob servance of the rules of monastic enclosure, which had been flagrantly violated.1* The report of his agent, date July 18, is as follows : — " Please it your grace to be advertised, that immediately after my return from your grace I repaired to the monastery of WUton, where I have continuaUy made mine abode hitherto, and with all diligence endeavoured myself to the uttermost of my power to persuade and train the nuns there to the accomplishment of your grace's pleasure for enclosing of the same ; whom I find so untoward and refusal c as I never saw persons, insomuch that in nowise any of them, neither by gentle means nor by rigorous, — and yet I have put three or four of the captains of them in ward, — wUl agree and consent to the same, but only the new elect and her sisters that were with your grace ; which not withstanding, I have closed up certain doors and ways, and taken such series, vol. vi. fol. 83, State Paper Office. This letter is printed from a copy in Sloane MS. 4160, art. 11, by sir H. Ellis, 1st series, vol. ii. p. 92. See his introduction to the letter for farther par ticulars. a See letter of BeU to Wolsey, date July 10, State Papers, vol. i. p. 314. b Wolsey was probably urged on by the zeal of the bishop of Win chester, who was very intent upon this point, and thus addressed the cardinal, who had, it seems, accused him of over -strictness : — ' ' Truth it is, my lord, that the reUgious women of my diocese be restrained of their going out of their monasteries. And yet so much liberty appeareth some time too much, and if I had the authority and power that your grace hath, I would endeavour me to mure and enclose their monasteries according to the ordinance of the law, for otherwise can be no surety of the observance of good reUgion. And in all other matters, concerning their Uving or observance of their religion, I assure your grace they be as liberaUy and favourably dealt with as be any reUgious women within this realm." — Wolsey Corresp. vol. xiii.fol. 82, State Paper Office. c So in MS. 36 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND an order there that none access, course, or recourse of any person shall be made there." a It was probably about the same period that the new abbess wrote to Wolsey the present detail of the difficulties of her position. She did not long survive to contend with them, for in a letter written by the nuns to councillor Cromwell, but a few fears afterwards, her death is alluded to.1' The election of her successor was confirmed on April 25, 1534.c Jesus. In the most humble wise that I can, my duty remembered unto your grace, I thank your grace of your manifold goodness shewed unto me, your poor oratrice, afore this : wherefore I shall con tinually pray for the king's highness and your grace, as I am most specially bound during my life. Pleaseth it your grace, since my coming home I have ordered me in all things to the best of my power, according to your gracious advertisement by the advice of your chancellor, and have ofttimes motioned my sisters to be reclused within our monas tery ; wherein they do find many difficulties, and shew divers considerations to the contrary ; whereof your grace shall be better advertised hereafter. And if it may stand with your gracious pleasure some- " Wolsey Correspondence, vol. i. No. 94. Printed in State Papers, vol. i. p. 314, note. b Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. U. fol. 675. This letter contains a bitter complaint of the wrongs undergone by the convent, through the tyrannical misrule of their ordinary, Dr. WaUey, during the inter regnum. c Patent roU, 26 Henry VIII. part ii. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 37 what to tender my new coming to the governance of my said sisters (being thereunto most unworthy, but only by the provision of God and your most gracious favour), and to give a convenient time and respect (respite) of the execution of the same, unto such time I may, with better leisure and quietness, commune therein with ray said sisters ; I trust to order me thereafter to the accomplishment of your gracious pleasure to the best of my power, accord ing to my duty. And if it would please your grace to send your commandment to your chancellor to give sparing therein for such time as it shall please your grace to limit, I will in the mean season, by the advice of your chancellor, order my sisters in such religious wise and our monastery according to the rule of our religion, without any such resort as hath been of late accustomed, as shall be to the pleasure of God and contentation of your grace. Wherein your grace shall do me such singular plea sure and comfort, and set us in such quietness, that we may serve God more devoutly, and do that thing that shall be to the pleasure of your grace, with the help of Almighty God, who ever preserve your grace in good health and long, honourable life. By your most humble oratrice, Isabel elect at Wilton. To the most reverend father in God, ,,, my Lord Legate's good grace. Endorsed, " From the Abbess of Wilton." 38 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XVI. Elizabeth Lady Tailbois 1o Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. vers. 1523. [WOLSEY PAPERS, VOL. XII. NO. 1. STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original.] *** The date of this curious letter is uncertain ; it is clearly after 1523, as in an act of 15 Henry VIII., the son of sir George TaUbois is caUed only Gilbert Tailbois, and here he is styled Sir GUbert TaUbois. Sir George TaUbois, the husband of EUzabeth, had been for many years subject to occasional fits of derangement. As early as May 15, 1499, we find an order from king Henry VII., that during these fits he should be permitted to be under his own guardian ship and that of his wife Elizabeth -,a that is to say, that his lands should not, as appointed by law, be placed under the control of the king.b In 1.516, the question of his sanity was again mooted, and the king selected eight commissioners, who were to go down to Lin colnshire and inquire amongst his neighbours whether he were a " fool and idiot" c or not ; and if so, whether he had been deranged from his birth, or whether he had occasional lucid intervals, and also whether he had alienated any of his lands. The report of the commissioners was, that he was neither fool nor idiot ; and as to his lands, they enu merated many manors, including Goltho, Thorpe, and Wainfleet, which three alone contained four thousand acres of land, one thousand of meadow, three thousand of pasture, and five hundred of wood, of which he was at that time seized. d a Patent roU, 11 Henry VII., pt. Ui. memb. 20. b See Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 226. c Fatiius et ideota. * Inquisition de Ivnatico innuirendo. No. 41, S Henry VIII. It is by mistake called an inquisition post mortem in the calendar of the inquisitions. The date of the writ is 19th of January, 7 Hen. VIII., and of the inquisition 3d art., 8 Hen. VIII. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 39 On the 18th of January, 1513, sir George had made a will,a of which he left his wife executrix, in conjunction with others, and after bequeathing large sums to churches, monks, &c, gave her the manors of Thorpe and Wainfleet, and all her jointure ; also, for her great care and kindness extended towards him, the manor of Goltho, or the sum of 800/. , in case his heirs deprived her of it. He also gave five hundred marks to each of his daughters, as marriage -portions. At the same time he made an agreement, by which Wolsey, then dean of Lincoln, in conjunction with other prelates, should have the ma nagement of his lands for Iris own use while Uving, and after his death, for the fulfilment of the objects specified above. This accounts for the present appUcation of lady TaUbois to Wolsey, when her son sir GUbert wished to have more control over his father's property than accorded with her views. Sir Gilbert was the husband of EUza beth lady Tailbois, the mother of Henry VIII.'s natural son, the duke of Richmond, and therefore had considerable influence with the king, from whom he received large grants of lands, &c.b Most humbly beseecheth your good grace your faithful beadwoman, Elizabeth Tailbois, [wife] to Sir George Tailbois, knight, that it may please the same to be advertised that of [late] I received your gracious letters, dated at Durham Place the 15th a Close roU, 8 Henry VIII., memb. 3. The whole document is a very curious one. b The mother of Henry Fitzroy is generally spoken .of as the widow of sir GUbert Tailbois ; but the following letters confirm the evidence of other records, that this chUd was born before the marriage of EUzabeth Blount to sir GUbert Tailbois. See HaU's Chro nicles, fol. 43 b. Entries of grants of lands to him, in which his lady is sometimes included, occur on the patent rolls, 14, 16, J7, 20 of Henry VIII. On the rolls of the 30th of Henry VIII., pt. vu. memb. 25, and 5th Edward VI. pt. v., occur grants to lady EUzabeth Talbois and her husband, Thomas Wymbyshe, esq. This must have been her second husband. She previously refused an offer from lord Leonard Grey. — Grey to counsellor Cromwell, Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xiv. art. 129, 130. 40 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND day of May, mentioning your grace's pleasure and commandment for the immediate delivery to the hands of my son, sir Gilbert Tailbois, manors and lands to the yearly value of I00Z. residue of the lands of 200L appointed by act of parliament to my said son and his wife, after the decease of my hus band ;" and also for an annuity of 40/.; and, besides that, for the delivery of such money as was received of the said lands for May-day rent last. Where upon I your said beadwoman, ensuing your grace's commandment, is content to deliver to my said son the said lands of the said 1007. And, for the non payment of the said annuity of 40Z. and the said money of May-day rents, I most humbly beseech your good grace that, taking and accepting me as the person that would be most glad and ready to the uttermost to follow your grace's said pleasure, it may like the same of your most gracious goodness, in tender consideration of the articles following, to be good and gracious lord unto me, and to admit my reasonable excuse and lack of ability for non-doing thereof in that behalf. First, I your said beadwoman trusteth, that since the time of my husband's visitation, and that he was by the king's highness committed to your grace, the revenues of his lands have been well employed, and converted to the pleasure of God in necessary causes, as keeping of household, servants' wages, and niar- • The act 14 and 15 Hen. VIII. (15231, cap. xxxiv. settles lands on lady Tailbois ; but that is evidently not the act here aUuded to. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 41 rying of my husband's children and mine, and not in prodigal and wasteful expenses. Item, at this hour there is behind of the mar riage-money of one of my husband's children and mine the sum of 150 marks ; for the contentation whereof the most nearest friends that I have stand bound, who must needs be discharged. Item, my husband and I have one son, brother to my said son Sir Gilbert,3 who yet hath none as signment for his living, and needs must be pro vided for. Item, an old servant of my husband's, named William Bengham, accustomed to make provision for wheat, malt, and other grain for my husband's household, is gone away with as much money of my husband's as should have made provision for such grain for this whole year, to the loss of my husband of 100 marks ; whereby 1 was constrained to make new provision for grain, and for the same not only to take rents of such lordships as my son sir Gilbert would have, but also the revenues and profits of other my husband's lands, as my son knoweth very well. Item, in the lordship of Kyme there was wild beasts to the number of ten score, out of the which my husband and I were wont to have our beefs for household ; which cattle now we have no profit of, which is a great hinderance unto us. My lord, since the first visitation of my husband, - Named William in his father's wUl. 42 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND I have lived, as God knoweth, with little comfort, and for the pleasure of God I have yielded me there unto ; and now, my husband being aged, if he and I should live in penury, and lack that thing that he and I should discharge our friends with that be bound for us, and have not that that should be ne cessary, and be compelled to break up house and sparple (scatter) our children and servants — as surely, of necessity, my husband and I must do in [case] my said son should obtain this his said demand — I might think mine fortune hard. Wherefore most humbly I beseech your good grace, by the way of pity and compassion, graciously considering the state of my husband and me your said beadwoman, our small comfort and great charges, and, on the other side, the great pieces of land that my son sir Gilbert hath in his hands already, which now amounteth to the sum of 342Z. 17s. lljrf., which is as much or more than my husband and I your said beadwoman have for bearing of all our charges, paying our debts, and setting forth our children, to accept and take this consideration for my excuse for the rest of the de mand of my said son ; to whom, after the debts paid, and when time shall come, I your said beadwoman shall "be most glad and ready to do that thing I may for him, to the most best of my power. My lord, I have none to make suit nor complain me unto, but only to your good grace ; as our Lord knoweth, who ever preserve your noble grace in good, long, and most prosperous life. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 45 From Goltho,* the llth day of the month of June. By your faithful beadwoman, Elizabeth Tailbois. To my Lord Legate's good grace. LETTER XVII. Elizabeth Lady Tailbois to Mr. Thomas Heneage. a.d. 1529. [MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, FIRST SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 10. state paper office. Original.] Right worshipful cousin, I commend me unto you, and I heartily thank you for the pain that you take at all times for me in. my husband's causes. And whereas I do send up (as I trust) six fat oxen for a poor present to my lord's6 grace against Easter, I pray you appoint the time when they shall be brought before my lord's presence, and that it will like you to present them to his grace yourself. Cousin, I marvel that my son and my daughter do think or say that you take a part with me against a This manor is variously spelled Goldthagh, Goldhagh, Goldthow, and Goltaght, in the records quoted above, and the letters. It was in the county of Lincoln. b Cardinal Wolsey. 44 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND them, considering that you at all times are and have been good to them, and indifferent (impartial) betwixt me and them ; and so I pray you to be. My son of late sent me word by old Blesby that I am the cause of his going up to the court, and that I shall pay for his costs ere he come home ; and where he desired my cousin the dean of Lincoln,3 and your good father, to motion me to be content with 400 marks and Goltho, and he to discharge me of my payment to my brother Dymock,b and to release his annuity of 40Z. now he denied to Blesby, and said he never made that offer, but that his desire was to have the half of his father's lands; and he, so having, he might for by entreaty of friends to pay the half-duty of the obligations due to my brother Dymock : which motion was never made to me. I doubt not but my said cousin dean and your father will avouch the first motion of 400 marks and Goltho, with the annuity, &c. And my daughter reported to Blesby, as he saith, that my son nor she did never make any re quest to the king's highness, or to my lord's grace, for any more of his father's lands ; but she saith that my lord's grace of his own mind called my son to him, and said he should go home and see good order kept in the country, and that he should have the custody of his father and his lands. Thus I cannot be in quietness for them ; whereupon all our friends, both a George Heneage, who did not succeed till July 1528. b Probably sir Robert Dimmock, who was appointed one of the executors of sir George Tailbois. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 45 in these parts and in the north, doth wonder. If they cease not of their unfitting words, I shall surely put up my bill of complaint to my lord's grace for remedy. I marvel my son would presume to make any motion touching his father's lands without know ledge of the pleasure and commandment of my lord's grace. It is folly for him or her so to do ; for they shall never order me at any time without knowledge of my lord's pleasure, and his gracious command ment, whereunto I shall ever be obedient, praying you to take credence to this bearer. And thus Al mighty God have you in his keeping. From the manor of Goltho, the first day of the month of April. By your loving cousin assuredly, Elizabeth Tailbois. To my right worshipful cousin Thomas Heneage. Endorsed, ' ' A letter of the Lady Tailbois the elder to Thomas Heneage." LETTER XVIII. Lady Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. 1529. [COTTON. MS. VESPASIAN, v. XIII. ART. 92, FOL. 80. Holograph.] *** The two foUowing letters are highly characteristic of the temper in which Anne Boleyn prosecuted her efforts to obtain the 46 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND object of her long-cherished hopes, — the crown-matrimonial of Eng land. Her crouching subserviency to Wolsey, as long as she saw him able, and deemed him wiUing, to aid her, was only equalled by her ve hement indignation when she found him inclined to favour the injured queen Catherine. It is weU known that the vengeance of Anne Boleyn followed up the unfortunate cardinal tiU it terminated in his downfaU, and a broken heart probably saved him from a more dis graceful end. In illustration of the nature of her earUer intercourse with the cardinal is subjoined the foUowing extract from an inedited letter from Thomas Heneage, a confidential servant of Wolsey, to his master, dated March 3 (1527), in which, after some curious detaUs of the personal habits of Henry VIII., he adds :a " This day, as the king was going to dinner, mistress Anne spake to me, and said she was afraid your grace had forgotten her, because you sent her no token with Forest ; and she said she thought that was the matter that he came not to her ; and I shewed her that he came from your grace very timely (early), and also your grace had such mind upon those letters sent by him, that your grace did not remember to send any token at that time." " This night it pleased the king's grace to command me down with a dish for mistress Anne her supper, and she caused me to sup with her, and she wished that she had some of your good meat, as carps, shrimps, and other. I beseech your grace pardon me that I am so bold to write unto your grace hereof ; it is the conceit and mind of awoman." " Scribbled at Windsor this 3d day of March, at eleven of the clock in the night." My lord, After my most humble recommendations, this shall be to give unto your grace, as I am most bound, my humble thanks for the pain and travail that your grace doth take in studying, by your wis dom and great diligence, how to bring to pass ho- a Wolsey Correspondence, vol. vi. art. 51, State Paper Office. Several of the letters of Heneage in tliis volume contain curious court gossip, particularly of the private habits of the king. Anne Boleyn is mentioned also in art. 07 and 08. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 47 nourably the greatest wealth that is possible to come to any creature living, and in especial remembering how wretched and unworthy I am in comparing to his highness. And for you, I do know myself never to have deserved by my deserts that you should take this great pain for me ; yet daily of your goodness I do perceive by all my friends, and though that I had not knowledge by them, the daily proof of your deeds doth declare your words and writing toward me to be true. Now, good my lord, your discretion may con sider as yet how little it is in my power to recompense you, but all only with my good-will, the which I assure you, that after this matter is brought to pass you shall find me, as I am bound in the mean time, to owe you my service, and then look what thing in this world I can imagine to do you pleasure in, you shall find me the gladdest woman in the world to do it. And next unto the king's grace, of one thing I make you full promise to be assured to have it, and that is my hearty love unfeignedly during my life ; and being fully determined, with God's grace, never to change this purpose, I make an end of this my rude and true-meaning letter, praying our Lord to send you much increase of honour, with long life. Written with the hand of her that beseeches your grace to accept this letter as proceeding from one that is most bound to be Your humble and obedient servant, Anne Boleyn. 48 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XIX. Lady Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey. a.d. vers. 1529. [leti, vita di ELISABETHA, VOL. I. p. 60.] My lord, Though you are a man of great understanding, you cannot avoid being censured by every body for having drawn on yourself the hatred of a king who had raised you to the highest degree to which the greatest ambition of a man seeking his fortune can aspire. I cannot comprehend, and the king still less, how your reverend lordship, after having allured us by so many fine promises about divorce, can have repented of your purpose, and how you could have done what you have, in order to hinder the consummation of it. What, then, is your mode of proceeding? You quarrelled with the queen to favour me at the time when I was less advanced in the king's good graces ; and after having therein given me the strongest marks of your affection, your lordship abandons my interests to embrace those of the queen. I acknowledge that I have put much confidence in your professions and pro mises, in which I find myself deceived. But, for the future, I shall rely on nothing but the protection of Heaven and the love of my dear king, which alone will be able to set right again ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 49 those plans which you have broken and spoiled, and to place me in that happy station which God wills, the king so much wishes, and which will be entirely to the advantage of the kingdom. The wrong you have done me has caused me much sorrow ; but I feel infinitely more in seeing myself betrayed by a man who pretended to enter into my interests only to discover the secrets of my heart. I acknowledge that, believing you sincere, I have been too pre cipitate in my confidence ; it is this which has induced, and still induces me, to keep more modera tion in avenging myself, not being able to forget that I have been Your servant, Anne Boleyn. LETTER XX. Margery Calthorpe, Abbess of Brosyard, to Cromwell, a.d. 1529. [MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, SECOND SERIES, VOL. V. NO. 31, STATE paper office. Original.] *** The date of the foUowing letter is probably early in 1529, since Uttle trace of an influential connexion between Wolsey and Crom weU exists before that year, and Wolsey's disgrace took place in the latter part of it. The shameless venaUty of Cromwell as a statesman wUl frequently appear in his correspondence. Rarely did a suppUant venture to VOL. II. D 50 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND appear before him without a bribe. In this respect he was far more culpable than his poUtical master Wolsey. Margery Calthorpe is mentioned by Dugdale as abbess of Bros- yard, a nunnery of minoresses of , the order of St. Clare, in Suffolk, as early as 1500, and from the present letter it seems that she was instaUed several years earUer. She did not long survive. Right worshipful Mr. Cromwell, Your charitable kindness remembered, with all heart's affection I have me heartily recommended unto you; most instantly desiring to hear of your good health, the which I beseech Jesu long continue to your heart's comfort. And with all very heart and prayer I thank you for all charitable kindness, most specially for your most comfort and charitable words given to me concerning to obtaining of my pension or annuity, which this thirty-four years wrongfully hath been withholden from me ; and that is the special cause of this my writing to you ; desiring you for the love of God, and by the way of charity, to do for me as you think best in that cause, so that I may obtain my right. And whereas I am not able or of any power to reward your paiu, labour, or costs, I certify you, if you may obtain it, you shall keep it in your own hands till you have content yourself at your own pleasure and will. And if you may obtain the arrears, I will you take twenty nobles to your reward, and as much more as shall sufficiently content your mind and pleasure. But if so be there be no way or remedy to obtain it, but only by the common law, sir, I insure you I am ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 51 in that poverty I am not able to wage any law with him, or give any money to the maintenance of my quarrel, except 1 should put my house in danger, the which I will not do though I should lose altogether. But I put it clearly into your hands ; beseeching you to work after your own counsel and advice. Sir, I have heard many gracious words of my lord cardinal,11 that his grace is benevolent to tender the injury and wrongs done to poverty. Where fore, if you think that it were necessary for me to make a supplication to his grace, I beseech you of your counsel, or else if it will please you to make one after your own advice, I beseech you of your charity thereto. And what thing you do in that matter I will uphold it, and gladly content you for the supplication. Wherefore I beseech you, for the love of sweet Jesu, be faithful to me in this matter concerning my right, and I promise you by my faith, of me you shall be sure of a true oratrice as long as my poor life endures. And thus fare you well in Jesu, who ever preserve you in all healthful pro sperity. By your assured oratrice, Margery Calthorpe, Abbess in the Minoresses in Buosyard. To the worshipful Master CromweU be this deUvered. " Wolsey. 52 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XXI. Margaret Vernon to Mr. Cromwell, a.d. 1529. [MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, FIRSt SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 76, STATE paper office. Original.] *** At the time when the two foUowing letters were written Margaret Vemon was a nun, either at St. Helen's or some other priory. She was on terms of intimacy with CromweU, many of her letters to whom are preserved. The priory of St. Helen's, for which she so earnestly soUcits, must have been of very inferior note, since it has not found a place in the Monasticon Anglicanum. Sir, Pleaseth it you to understand that there is a goldsmith in this town, named Lewys, and he sheweth me that Mr. More hath made sure promise to parson Larke that the sub-prioress of St. Helen's shall be prioress there afore Christmas-day. Sir, I most humbly beseech you to be so good master unto me as to know my lord's grace's" pleasure in this case, and that I may have a determined answer whereto I shall trust, that I may settle myself in quietness; the which I am far from at this hour. And farthermore, if it might like you to make the offer to my said lord's grace of such sum of money as we were at a point for, my friends thinketh that I should shortly be at an end. 0 Cardinal Wolsev. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 53 Sir, I have learned that immediately after Christ mas you shall ride about my lord's business, and if this matter take not effect afore that time, I will never trouble you neither myself farther. Where fore, in the honour of God, let me not be forgotten, but with diligence tender my pains, as I shall be ever your beadwoman, and surely deserve your goodness, if God make me able, whom I beseech to preserve you ever in much worship. By your own assured, Margaret Vernon. LETTER XXII. Margaret Vernon to Mr. Cromwell, a.d. 1530. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 115, state paper office. Original.] *** In a letter written seemingly about the same time as the present one, Margaret Vernon thanks Cromwell for the interest he had taken in trying to procure St. Helen's for her, declaring that she would rather receive it at his hands, and be called his prioress, than have the abbey of Shaftesbury from any one else. She adds, that master Harper, who has the bestowal of the living, says that, from the good report he has heard of her, he would rather admit her without a groat than others who offered money. a In the present letter she mentions many scruples of conscience in reference to her advancement, which seem to have impeded it as far as St. Helen's was concerned, for her name occurs in this very year as prioress of Little Marlow. a Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xlv. fol. 118. 54 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Right worshipful sir, In my most humble wise I commend me unto your mastership, being very glad to hear of your prosperous health, the which I pray our Lord maintain to his pleasure. Farthermore, pleaseth it your goodness to understand that as I am informed there is certain of my friends that hath moved you for the house of St. Helen's, as master Marshall one, and our simple steward another. Sir, I am right sorry that either of these persons should trouble your mastership with this matter; unfeigned it was not to my knowledge. Never theless for so much as they have entered this matter into your mastership's ears already, I most humbly beseech you of license that I may at large shew you my whole determination in this matter in writing, forsomuch as I may not speak with your mastership conveniently myself. Sir, it is so that there is divers and many of my friends that hath written to me that I should make labour for the said house unto your mastership, shewing you that the king's grace hath given it to master Harper, who saith that he is proffered for his favour two hundred marks of the king's saddler, for his sister; which proffer I will never make unto him, nor no friend for me shall, for the coming in after that fashion is neither godly nor worshipful. And beside all this I must come by my lady Orell's favour, which is a woman that I would least meddle ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 55 with. And thus I shall not only be burdened in conscience for payment of this great sum, but also entangled and in great cumbrance to satisfy the avidity of this gentlewoman. And though I did, in my lord cardinal's days, proffer a hundred pounds for the said house, I beseech you consider for what purpose it was made. Your mastership knoweth right well that there was by my enemies so many high and slanderous words, and your mastership had made so great instant labour for me, that I shamed so much the fall thereof that I foresaw little what proffer was made ; but now, I thank our Lord, that blast is ceased, and I have no such singular love unto it ; for now I have two eyes to see in this matter clearly, — the one is the eye of my soul, that I may come without burthen of conscience and by the right door, and, laying away all pomp and vanity of the world, looking warily upon the maintenance and supportation of the house, which I should take in charge, and cannot be performed, master Harper's pleasure and my lady Orell's accomplished. In consideration whereof I intend not willingly, nor no friend of mine shall not, trouble your mastership in this case. Yet, nevertheless, according to my bounden duty I give unto your mastership my most hearty thanks, trusting to your goodness that you will remain my special good master in all other my right and reasonable pursuits, as ,1 may be your daily beadwoman, by the grace of our Lord, 56 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND whom I beseech to preserve you ever with long life to his pleasure. By your assured oratrice, Margaret Vernon. To the right worshipful Master CromweU be this letter deUvered. LETTER XXIII. Margaret Vernon to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1530. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 113, state paper office. Original.] *** In her situation as prioress, Margaret Vernon exerted herself to promote the secular interests of her monastery. The foUowing letter gives an amusing specimen of her busmess talents. CromweU granted her request, and lent her the 401. she soUcits, for which he received a letter of most grateful acknowledgment." Jesus. Right worshipful sir, With all my heart I commend me unto you thanking you of your kindness always shewed unto me, which I am not able to deserve but only with my prayer, of the which you shall be always assured during my life. Pleaseth it you to understand that one of my neighbours removing to another farm will sell both corn upon the ground and also his cattle, for the ' MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xlv. fol. 116. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 5J which is offered 47Z. upon days of payment, and for ready money I shall have it for AOL, so it be paid by Sunday or Monday next. Sir, in this bargain by Michaelmas I doubt not but there would be twenty marks gained. Wherefore I beseech you to be so good unto me at this time to spare me the said sum of 40Z. until Whitsuntide, at what time I am assured to make ready your money with malt and wheat ; and for the assurance of the same you shall have my house bound by convent seal : and, if farther need be, my neighbour Grinder shall be bound for the same. Thus I am bold to write unto you at this time for the profit of my house, trusting that of your goodness you will help, and in your so doing you shall farther bind me to be your beadwoman during my life, with the grace of our Lord, who ever preserve you. By your Margaret Vernon. To the right worshipful Master CromweU. LETTER XXIV. Margaret Vernon to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1530. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 119, state paper office. Original.] %* Margaret Vernon was selected by CromweU as the early gover ness of his son Gregory. How carefully she MfiUed her office appears d2 58 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND by the two foUowing and several other letters. In one of them she in forms CromweU that Mr. Copland, the tutor, every morning gives his son and Nicholas Sadler, his schoolfeUow, their Latin lesson, " which Nicholas doth bear away as well Gregory's lesson as his own, and maketh him perfect against his time of rendering, at which their master is greatly comforted."3 Master Sadler had also with him a " little gentlewoman," whom Margaret wished permission to educate herseU7, to fiU uj> her leisure intervals.11 Jesus. Right worshipful sir, With all my heart I recommend me unto you, de siring you to send me word how you have done for the priest that you promised me, and if you be not provided already, I doubt not but I shall have one, which shall be {as good for your purpose as you can desire ; for of him I have had the proof alreadv. It fortuned so upon a three years past I was destitute of a priest, and then I sent to Oxford to a friend of mine, which sent to me the same man, and he brought with him a gentleman's child, to whom he gave attendance with so great diligence and good virtuous bringing up, that in no place I think you cannot be better sped. And to give you knowledge what I have done in the furtherance of the same, I sent to him this week, and his answer is that he will purchase license for a year, and farther he cannot promise, for he is a master of art and fellow of Lin coln College in Oxford, whose name is William InQ'lefield. '3l 1 Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol, xlv. fol. 124. ¦> Ibid. fol. 122. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 59 Good master Cromwell, let me know your plea sure in this case shortly, for I would that your child should lose no more time. I think the gentleman that you promised should be much to your charge, and yet perchance in every thing not so well for your child as this man shall. And farther to shew you, as I perceive by Mr. Somer, he is such a man that will not take the pain that should be for my plea sure, which is this, — good master Cromwell, if it like you to call unto your remembrance, you have promised me that I should have the governance of your child till he be twelve years of age, and at that time I doubt not with God's grace but he shall speak for himself if any wrong be offered unto him, whereas yet he cannot but by my maintenance ; and if he should have such a master which would disdain if I meddled, then it would be to me great unquietness, for I assure you if you sent hither a doctor of divinity yet will I play the smatterer, but always in his well doing to him he shall have his pleasure, and otherwise not. As our Lord knoweth, whom I beseech to preserve you ever to his pleasure. By your own, Margaret Vernon. To the right worshipful Master Cromwell. 60 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XXV. Margaret Vernon to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1530. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 111. state paper office. Original.] Jesus. Right worshipful sir, With all my heart I recommend me unto you, certifying you that your son is in good health and is a very good scholar, and can construe his Pater Noster, Ave, and Creed. I doubt not but at your coming next to me you shall like him very well. Furthermore, pleaseth it you to understand that of such money as was delivered unto Vaughan's hands, which was the sum of 20Z. I can have no more again but 157. His answer is that he hath delivered 51. to you, which I do not believe, for you shewed me at your last being with me that the whole sum re mained in his hands. Wherefore I right heartily desire you to be so good master unto me as to cause him to deliver the said 51. to this bearer, for he must pay it to my creditor, for I cannot have my bonds until the duty be all paid. And thus I take my leave of you at this time, praying our Lord to send you always as well to fare as yrour own heart can desire. By your own assured beadwoman, Margaret Vernon. To the right worshipful and my singular good master, Mr. Cromwell. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 61 LETTER XXVI. Elizabeth Countess of Kildare to Henry VIII. a.d. vers. 1530. [cotton, ms. titus, b. xi. fol. 432. Holograph.] *;|t* Gerald Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, occupied for many years the important post of lord-deputy of Ireland. By his first wife, who died in 1517, he had a son and four daughters. He was remarried in 1519 to the lady EUzabeth Grey, daughter of the marquis of Dorset. When she became the mother of a famuy, she was anxious to secure some provision for them, and especially for her eldest son — a precau tion rendered doubly necessary by the circumstances she names in the present letter. Her boast of the royal blood that flows in her children's veins had no better foundation than that her father was the son of queen Elizabeth Woodville by her first husband, sir John Grey, and was therefore half-uncle to Henry VIII.a Lord Leonard Grey, the brother of the countess, wrote at the same time to CromweU, b enclos ing to him a copy of her letter to the king, and entreating him to far ther her suit. He adds " Sir, my sister Kildare would have you labour this as secretly as you can, because my lord her husband should not know of her suit, for she supposeth he would be more gladder to get these manors unto his eldest son than unto this son that he hath by my sister ; and this is the cause to have it secretly laboured." After my most humble recommendation, please it your grace to be advertised that I am your poor a In a letter from the earl of Kildare to Henry VIII. he mentions that his wife is the "poor kinswoman" of the king. State Papers, vol. ii. p. 125. The countess afterwards received an annual pension of two hundred marks from Henry VIII. Patent roll, 32 Henry VIII. pt. vUi., date July 14th. h MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xiv. art. 128, date July 18th. As this letter is addressed simply to master Cromwell, it was probably written about 1530. 62 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND oratrice and kinswoman, advanced by your grace and married to your faithful and true subject the earl of Kildare, who hath fair issue by his first wife; and by reason of former assurances made by the said earl my husband, long time before my marriage, of all his lands in effect to the use of his said former issue, which lawfully cannot be dissolved or broken; and such of his lands not comprised within the said assurances being but of little value and profit, and also being amongst the wild Irish, and by the same continually wasted and destroyed, so that the same is of very little profit, and also far from the succour of the English pale, and the residence of my said lord's lands, if need should require ; whereof my said husband is contented to insure such issue male as is betwixt him and me, which I think little or none advancement to my children, being of your most royal blood. In consideration whereof I most humbly beseech your grace to be so good and gracious lord unto me and my poor children, that it may please the same to grant unto me and to my son, Gerald Fitzgerald, in farm for term of sixty-one years, the manors of Rathwin, Castle Ricard, Rathcoure, Balsheagh, and Balrayn, in the county of Meath. I and my said son paying unto your grace and to your heirs yearly, during the said term, for the said manors in your exchequer here, like as your grace hath had for them in times past, according the extent of the same, appearing of record in the said exchequer ; which ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 63 shall be no hinderance to your grace in your revenues, and yet the same shall be a great commodity for me and my said son, whereby he may hereafter be the more able to do you noble service in this your land of Ireland. As knoweth God, &c. Elizabeth Kildare. LETTER XXVII. Elizabeth Countess of Kildare to the Earl of Shrewsbury. [talbot papers, vol. vi. fol. 5, college of arms. Original.] Right honourable and my very good lord, In the heartiest manner I can or may, I recom mend me unto your good lordship, certifying the same I understand how sinister report hath been made unto you by certain your tenants of the county of Wexford, surmising how my lord my husband, about Shrovetide last past, with much people, should have greatly oppressed your said tenants, and there usurp your privileges, with diverse other great in juries. My lord, my trust is that you will give no cre dence to such forged fables, for I ensure you my lord beareth as tender favour unto your tenants as to his own. And that is only for your sake, and not for their demerits; for, undoubted, they be people 64 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND of the most inordinate demeanour that I know in all this land, full of rancour and malice, and no perfect love or charity between them, and evermore be provoking and stirring war with Irishmen, and commonly be put to the worst, and not able to defend themselves without my lord's aid and suc cour, which putteth him to importunate trouble and labour. I certify you there be certain of your said ten ants which have greatly used extortion and riot; and, because my lord would have them cease thereof and to be of good order, they envy him, and there fore have feigned all these complaints. I ensure you that my lord favoureth them as much as is pos sible to him. Howbeit, for the great puissance of Irishmen, he may not resort unto the said parts without a good company for the safeguard of him self, and also to be able to punish such Irishmen as annoy your tenants; as knoweth God, who ever preserve your lordship in prosperity. Written at Maynooth, the 4th day of June. Yours to her power, Elizabeth Kildare. To the right honourable and my very good lord my lord of Shrewsbury. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 65 LETTER XXVIII. Princess Mary to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1530. [cotton, ms. vespasian, f. xin. art. 225, fol. 209. Original.] *** Henry VIII. issued a general and peremptory order, that aU those of his subjects who possessed landed property to the amount of 401. per annum should repair to the court to receive the honours of knighthood. The object of this order was to replenish the royal coffers from the fees of the new-made knights;1 but forced honours are rarely welcome, and by many persons the thing -was felt to be an oppressive tax. The foUowing are two among many remonstrances sent by the knights elect through the medium of their influential friends, declining the proffered dignity.b Mary, Princess. Master Cromwell, In my hearty manner I commend me to you, And where I am advertised on the behalf of my ser vant, Richard Wilbram, this bearer, that all such as may dispend in lands forty pounds by year, have in * Similar orders occur on the close roUs from as early a period as the reign of Edward II. , but the required income was really, though not nominally, less in the present than in any preceding instance. In the time ,of Edward II. 20?. per annum was the limited amount. — Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 229. The enrolments of chancery were so carelessly conducted at this period that the order here alluded to is not found on the close roUs of Henry VIII., and its exact date cannot therefore be ascertained, but from the manner in which Crom weU is addressed it must have been 1530 or 1531. b A similar appeal from William Popley to Cromwell, dated May 19th, in behalf of his wife's father, Giles Bassett, is in the Mis cellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xxxiv. fol. 420. 66 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND commandment to appear before my most dread lord and father the king, and to receive of his highness the order of knighthood ; among whom my said ser vant's father is one, being, as I am informed, near fourscore years of age, the certainty of whose lands my said servant, I doubt not, will truly declare unto you. And forasmuch as I am advertised that all such men shall first resort unto you to know the king my father's pleasure farther therein, I therefore de sire and heartily pray you, in consideration of the great age of my said servant's father, and also the far distance of his dwelling-place, as in Cheshire, to shew your loving favour unto him as well in excuse for his non-appearance as also in all other causes concerning the king my father's pleasure to him for the same. And you, thus doing at this my desire, in shewing your toward favour and goodness unto my servant's said father, shall deserve my right hearty thanks, which shall not be put in oblivion, but remembered hereafter accordingly. From Otford,a the 28th day of May. To Mr. Cromwell. The request of the princess was granted, for, in a letter dated June 27th foUowing, she thanks Cromwell for his kindness in the affair.1* 1 Co. Kent. b ElUs' Letters, 1st series, vol. ii. p. 29, from Cotton. MS. Vespasian, F. III. fol. 18. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 6j LETTER XXIX. Anne Dowager- Countess of Oxford to Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1530. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxx. NO. 122, state paper office. Original.] Master Cromwell, In my hearty wise I recommend me unto yon, thanking you for your great cheer, and also for your kindness to me shewed, advertising you that I am informed by my servant Foster, the bringer hereof, that he and others that may spend by the year 401. be commanded to give attendance before the king's honourable council, to the intent that all such as may spend above the said sum of 40Z. by the year should be made knights. Among which number, as I am credibly informed, my said servant, for the clear extent of his land, is not worthy to be taken. For, as he informeth me, and as he sayeth he will take his oath upon a book, that his land is not clear worth by the year to his purse but 38Z.; and as for his substance beside, as all the country knoweth, is but heavy ; and as for husbandry or other provi sion he occupieth none, but liveth only upon his land ; nor he hath no fashion to provide otherwise, for he hath always been a serving-man, and hath continued in my lord my husband's service and mine this twenty year, and hath not regarded the 68 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND improving of his land nor substance. Wherefore, the premises considered, I trust you will be so good unto him at my desire as to help to discharge him, and in so doing you shall bind me to my power to deserve your great kindness ; as knoweth God, who send unto you good and prosperous health. From Castle Campes, the llth day of May. Yours to my power, A. Oxford. To the right worshipful Mr. CromweU these be deUvered. LETTER XXX. Lady Storkey and the Convent of Stratford to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1531. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xli. no. 663, state paper office. Original.] *£* The statements of the two following pitiful letters supply us with particulars, heretofore unknown, of the prioresses of Stratford. In July, 1522, Eleanors Storkey was herself invested with the tempo ralities," but between that period and the date of the present letters, which must have been written about a.d. 1531, after the death of Wolsey, and before Cromwell occupied any official situation, she seems to have resigned, and another prioress to have been elected, whose right was questioned by the termagant lady so vehemently complained of, and which latter was supported by the bishop of London. She was probably the same with the last-recorded prioress, 8 Temporalia Monasterii de Stratford super Bow, ex fundatione Ricardi Fitz- James, restituta Elionorie Storkey, 28 July. — Lansdotcne MS. 963, p. 00. From the Restituta Roll, 14 Henry VIII. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 69 SibUla Kirke, who surrendered the monastery on the dissolution, and who is named as the successor of Eleanora Storkey. Right worshipful sir, We humbly beseech you, in the honour of God, to be good to us, and also to our poor house of Saint Leonard's in Stratford, and that it may please you that we may be your beadwomen for the removing of our supposed prioress; for master Norris com manded us to sue unto your mastership, and told us we should have remedy. Sir, since the time that we put up our supplica tion unto the king, we have been worse entreated than ever we were before, for meat, drink, and threatening words ; and as soon as we speak to have any thing remedied, she biddeth us to go to Cromwell, and let him help us ; and that the old lady, who is prioress in right, is like to die for lack of sustenance and good keeping, for she can get neither meat, drink, nor money to help herself. Wherefore we humbly desire you, in the honour of God and of your charity, to take pain for us, and you shall bind us to pray for you daily during our life ; which you shall be sure of by the grace of Jesu, who ever preserve you. By your poor beadwomen, Lady Storkey, With all the Convent of Stratford Priory. To the right worshipful Master CromweU be this letter deUvered. Haste. 70 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XXXI. The Nuns of Stratford to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1531. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xli. no. 664, state paper office. Original.] Right worshipful sir, May it please your mastership to know that the chancellor of my lord of London hath been with us as yesterday, and that he sayeth the prioress shall continue and be prioress still, in spite of our teeths, and of their teeths that say nay to it, and that he commanded her to assault us and to punish us, that all other may beware by us. Wherefore it may please you, for the honour of God and of our Lady, to take the pain to see remedy for us, and we shall daily be your beadwomen during our lives. Sir, it is not possible for us to continue in the manner that we be in now. Sir, the chancellor re buked us, and said that we had gotten a temporal man to our ordinary, and that he spake by you ; but our learned counsel, which we had before we put our matter to the king's grace, told us it was not lawful for him to be a chancellor, for he is no priest, nor hath no power to hear confession nor yet to give absolution, as he doth. By your beadwomen, The poor Nuns of Stratford. To the right worshipful Master CromweU be this delivered, in haste. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 71 LETTER XXXII. Margaret Dowager-Marchioness of Dorset to Cromwell, a.d. 1531. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. IX. NO. 15, STATE paper office. Original.] *%* Margaret marchioness of Dorset was the daughter of sir Robert Wotton, a knight of Kent, and wife of Thomas Grey, marquis Dorset, who died in 1530, leaving his son and heir Henry a minor, and several younger chUdren. The dowager-marchioness was a woman of energetic character, and obtained from the king the custody of all her husband's lands during the minority of her son.* The present and several following letters shew the energy with which she endea voured to struggle with the pecuniary and other difficulties incident to her widowed situation. The fact that her encumbrances were mainly caused by the heavy payments she had to make to free her eldest son from a marriage that was disagreeable to him, speaks favourably for her. A few days before the date of the present letter she had written to apologise to CromweU for not being able to pay him a debt of 11?. 13*. 4d. due to him at the required period, and requesting delay.b Good master Cromwell, In my hearty wise I commend me unto you. And how to give you thanks for your many and great pains heretofore taken for me in my great and enormous businesses, and also your great good ness shewed unto me and mine, and amongst other a Repert. Originalia, 25 Hen. VIII. Addit. MS. 636, fol. 118. b MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. ix. No. 16. State Paper Office. 72 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND of late for the quieting of the poor house of Tiltey abbey, whereunto if you had not put to your loving hand it had been utterly destroyed and confounded, I know not. But if there shall be any thing in my poor power that may do any friend of yours any pleasure, you shall be as well assured to command it as though it rested in your own doings. And, good master Cromwell, I have no remedy but to make unto you continual request, as to him by whose means I have only to hope to be relieved: for so great hath been my yearly payments, and from henceforth shall yearly more increase, to the sum of 500 marks during my son's minority : as to the earl of Arundel, yearly 300 marks, for that my said son refused the marriage of his daughter/ as you know, unto such time as the sum of 4000 marks shall be to him paid ; and, moreover, to my cousin, sir John Willoughby, 200 marks, besides all other debts and charges, whereof I know no end. So that without your loving help, as to be a mean to the king's grace, that motion may be made to the said earl, by his grace's commandment, that he may be contented to take for the same from the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel last past, the yearly pay ment of 100/. sterling, the truth is, that I shall not be able to set forth my poor daughters in marriage, neither continue the keeping of my poor house. And also for that the said earl refused to take my " See two letters from this lady, in a subsequent part of this col lection. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 73 said son, when the king's grace was contented that he should have had him, after his said refusal, I heartily desire you to put to your loving doings, that there maybe remitted by the said earl 1000 marks, parcel of the said 4000 ; as reason is, the premises considered. And also for that if my son, the lord Maltravers, had refused the marriage of my daughter his wife,a the said earl should have paid unto my late lord, whose soul God pardon, but 3000 marks. Good master Cromwell, I heartily pray you not to be miscontented, though I thus continually do trouble you. And where before this time I sent unto you my warrant, directed unto Richard Phillips, for the payment of the sum of 40 pounds sterling, by him to have been paid unto you, for that at his late being with me he shewed me that he had not heard of my said warrant, nor was assured of your repair to London, he being there ; I have sent unto you, by my son Medley this bearer, the said sum of forty pounds ; heartily desiring you not to be weary of my continual requests made and hereafter to be made unto you. And thus God send you as much wor ship as your heart desireth. a Lord Maltravers, son and heir of the earl of Arundel, married Catherine, daughter of the late marquis of Dorset. The eldest son of each of these nobles was betrothed to a daughter of the other, but the penalties in case of faUure of the matches were unequal, being in one instance 4000 and in the other only 3000 marks. VOL. II. E 74 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Written at Tiltey abbey the 19th day of No vember. Your loving friend, Margaret Dorset. To my very loving friend Master CromweU. LETTER XXXIII. Lady Anne Boleyn to Lady Wingfield. a.d. 1532. [cotton, ms. vespasian, f. xin. art. 147, fol. 132. Holograph.] *%* Sir Harris Nicolas, in his Privy-purse Expenses of Henry VIII. was the first to eUcit the fact that, for some time previously to her becoming a peeress in her own right, as marchioness of Pembroke, Anne Boleyn, as weU as her sister Mary, assumed the surname of Rocheford, after the elevation of their father, Thomas Boleyn viscount Rocheford, to the earldom of WUtshire.1 The ensuing letter is in the Cotton catalogue, described as from Anne " probably wife to George viscount Rocheford ;" but the name of his wife was Jane, and the whole letter is in the weU-known handwriting of Anne Boleyn. The Editor is not aware, however, that it has ever previously been identi fied as hers. The lady to whom it is addressed was probably the wife of sir Robert Wingfield. Madam, I pray you, as you love me, to give credence to my servant this bearer, touching your removing and any thing else that he shall tell you of my behalf; for I will desire you to do nothing but that shall be a The patent roU of the 24th of Henry VIII. pt. U. contains two entries of grants of manors to the lady Anne Rocheford, dated June 30th and July 2d. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 7*5 for your wealth. And, madam, though at all times I have not shewed the love that I bear you as much as it was indeed, yet now I trust that you shall well prove that I loved you a great deal more than I made feign for; and assuredly, next mine own mother, I know no woman alive that I love better : and at length, with God's grace, you shall prove that it is unfeigned. And I trust you do know me for such a one that I will write nothing to comfort you in your trouble but I will abide by it as long as I live ; and therefore I pray you leave your indiscreet trouble, both for displeasing of God and also for displeasing of me, that doth love you so entirely. And trusting in God that you will thus do, I make an end. With the ill hand of Your own assured friend during my life, Anne Rocheford. To my Lady Wingfield this be deUvered. LETTER XXXIV. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Cromwell, a.d. 1532. • [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxiv. no. 883, state paper office. Original.] *%* The writer of the foUowing and numerous other letters in these volumes has been hitherto entirely unknown to EngUsh historical biography. Neither Dugdale nor any of our peerage writers make the slightest mention of her, and it is entirely from MS. sources that our 76 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND notices of her are obtained.3 She was the third daughter of sir Thomas GrenvUle, knight, who flourished in the time of Edward IV. by his first wife Isabella, daughter of Oates GUbert, 'esq. Before or in the year 1517, she became the third wife of sir John Basset of Umberleigh, in Devonshire, and the stepmother of two daughters, Jane and Thomasine, whom he had by one of his former wives. b During the eleven foUowing years lady Basset became the mother of three sons, John, George, and James ;c and of four daughters, PhUippa, Catherine, Anne, and Mary. Sir John deceased on the 31st of January, 1528,d leaving his Devonshire lands to his lady on condition of her paying his debts, and giving 100 marks to each of his daughters as marriage-portions. For their maintenance or " sufficient finding," il. 16s. 4d. each per annum was aUowed her: but then the proviso was attached that, in case of her re-marriage, she was to forfeit aU * The Editor is indebted to the persevering kindness of sir Charles George Young, Garter King -at -arms, for extracts from the Arundel, Basset, GrenvUle, and Lisle pedigrees, which have discovered the clue to, and furnished the foUowing detaUs of the ancestry, &c. of lady Lisle, and also explained many of the relationships aUuded to in the Lisle letters. b Jane Beaumont, daughter of Thomas Beaumont of Devon, was his first wife. She probably died before the year 1500, for in that year a record, which asserts the claim of sir John Basset to some of the Beaumont lands', makes no mention of her. — Close Roll, 22d Henry VIII. memb. 12, in dorse. The second wife was EUzabeth ¦. She was Uving in 1504, and seems to have been the mother of Jane and Thomasine. — Ibid. memb. 9 et seq. in dorse. Jane Beaumont is the only wife named in the Basset pedigree. One of these ladies, probably the latter, had also chUdren by a former husband. Jane Basset, writing to lady Lisle, speaks of " my sister Courtnay," and " my brother Morris,"— Lisle Papers, vol, i. art. 95; and Margery Morris, addressing lady Lisle, subscribes herself " your daughter-in- law." — Ibid. vol. xi. art. 26. These persons were certainly not Basset's daughters, or they would have been named in sir John's wiU; and at that time none of his daughters were married. c Letters from all of these to lady Lisle are in the first volume of the Lisle Papers. d Inquisitions post mortem, 20 Henry VIII., Nos. 13, 73, 83, taken for lands in the counties of Devon, Wiltshire, and CornwaU. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 77 control over the lands in question, which were to devolve upon the executors1 of his wiU for the fulfilment of the stipulated objects.b This did not, however, deter the energetic lady from the thoughts of a second match, and she won the regard of no less a person than Arthur Plantagenet, natural son of king Edward IV., and viscount Lisle,c who took upon himself the charge of her and her numerous famUy. In becoming the wife of lord Lisle, Honor also entered into the mater nal relationship not only to Frances, Elizabeth, and Bridget, his three daughters by his former wife, EUzabeth lady Grey, alias Dudley, but to sir John Dudley, her son by her first husband."1 When the two famiUes were blended, the domestic circle must indeed have presented a singular melee; but, fortunately, lord and lady Lisle did not add farther to this heterogeneous assemblage, for they had no children. The period of their marriage cannot be farther ascertained than that it was after 1528 and before 1532, which is the date of the fol lowing letter. This is evident from the aUusion it contains to the return of CromweU to England, which took place in November in that year, after he had been to Calais with king Henry VIII. where lord and lady Lisle had also formed part of the brUUant cortege. A contemporaneous MS.e particularly names lady Lisle as being one of the gorgeously appareUed ladies who, wearing masks on their a Amongst the Lisle Papers, vol. x. fol. 91, is a letter of serious remonstrance from Roger Denys to lady Lisle, that her daughters are not as weU maintained as, considering their allowance, they should be ; nor her son neither, who is mainly dependent upon her. b WUl of sir John Basset, partiaUy recapitulated in the Inquisitions post mortem. c Dugdale, and after him several peerage writers, have named 1533 as the year of the creation of Arthur Plantagenet to the viscounty of Lisle, but the true date is 1523, as appears by the patent itself, which is printed by sir Harris Nicolas in his work on the Lisle peerage. d There were thus five famiUes who called Honor mother: Sir John Basset's step-chUdren by a former wife — his chUdren by aformer wife — his and Honor's chUdren — lord Lisle's chUdren by a former wife — and the son of the first lady Lisle by a former husband ! e In the Heralds' CoUege, M. XVI. fol. 149 et seq. Hall mentions lord Lisle at Calais, but not his lady, fol. 208. The other ladies pre sent were the marchioness of Pembroke (Anne Boleyn), lady Mary (Boleyn ?), lady Derby, lady Fitzwalter, and lady WaUop. 78 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND faces, entered the banqueting-haU after a supper given by the English king to Francis I., and led out the French monarch and his nobles to dance, tiU Henry VIII. in sport puUed off their visors. Right worshipful sir, In my hearty wise I commend me unto you, and so doth my lord likewise, and heartily we thank you of our good supper on All Hallows day,3 and for many divers other kindnesses that you have shewed unto my lord and me, which I do not forget. Signi fying you that I have sent you a cake,b because I would know of your good return to England, and how you passed the perilous danger of the sea. For my lord and I were in so great peril, for lack of a good pilot and daylight, that we stood in great danger of our lives, and that causes me to be the more desirous to know how you escaped. Wherefore I desire you by writing to take the pain to send me word by this messenger. And any pleasure for you or any friend of yours that may be done by my lord or me you may be assured of, as of any friend that you have that you most trust in. And thus fare you heartily well. From my lord's manor of Subberton,c the 22d day November, by your assured Honor Lisle. To the right worshipful Master CromweU. * November 1st. This was at Calais. b Doubtful reading. The letters seem to be cede. The present, whatever it might be, was to be carried by a. messenger who would inform lady Lisle of CromweU's welfare. c In Hampshire. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 79 LETTER XXXV. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Cromwell, a.d. 1532. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxiv. no. 882, state paper office. Original.] *** The loan of 201. here aUuded to was no doubt afforded during the visit to Calais named in the preceding letter, and lady Lisle was equaUy prompt and grateful in her repayment. Right worshipful sir, In my hearty wise I commend me unto you, and so doth my lord likewise, and heartily I thank you of your kind and loving letter, which I have sundry times perused ; and for the great kindness that you shewed my lord and me, when he was far from home, and in a strange place, in lending of him twenty pounds, which I have sent you by this messenger, with as great thanks- as my poor heart can think. And by^ your messenger you shall receive two cheeses, which I would they were as good as ever were made, for your sake ; and such wild fowl as I can get, which I would were much better than it is. And thus fare you heartily well. From Subberton, the 6th day of December, by your assured Honor Lisle. To the right worshipful Master CromweU, one of the king's privy countil. 80 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XXXVI. Anne Lady Weston to Lady Lisle, a.d. 1532. [lisle papers, vol. xiv. no. 30, state paper office. Original.] *„.* The foUowing letter, written on lady Lisle's return from Calais, contains an odd account of the qualification? considered requisite in a lady's maid of the sixteenth century. Fortunately in our days the education of the young ladies, and the charge of the plate, are not duties devolving upon these domestics, otherwise an accom plished lady's maid would be stUl more difficult to find. Lady Lisle was very particular in the choice of her personal attendants. The letters of John Husee, who was her man of business in England, to her, abound with detaUs of his embarrassments on this score in meeting the views of his mistress — one of his multifarious duties being to suit her with servants. At one time he nearly suc ceeded in obtaining for her an Aragonese maiden, formerly an attendant on the princess Mary, who spoke good EngUsh, and was considered the best needlewoman in England, but her marriage thwarted his design-3 Lady Weston seems to have been the wife, or more probably the widow, of sir Richard Weston, who Uved in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., and was frequently employed by him.b Right honourable and my singular good lady, In the most heartiest manner I can (I) commend me unto you, and I am very glad that you escaped the great jeopardies of the sea, and is safe and well come home again, and hath had so merry a journey there, whereof I am very glad. " Lisle Papers, vol. i. fol. 98. b See Cotton. MS. Vesp. B. XVII. fol. 7 et seq. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 81 Madam, the cause of my writing to you at this time is this : — If your ladyship lack a gentlewoman to do you good and humble service, I would put one to you of very trust, which I was very loath for to leave myself, because of her diligent service. For I will assure your ladyship she is a good maid, both sad (steady) and wise, and true of hand and tongue, I dare be bound for her, and she is of twenty-six years age. Your gentlewoman, mistress Green, know eth her well. Her father is one Christopher More, a gentleman which my lord knoweth well. This maid was brought up with my lady Boser, and she hath been with me upon three or four years. The cause she departed from me I will shew you the very truth. She did cast love to a young man, a servant of my husband's,' and he likewise to her, which young man had nothing ; but there was no promise of matrimony betwixt them, for the which my husband took great displeasure with the young- man, and put him out of service, and now the young man is in his country with his friends ; and my husband commanded me in like wise to put the maid out of my service, and so she is now with an uncle of hers. Madam, this is the very cause of her departing from me, and no other cause; and she might be in service in divers places, but she will be in no place but at my putting. Madam, this gentlewoman can do any manner of service you put her to, either to wait upon your ladyship, or to wait on my lord's daughters and e2 82 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND yours, and to bring them up well, and can teach them right good manners ; or to keep your plate ; or your napery she can do very well, or any other service. Good madam, I pray you that I may be humbly commended to rny special good lord. And thus Jesu have you in His keeping. At Sutton,3 by your own to her little power, Anne Weston. Praying your ladyship to have an answer by the bringer. To the right honourable and my singular good lady my Lady Lisle, this be deUvered. LETTER XXXVII. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1533. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxiv. no. 880, state paper office. Original.] Master Cromwell, With hearty recommendations I recommend me unto you, and my lord likewise. My lord and I both thank you for your gentle letters, which doth inwardly rejoice us much more than I can express, being very sorry that I have no pleasure to send unto you at this time; trusting, by the grace of God, * Or Sarton ; very indistinctly written. ..ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 83 against Lent to remember you with such pleasures as may be gotten in the poor country whereas my lord and I now are. Beseeching you at this my poor desire to be good master unto this poor gentlewoman, bringer hereof. So it is, she is very ungently handled by one Lawrence Courteney, which I understand is your servant : pity moveth me to write ; her husband in his lifetime made her a jointure of certain lands, and now after his decease your said servant purchased a subpoena for her, she at that time lying in child-bed, which methinketh was very ungently done ; and since that time hath purchased an injunction out of the king's court of his chancery, to void out of her inhabitation and lands, incon tinent upon the sight of the said injunction, as in the same writ more plainly appeareth, and to suffer your said servant to enter and have possession, the jointure to her made by his said father to the con trary notwithstanding. Methinketh she is very extremely handled to have an injunction awarded against her before the . answer made unto • the subpoena ; this said gentlewoman to avoid (quit) upon the sight of the injunction, having no farther respite, neither no day to avoid her chattels and corn upon the ground, and in the time of winter. This said gentlewoman hath obeyed unto the king's writ of injunction so much as she might lawfully, without her utter impoverishment. And over and 84 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND besides this she is wrongfully vexed in the king's exchequer, by writ of intrusion ; which is untrue, for she received not one penny of rent since the death of her husband. But your said servant hath taken all the profits of the said lands since the death of his father. Wherefore, good master Cromwell, I beseech you to be good master unto her, as in truth, and God shall reward you ; for she is a gentlewoman that can little say for herself, neither hath not been used to vexation in the law. And in considering these premises, at this my instance, you bind my lord and me to do you like pleasure, which we shall be ready to accomplish at all times, our lives enduring, by the grace of God, who preserve you in prosperous health long to continue. From Porchester, the 20th day of January, by your assured Honor Lisle. I am sorry to trouble you with my long letter. To the right worshipful Master CromweU, one of the king's most honourable council, this be deUvered. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 85 LETTER XXXVIII. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1533. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxiv. no. 879, state paper office. Original.] *** On the 24th of March, 1533, lord Lisle was appointed to the office of lord deputy, or Ueutenant of Calais, in the place of lord Berners, lately deceased. Much preparation was made for the reception of the new lord, his lady, and their numerous family. Sir Christopher Garnish, one of the officers of Calais, wrote to lord Lisle,a informing him that he had retained a single gardener about the pre mises of the late deputy, to keep the house sweet and the garden in order ! He 'expresses much regret that the poultry -yard can only boast three pheasants, viz. two cocks and a hen, since the king had sent for aU lord Berners' pheasants, but hopes to be able to re-stock it. He requests that a confidential servant may be sent over to peruse the house and lay in what is needful. He also strongly recommends his lordship to take into his service at least ten or twelve of the forty goodly yeomen who were employed by his predecessor, but fears the " taU honest men" he wUl doubtless bring over with him wiU supplant the remainder. On the 9th of Juneb lord and lady Lisle went over to Calais, whence the present and many succeeding letters of lady Lisle are dated. Right worshipful sir, In my most hearty manner I commend me unto you, thanking you for your special goodness towards a On March 27th. Lisle Papers, vol. iii. fol. 72. Several letters from him on the same subject are also in vol. xiii. ff. 29, 30, 31. b Chronicle of Calais, from 1484 to 1540, by Richard Turpyn, a burgess of the town. Hari. MS. 542, fol. 64. This curious chronicle is now preparing for pubUcation by the Camden Society. 86 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND my lord and me at all times ; which we are not well able to deserve : yet, for my part, I am so bold once again to be a suitor unto you, tenderly desiring you to be good unto this bearer, who is like to have much wrong by the abbot of Brewton, if you be not his singular good master, for that by chance, and himself defending, as is very well known, he killed a man, and therefore he hath (ought to have) his pardon. The abbot would put him clearly from his living, and in especial it is for my lord's sake and mine he would so uncharitably do ; yet, if you knew how much my lord hath done for the abbot, you will think he useth the right part of a churl abbot, as Leonard Smith at your pleasure can tell you. Sir, I beseech you know thoroughly the matter, then I am sure pity will move yon to be good master unto this honest man, the rather I trust at my poor request, though you know me unable to deserve it ; you shall have my good will and service, glad if it might be in me to do you pleasure. As our Lord God knoweth, who preserve and keep you with long life, good health, and to attain your gentle heart's desire. At Calais, the 7th day of October, by your ever assured Honor Lisle. To the right worshipful Master Cromwell, one of the king's most honourable councU. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 87 LETTER XXXIX. -Mary Queen-Dowager of France to Viscount Lisle. a.d. 1533, [cotton, ms. Vespasian, f. iii. art. 38, fol. 32. Original.] *** The following is one of the last letters ever written by the royal lady, so many of whose epistles have already been presented to the reader. Its date must be 1533, since lord Lisle was not appointed Ueutenant of Calais tiU in that year ; and the following Midsummer- day closed the existence of the stiU young and lovely Mary Tudor. , Mary the French Queen. Right trusty and right well-beloved cousin, We greet you well, desiring you, at this our in tercession, you will be so good lord unto John Williams, this bearer, as to admit him into the room of a soldier in Calais, with the wages of eightpence by the day ; assuring you, cousin, in your so doing you shall shew unto us full good and acceptable pleasure, which we shall right willingly acquit at your desire in time coming, trusting the conditions, haviour (behaviour), and personage of the said John be such as you shall be contented with the same. Praying you, cousin, of your good mind herein, you will advertise us by this bearer in your writing. At London, the 30th day of March. To our right trusty and right weU-beloved cousin the Viscount Lisle, lord lieutenant of Calais. 88 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XL. Elizabeth Staynings to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1533. [LISLE PAPERS, VOL. XIII. NO. 133, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original.] *** EUzabeth Staynings was the wife of a son of lady Lisle's eldest sister, PhiUppa GrenvUle, by her second husband, Stening, or Staynings. Two other letters from her on the same subject as the present are amongst the Lisle Papers. The former was written on the 15th of June previously ;a the latterb a year or two afterwards, when the object of the petitioner was partiaUy accomplished in the Uberation of her husband, but in which she stUl bitterly complains of her cousin Arundel, who does aU he can to trouble her husband, and declares he would give one thousand marks that he had never known the GrenvUles. My singular good lady, My duty remembered, I humbly thank your ladyship for your good remembrance of me and of my husband's tribulation we continue as yet in, trusting that my lord and also your ladyship be in good health. Madam, I certify you that master Cromwell hath daily promised me that I should have my husband discharged out of prison ; for the king's grace hath commanded him three times by mouth to deliver money for my husband's de liverance out of durance : for the which I shall in stantly desire you, madam, to write your letter to • Vol. xUi. fol. 134. She says in it that she had seen CromweU twice, and here three times. It is signed Isabel Staynings ; that name being, until recently, considered identical with EUzabeth. b Vol. xiv. fol. 74. In it CromweU is mentioned as secretary. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 89 master Norris, to give him thanks for the pains he have taken for my husband to sue to the king for to obtain this money. And, also, my husband and I have found him our special good master, as the bringer hereof can inform your ladyship. There fore, madam, I beseech you to give master Norris commendations, with thanks for my husband, by your letter by the next servant that cometh for you to the court : I trust his mastership will remember us the better. Farthermore of master Cromwell ; we have had sundry days limited to have had my husband at liberty, and, as his answer is, he lacks but time for to make an end : but when that time shall come, God knows. Madam, when I remember the good ness of you, it comforts me sundry times when I am not merry of heart ; for I am bound to none of my kin in my trouble, but to your ladyship. Also, I certify you that my lady Wheathell was with me in the counter," and hath sent diverse times for to know how shortly my husband should be discharged out. of prison. Madam, to write unto you how unkindly my cousin Arundel b hath dealt with my husband it were too long to rehearse ; we being here, he doth extremely 1 Compter in orig. Country ? b Two of the daughters of sir Thomas GrenvUle, Elizabeth's aunts, married Arundels : Catherine, sir John Arundel of Lanherne ; and Jane, John Arundel of Trerise. It is uncertain which of them was the mother of the " cousin Arundel" here alluded to. — Grenville Pe digree, College of Arms. 90 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND trouble our tenants, and daily doth ; and he did report unto master Cromwell, and to divers other, the worst that he could possible, and more than truth in many things. Good madam, if there be any lady of your acquaintance in the court that you think that is familiar or great with the queen, that it please you to write unto her that I may resort unto her some time, for I fear me that trouble is not yet at an end ; and yet I cannot long here remain, for I am in the taking that I was in the last year ; and, if it had pleased God, he might have sent it your ladyship, the which would have been more gladder than I am, Madam, my husband have him humbly commended unto my lord and your ladyship, the which daily prayeth for your continual health to endure to the pleasure of God, with increase of much honour. Your poor niece, Elizabeth Staynings. To the right honourable lady my Lady Lisle, at Calais. LETTER XLI. Elizabeth Lady Wheathell to Lady Lisle. a.d. vers. 1533. [lisle papers, vol. xiv. no. 49, state paper office. Holograph.] *j* Sir Richard, the husband of lady WheatheU, occupied a go vernment office at Calais, where she generaUy resided with him, but had come over on a visit to England when she wrote the following letter. The " Franchferyte" she names was probably some French fete, at which lady Lisle took her place in presiding at the feast. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 91 Madam, In the best manner that I can I recommend me unto your ladyship, and to my good lord your hus band, thanking your ladyship for your good letter; and glad I am to hear of your good welfare, and of all yours. And, madam, I thank your ladyship for the great pain you took in feasting of my guests at the Franchferyte. I trust, now mine honourable years come in, that I had such a lady to furnish my room. And, madam, whereas you threaten me farther, I must now needs make haste home, for the great danger I stand in. But there is an old saying, — " threatened men live long." Madam, I think long till I see you, for, an I were at Calais again, I would no more take on me to be a suitor. Madam, as to good Mrs. Staynings is still a suitor," I have pity to see her now. Master Cromwell has assigned her to the king's attorney for writings that should be made, and he drives her off, that she makes as much suit to him now as she did to master Cromwell. But she says, she trusts this term to be dispatched. Madam, for lack of a good pen and of a good writer, I fear me you shall have much work to read this my hand ; as God knoweth, who ever preserve you and all yours. Madam, I would be glad to hear hoW mistress Anne1* does in France, and I beseech your ladyship b See the preceding letter. Anne Basset, one of lady Lisle's daughters. 92 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND that this letter may recommend me to all the gentle women your daughters. My two maids hath them humbly recommended to your ladyship, and to the gentlewomen. Written in haste, the 30th day of May, with the simple hand of her that is your own to her little power, Dame Elizabeth Wheathell. To the right honourable my Lady Lisle, at Calais. LETTER XLII. Elizabeth Hills to Cromwell. A.d. 1533. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xvtii. no. 463, state paper office. Original.] *g* The circumstances which gave rise to the foUowing letter are curious. Richard HiUs, the son of the writer, a studious and pious young man, relates them himself in a letter to CromweU, dated from Rouen, January 31, 1532.a He says that, God having given him some knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ, one Sunday afternoon, having nothing to do, he remembered a request once made him by a good young man, to write out his views of the meaning of the passage in St. James's epistle relative to the justification of Abraham by works i" on which, beginning to work, he in time produced a long treatise on the subject. Soon after this he had occasion to visit Flanders, when the news arrived that his treatise had reached the hands of the bishop of London, who was greatly displeased. His master visited the young theologian, and tried by exhortations, entreaties, and even tears, to ¦ Miscellaneous Letters, 2nd series, vol. xvlii. fol. 461, for 1533. b Chapter ii, verse 21. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 93 induce him to revoke what he had written, but he was conscientiously firm ; and, as his master dared not assist him with money, he was left a stranger almost without support, and at last found his way to Rouen. He sent his letter to his mother, to be properly deUvered, and she ac • companied it with the foUowing. a Pleaseth it your good mastership, for Christ's sake, to remember my poor son Richard Hills, the which sent your mastership a letter from Rouen, whereas he now lives very poorly without the help of his friends. Wherefore I beseech your mas tership, for Christ's sake, that it would please you to send for his master, whose name is Nicholas Cossyn, dwelling on the bridge in London — he is one of the fellowship of merchant tailors ; and that it will please your mastership to inquire of him what he intends to do with him : for I think he would be glad to have him, but stands in such fear he dares not take him. In much more fear than, I trust, he needs, with the help of God and your good mas tership, that he may serve him, or some other man of the same craft, out his terms, that my son should not lose his freedom ; so that his master nor my son shall neither of them run in any danger. For there, as he is now, he is without the help either of his master or of any other of his friends, and goes from a On the 4th of June, 1538, the king granted lands to Richard Hill and EUzabeth his wife ; and again, on Feb. 6 and Nov. 29, 1540, to EUzabeth HiU, widow, probably the writer of the present. Her husband is described as an armiger, or wearer of arms. — Repert. Originalia Hen. VIII. Addit. MS. 6365, ff. 50, 110, 190. 94 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND town to town without any succour ; the which brings me his poor mother in such great heaviness, that, without the help of God and your good master ship, I cannot have no comfort. Wherefore I be seech your mastership, for Christ's sake, to comfort me and him at your mastership's pleasure ; and in your so doing, he, with all his friends, are daily bound to pray for you. And again I trust God shall reward you, who leaves no good deed unrewarded. Written by your poor beadwoman, Elizabeth Hills. LETTER XLIII. Elizabeth George to her Son, John George. [miscellaneous letters, third SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 19, state paper office. Holograph.] *** The foUowing letter is inserted as a specimen of the domestic, as the preceding was of the ecclesiastical persecution, which had fre quently to be undergone by those upon whom the Ught of a purer faith had begun to dawn, from the adherents of Romish superstition. Can dour compels the acknowledgment, however, that the spirit of the age was that of reUgious bigotry, and that it flamed at times quite as fiercely in the breasts of Protestants as of the Romanists themselves ; but in the one case it was in accordance, and in the other utterly at variance, with the spirit of their creeds. a " Newcourt names John George as the rector of St. Mary the EvangeUst's church in 1532, possibly the same person to whom the present letter is addressed, — Repertorium Ecdesiasticum, vol. i. page 374. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 95 John George, I recommend me unto you, and send you God's blessing and mine, if you do well ; but then you must change your conditions that you do now use. I hear of you very well, more than I am well con tent with. I hear say you be of the new fashion, — that is to say, an heretic. I am sorry to hear this word, for truly there was never none of your kindred so named before ; and it grieves me not a little to hear say that you should be the first. Also, I heard of your letters that you sent unto the nuns of Dept- ford, and another to your beuer.a I am sorry of it, but I think so be not you, for if you were, you should be ashamed to write such to such discreet persons, and, namely, to them the which hath holpen to bring you up. But I do not marvel greatly at it, for you keep such a fellow's company, that same Bull, that you cannot thrive. Also, I hear how you be (not) in favour with your prior and your brethren, which grieves me to hear, as God doth know. Also, you send me word you will come over to me this summer ; but, an if you change not your condition and living, come not at me ; for, an you do, you shall be as welcome as water into the ship : and also, you shall have God's curse and mine, and never to have a penny nor pen nyworth that I can help you to, but I shall scare you all that I can. And as for that that I have, I had a So in the original. Brewer ? 96 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND rather give it a poor creature that goeth from door to door, being a good Christian man, than to give it to you to maintain in lewdness and heresy. You can do nothing so privily but it is known at Deptford, and comes knowledge to your beuer; and therefore amend yourself, as you will have my blessing, and use yourself so that you may please God, and your prior, and your friends, as you would I should do for you. And so fare you well. By your mother, Elizabeth George. To friar John George in Cambridge this be deUvered. LETTER XLIV. Gertrude Marchioness of Exeter to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1533. [COTTON MS. CLEOPATRA, E. IV. FOL. 82.] *£* The present letter is anonymous ; being not an original, but a contemporaneous copy, it has no signature. The ground on which it is assigned to the marchioness of Exeter is, that she was the only lady of any note in the court of Henry VIII. who was involved in the fanatical ravings of EUzabeth Barton, excepting the countess of Salis bury ,a who could not have penned the letter since she was a widow at the period, and the writer refers to her husband. EUzabeth Barton was an imaginative enthusiast, who, alike de ceiving and deceived, was made the tool, and ultimately the victim, a See an interesting document, containing an account of aU per sons to whom the revelations of the nun of Barking were made, in the first series of the Chapter-house historical documents, No. 604, Rolls- house. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 97 of a political party. The burden' of her pretended prophecies was that the king would not Uve a month longer if he married Anne Boleyn ; and the strong party who favoured Catherine of Aragon were easUy led, in those days of superstition," to consider her declarations as inspired a As an Ulustration of the influence possessed by this extraor dinary woman we subjoin the foUowing letter, written in the earUer part of her career to her spiritual director. It is from the Miscel laneous Letters, 1st series, vol. i. fol. 70, State Paper Office : — Jesu. Devout religio[n in God and] in our Lord Jesu be your salu tation. Of late it hath pleased the goodness of God to give me (that am much unworthy) some knowledge of his secret and wonderful works, the which he worketh daUy in his special elect virgin, dame Elizabeth Barton, your (as I understand) spiritual daughter. This knowledge (I say) it hath pleased God to give me by the relation of certain his devout servants, the which knowledge doth more edify my soul, and more fervently accend (enkindle) my heart in the love of God, than any thing that ever I heard spoken, or any thing that ever I have read in holy Scripture. Wherefore, good father, I beseech you, in the bowels of Jesus Christ,* to accept me as your spiritual son, and to make me par taker of your good prayers, that God may confirm that which has been wrought in me.* And, moreover, I beseech your fatherhood oftimes to put that my good mother Elizabeth (in whom is my trust above all mortal creatures) in remembrance to offer me up in sacrifice to the most glorious Trinity, and to beg grace for me that may so mortify me, that I may say with saint Paul, / live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.* And that I may so set my desire, my de lectation, my estuant affection, and my fervent love in God, that I may attain to such cognition and love of Him as may be had in this life, and after my death to have the clear fruition of Him to his honour, laud, and praise everlasting. From our Charter-house of Shene. By your unworthy son, if it shaU please you so to accept me, Henry Man, Professed and proctor there most unworthy. To his devout father in God, Mr. Doctor Booking, ceUerar of the monastery of Christ's church in Canterbury. • The passages in Italics are in Latin in the original. VOL. II. F 98 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND prophecies, until the affair became serious enough to be noticed by the privy councU, who detected and exposed the whole, and con demned the nun to death upon her own fuU confession of her fraud,1 WhilBt EUzabeth was » nun at Sion, she had been sent for by the marchioness of Exeter, who revered her pretended sanctity, and re quested her prayers for herseU' in regard to the welfare of an expected infant, since a premature death had deprived her of aU her other children ; and for her husband, in case he had to go to the wars. The marchioness confessed to her, that, although present in person at the coronation of queen Anne, her heart was not there. On parting, she presented her with 20».b In reference to her prophecies, Hugh Riche and father Risby, two of her agents, both confessed that they had revealed the matter to the marchioness of Exeter. She and her husband were the more liable to suspicion, because the marquis, as the son of the princess Catherine, daughter of Edward IV., was of the blood-royal of England. Though Gertrude escaped for the present,0 they were both attainted of treason, and the marquis died on the scaffold a few years afterwards ; the marchioness was reprieved, but remained in prison tiU the accession of queen Mary, when she was liberated. She was the mother of the celebrated Edward Courtenay earl of Devon, and as such will be noticed in a subsequent part of this work. Please it your highness to be advertised that I have received your most gracious, merciful, and benign letters, bearing date at Greenwich the 25th day of November, in the twenty-fifth year of your most a A full account of her is given in Hall's Chronicle, 1st edition, fol. 218 b, et seq. In a letter from Gwent to CromweU, Miscel. Corresp. 2d series, vol. xv. art. 70, is a curious detaU of the modes adopted to lead her to involve herseU7 to her own ruin. See also Statutes of the Realm, vol. in. p. 446. b EUzabeth Barton's confession, Miscel. Exchequer documents, 1st series, No. 787, Rolls-house. 0 That she was for the time fuUy received to favour appears from the fact that, in November 1534, Henry VIII. made an extensive grant of abbey lands to her husband and herself. — Repert. Originalia, 28 Hen. VIII. Addit. MS. 6364, fol. 146. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 99 noble reign, purporting in effect not only mine abuse, lightness, and indiscreet offences, committed as well in the frequenting the conversation and company of that most unworthy, subtle, and deceivable woman, called the Holy Maid of Kent, as in giving to the same and her adherents overmuch trust and light credence, in their most malicious and detestable proceedings, being now patent, evident, and mani fest to all the world, to have been most abominably wrought, practised, and compassed only by sedition and malice, conceived against your most royal majesty : but also containing, to my singular joy and comfort, your most gracious remission, pardon, and forgiveness of my said offences. I shall now, most humbly prostrate at the feet of your royal majesty, beseech and obtest the same, not only first and chiefly to consider that I am a woman, whose fragility and brittleness is such as most facilely, easily, and lightly is seduced and brought into abusion and light belief, yet being now the most sorrowful and heavy creature alive that ever my hap and infortunity should be such to do that thing that in any manner of wise should offend or displease your majesty and laws, or bring me into the danger or suspection of your grace's indignation or displeasure ; and albeit I cannot excuse my said offences, in part committed against your majesty, that is to say, in giving ear and hearing to such seditious tales, blasphemies most execrable, and false prophecies, set forth by the said most false and 100 . LETTERS OF ROYAL AND unworthy person and her adherents, as is aforesaid ; yet it may please your highness to think the same lightness rather to have proceeded for that I did not reveal the same, than for any credence that ever I gave to any of hers, or their said most false re velations and abuses. And, as God is my judge, I ever thought the same to be so full of folly and un truth, as methought they were neither worthy to be revealed nor yet in any part to be trusted and be lieved. And that I, most benign sovereign, should, of any mal-opinion, malice, or grudge, conceived against your most royal majesty, the queen's grace, your and her posterity, I protest before God Almighty, who knoweth all truth, I never had any such intent nor cogitation; and so our Lord help me in my most need. Most humbly beseeching your most merciful majesty that, like as it hath pleased your highness of your mere benignity and especial grace to grant unto me, so unworthily meriting or deserving the same, your gracious pardon, forgiveness, and re mission, which, with most humble and most obe dient thanks, I do repute, take, and accept, as the singular medicine, relief, increase, and continuance of my poor life, that even so your highness, well considering and also perpending the great agony of mind, calamity, and displeasure which I do still continue in, for that my lord and husband is so dis pleased with me, to mine extreme sorrow and dis comfort, whom I greatly do fear hath not zeal, like ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 101 love, and affection towards me as afore I thought myself assured of, it may therefore please your royal majesty, of your most merciful pity, compassion, and accustomed goodness, upon this my humble pursuit and petition, to require my said good lord and husband that he, for his part, will also to remit and forgive me mine offences ; or else I shall be in utter despair of my quiet life or felicity in this world, as most unhappy and unfortunate of all creatures; most humbly promising unto you, my most gracious and benign sovereign lord, that for this your most gra cious goodness and ample grace extended towards me, I do account myself, besides my very duty of allegiance, most bound and obliged, not only as your most faithful, loving, obedient, and true sub ject, fully and wholly to stand and adhere towards your majesty in all your grace's proceedings, utterly contemning, despising, and renouncing all the said superstitions, erroneous and malicious practices, prophecies, and conventicles of the said most un worthy and detestable woman, and her adherents and all other like, but also continually and inces santly to pray unto Almighty God for the prosperous conservation of the most noble and royal estate for your highness, your succession and posterity, long to endure : which I shall not fail to do, my poor life enduring, &c. 102 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XLV. Catherine Lady Blount to Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1533. [MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, SECOND SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 62, state paper office. Original.] *£* The foUowing letter affords a curious iUustration of the diffi culties with which, in days of yore, widows had to contend in bringing up their junior sons, under the then prevalent system of wardship. The writer was probably Catherine, daughter and heiress of Thomas Corbel, esq. of Stanford, and wife of sir John Blount, a branch of the famUy of the Blounts lords Mountjoy. Another letter of hers, about the same date as the present, requesting CromweU to obtain for her the purchase of some abbey lands as provision for her two young sons, is in the same volume from which the present is extracted.1 Right worshipful sir, I recommend me unto you. I must beseech you to be good master unto me, as you have been at all times. Where it pleased you to take the pain to make an end betwixt master Kitson and me for four hundred marks, and after that it pleased the duke of Norfolk, because he had my son in ward, to indent with me that he would see Kitson paid at our Lady-day in Lent; and his grace said, that Kitson should be content to tarry until then ; and so I bought my son of my lord, and must give him a No. 61. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 103 a hundred pound, to the intent that I would marry my son to his comfort. And so I have bargained with sir John Talbot for my son, and have provided that the four hundred marks shall be forthcoming at our Lady-day, and the hundred pound besides to my lord, and I have no penny of profit hy the wardship of my son, but that that I have granted to was to save my land. And now my lord's grace sendeth me word that Kitson will have his money at Can dlemas, or else to enter into the land. And so I know not what to do in it, for I trusted upon such grants as were made to me. It is not much be twixt Candlemas and our Lady-day for him to for bear his money. Wherefore I must beseech you to be good master to me and to help me in it, as my trust is in you, as I and my son may pray for you, which we are bound daily to do; as knoweth God, who send you good health. Written at Knightley, the 20th day of January, by yours, Catherine Blount. To the right worshipful master Thomas Crom weU, of the king's most honourable council, this be delivered with speed. 104 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XLVI. Margaret Dowager-Marchioness of Dorset to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1533. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. IX. NO. 18, STATE paper office. Original.] Master Cromwell, I have received your letter by Adington's servant, the skinner, which Adington claimeth certain duty that my lord, God bless" his soul, should owe unto him, in whose favour you write very effectually to me ; but I would trust, an you did know how I am handled by him, that you would have taken him up somewhat quickly for so dealing with me as he doth. He keepeth my lord's creation robes of crimson velvet from me, and hath done a great while, and by no means I cannot know where they be become. It is reason that he answer me those, ere I pav him such duty as he claimeth there of my lord, God have his soul, a good sum of money. Wherefore I beseech you, good master Crom well, seeing you have taken thus much pains for him, that it would please you to be so good to me to call Adington to you, and know of him what he hath done with the said robes. It is not enough for him to say that they were delivered to such one or to such one ; he must name the person that he or any * Bysse in orig. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 105 of his servants did deliver them to, and then is he discharged if that person will confess the receipt of them. That matter once determined, I will be glad to be at a good point with him, and pay it as I may. Wherefore I beseech you, good master Cromwell, in the honour of God, be good to me, as I have always found you hitherto ; for I know no creature living that hath more need of your help and succour than I have, for I trow she liveth not this day that is so charged with daily payments as I am. Praying you to give credence to this bearer, who shall shew you farther of my mind herein ; as knoweth our Lord, who send you good life and long, to his pleasure. Written at Tiltey abbey, the 28th day of No vember. Your loving friend, Margaret Dorset. To my good and loving friend Master CromweU, one of the king's most honourable council. LETTER XLVII. Margaret Dowager-Marchioness of Dorset to Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1534. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. ix. no. 19, state paper office. Original.] *£* After the connexion referred to in a previous letter between the young marquis Dorset and the lady Catherine Fitz-Alan was broken off, Charles duke of Suffolk, having obtained the wardship of f2 106 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND the marquis," proposed a match between him and the lady Frances Brandon, his eldest daughter by Mary the French queen, sister of Henry VIII. So near an aUiance to the blood-royal of England was of course considered highly honourable, while the high rank and ex. tensive possessions of the Dorset fanuly rendered the match equaUy desirable to the bride elect. The condition on which the dowager- marchioness consented was, that the duke of Suffolk should provide for the young marquis during his minority, and discharge her from a bond by which she had pledged herself to the king to do so. On his delaying to do this, she remonstrated with him, and taxed him with un- kindness. His reply was, that he would fulfil his promise and dis charge her at aU times, and, in case his daughter died, would sell her son at his pleasure to whom he chose. In reference to the expenses, the duke adds, — " And the charges which you shaU weU know me to he at in the finding of my said lord you wiU, when time shall come, shew yourself a loving and a kind mother to him, and as largely then to depart with him in augmenting his Uving somewhat after his estate, as cause of due obedience may appear in him towards you, with the con tinuance of such natural love as ought to be between the mother and the son."b It was in reference to this correspondence that Margaret wrote the foUowing letter to CromweU. Good master Cromwell, In my right hearty wise I recommend me unto you, most heartily7 thanking you for the assured goodness which you have and always do shew, both to me in my daily troublous causes and business, and to my son marquis in his now being at the court ; entirely beseeching you of continuance towards us in the same. And when you shall happen to see in my son marquis either any large playing, or great usual swearing, or any other demeanour unmeet for him to * Patent roll, 24 Hen. VIII. pt. i. date March 24. b Duke of Suffolk to marchioness Dorset. MisceUaneous Letters. 1st series, vol. Ui. fol. 132, State Paper Office. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 107 use, which I fear me shall be very often, that it may then please you, good master Cromwell, for my late lord his good father's sake, whose soul God pardon, in some friendly fashion to rebuke him thereof, whereby you shall bind him at his farther years of knowledge and discretion, if he then have any virtue or grace, to consider and remember your goodness now shewed unto him, to do you such pleasure as shall lie in his little power for the same. And for a small part of recompense of your manifold goodness and pains taken for me, I do send you at this time,. by my son Medley this bearer, a little gilt pot, which the king's grace gave me this year, and ten pounds therein ; trusting, good master Cromwell, that you will more ponder and regard my good will than this small gift ; and if my power and ability were such as many think it is, it should more largely appear unto you : heartily beseeching you, good master Cromwell, not to be weary of me, though by my often troubling of you I give you cause so to be ; for I have no succour nor comfort now about the king's highness, but only you. My lord of Suffolk hath lately sent to me to bear with him part of the charges, as well of my son mar quis being in the eourt as of my lady his wife being in the country ; or else she and her train to be with me where I am . Good master Cromwell, as shortly as I conveniently may, I will make you privy of the true value of all my lord's lands, and of the charges yearly going out of the same, whereby there shall 108 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND appear unto you a right small remain towards the payments of my lord's great debts, and the finding of me and my poor children, which was the only cause that, in the agreement between you and other of the king's council and me, I did so much stick to be discharged (as methought reason and conscience would) of the finding of my son marquis. And after, when upon my lord of Suffolk's suit made unto the king's highness for the marriage of my said son marquis, it pleased his grace to refer some part of his gracious pleasure therein to my condescent (as sent) in that behalf. I then wrote, and sent to my lord of Suffolk, that since it was his pleasure to enable my said son to match in so honourable blood, in case it would please him to see me discharged of my bond against the king's highness for the finding of my said son during his minority, he should have both my good-will in that his request and such fur therance as I could do towards the same. Where upon he sent me a letter of answer thereunto, the true copy whereof I send you herein inclosed, which, as my counsel sheweth me, is of no less effect both to my lord's honour and in the law of conscience than my bond made to the king's grace for the same pur pose. And though my lord of Suffolk for three or four years yet to come do, according to his promise, bear these charges, yet I know well that, after my said son shall have accomplished his full age, the whole burden of the charges of him, my lady his wife, and of all other their train, must rest only on ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 109 me ; at which time he shall have more need, and his charges of necessity much greater, than they now shall need to be. All which notwithstanding, I trust no man will judge me so unnatural a mother, es pecially towards him whom I esteem my chief comfort, but that as my small power is and shall be, I shall, though my lord of Suffolk never moved nor pressed me therein, more gladly help towards the advancement of him than of any or all the other of my children ; considering right well that his being and continuance in the court shall be highly to his preferment, and no place now so meet for him as there, and that his well doing is and shall be the comfort and maintenance of all the residue my children. Wherefore, good master Cromwell, if my lord of Suffolk do make any suit or means unto the king's highness, or to you, or any of his council, against me in this behalf, I then beseech you that it may please you so to make answer for me unto the king's highness that it may appear unto his grace both what promise and writing my lord of Suffolk hath made unto me for my discharge therein, and also what great and importune charges, both of myself and by endangering of all my friends, I do daily sustain for the more speedy performance of my lord's will, which shall be most my said son's com modity. And what answer I have at this time made to my lord of Suffolk in this his request the bearer hereof shall farther declare unto you, to whom it may please you to give credence. And thus, good 110 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND master Cromwell, I bid you heartily farewell, be seeching Almighty God to send you good life and long, to his pleasure. From sir Richard Clement's mote in Kent, the 4th day of February. Your loving friend, Margaret Dorset. To my especial and singular good friend Master Cromwell, one of the king's most honourable council. LETTER XLVIII. Elizabeth Countess of Worcester to Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1534. [cotton, ms. Vespasian, F. xin. art. 129, fol. 114. Holograph.] *** This lady was the daughter of sir Anthony Browne, standard- bearer to Henry VII., and wife of Henry Somerset second earl of Worcester, whose father had been created governor and constable of Cardiff and many other lands in Wales. In these romantic regions the earl and countess frequently resided. They both lie interred amidst the lovely scenery of the Wye ; the countess at Chepstow, and her lord at Ragland. It is in reference to outrages committed in Wales that the countess wrote the present letter. In my right hearty wise I commend me unto you ; and where Thomas Stradling and Henry Stradling, of their great malice, have laid certain articles of untruth against my lord my husband's officers of Glamorgan, and, as I am informed, since my lord's ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. Ill departing with the king's grace, they intend to sue unto you for the preferment of their suit in that behalf, I am well assured, if you knew their de meanours in their country, you would (not) be con tented with them, for their father and friends have been always against them that (have) been rulers in these parts, and have imagined their destruction and murder, and within these twelve months have set upon my lord's deputy there, and murdered his ser vant, and maimed three or four more of his servants at the king's castle at Cardiff ; and there is no matter between two persons in these parts but they bear and maintain the one part : and there is of them twelve brethren, and the most part bastards, and have no living but by extortion and pillaging of the king's subjects. Wherefore, in my lord's absence I desire and heartily pray you to give no credence unto their sur mises, unto such time as their demeanours be known ; and, so doing, I shall be glad to do you like plea sure, if it can lie in me : as knoweth God, who keep you from adversities. At Greenwich, the 17th day of June. Yours to her power, Elizabeth Worcester. To the worshipful and mine effectual friend Mr. CromweU, one of the king's most honourable cduncUlors. 11 2 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XLIX. Anne Countess-Dowager of Oxford to Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1534. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxx. no. 127, state paper office. Original.] Master Cromwell, I heartily recommend me unto you, most heartily thanking you of your great kindness, which I ensure you is more pleasure to me, being as I am, than any worldly good ; for without you I know not how I should live in rest, for there be divers lewd persons dwelling near me that, lacking your help to punish them, I perceive I shall never be in quiet. And I am so many times bold to desire your favour and help, that I am now in doubt to trouble you ; re membering your promise, the same maketh me the bolder. Wherefore of your goodness, if it may be your pleasure to help me to process of good abearing against sir Alexander Irlam, parson of Otton Bel- cham, who in my lord my husband's time convented with other to have poisoned me, as it appears by his confession made to my lord of Essex, who of late sent me word in any wise to beware of the said parson, and that I should not suffer him to come near the place where I do dwell ; but, for any thing I can do to the contrary, the same parson, with one William ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 113 Walley of Haverell, and another, Richard Rogers, which have been both indicted of felony and riot, do resort to the house of Thomas Crokston, who is as ill-disposed as any of the rest, dwelling under my park pale, and there lay and kill and steal my deer, and have continued so this three years ; which I could never come to knowledge of till now, since my coming from London. And now, by the reason of one of my tenants, neighbour to the said Crokston, all the matter is disclosed ; but by reason the same Crokston dwelleth in a farm of the prior of Hatfield's, and is none of my tenants, and I can have no know ledge as yet that they killed any deer or hunted within my park, but the deer that is confessed to be killed was killed within the ground of the said prior ; so that my counsel informeth me that I can have no remedy at the common law, but advise me to make suit to you. Wherefore, without by your goodness I may obtain the said process of good abearing, they will destroy my park, and wait to do me other dis pleasure if they may conveniently ; but, the said process obtained against the said lewd persons, I doubt not to live in quiet. Also the hunters that hunted in my park at my last being at London, brake the park pale adjoining to Crokston's ground, and entered into the park through his ground and by his house. And also I insure you that there is never a time that I am at London but my servants that I leave in my house are in danger of robbing or other hurt. And if it will please you to give farther 114 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND credence to this bearer my servant, he shall inform you of their lewd demeanour, which were too tedious to write ; as knoweth God, who send you prosper ous health. From Camps, the 22d day of January. Your assured A. Oxford.* To Master Cromwell, one of the king's most honourable councU, this be deUvered. LETTER L. Anne Countess- Dowager of Oxford to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1534. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxx. no. 123, state paper office. Original.] *%* The unwelcome intrusion of poachers and deer-stealers, or, as she calls them, hunters, was complained of by the countess in the former letter. On this occasion they were more than usuaUy vexations, since they forced her away from a visit of friendship she was paying to CromweU. She seems to have been fond of visiting. Rowland Lee, afterwards bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, writing to Cromwell says, " My good lady of Oxford comes to the court upon Sunday, and intends to be merry with you Monday or Tuesday at supper — only to be merry and give you thanks of your goodness ; praying you for my sake the rather so accept her. She is a woman of high wit, and leans to herfriends."b a Another letter from this lady to councUlor CromweU, on behalf of one of her servants, who, having stood surety for Soffam priory, was, contrary to the promise of the prioress, caUed upon to discharge the money, is on fol. 129 of the same volume as the present. b Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xxi. fol. 429. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 115 Master Cromwell, I recommend me unto you, thanking you for my great cheer. I am very sorry that I had no more time to talk with you, for I have many matters that are troublous to me, that I would have trusted to have had comfort and help of you ; but I was so un- quieted in my mind to think that all those hunters were gone, specially because I told my lady my mother" that you would have caused them, by pain,b to have confessed the matter, as my lord chancellor does for her. She is no time of the year without hunters. This is the first displeasure that I have had with hunters. When I shall come home and hear their report in the country, it shall be much to my pain ; as knoweth God, who keep you. Your assured A. Oxford. To the right worshipful Master Secretary of the king's most honourable councU, this be deUvered. LETTER LI. Anne Countess-Dowager of Oxford to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1534. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxx. no. 120, state paper office. Original.] *%* The quarrel referred to in the following letter related to the park and bailiwick of Camps, which had been purchased by Tyrrel from a The duchess of Norfolk. b Torture. 116 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND the countess of Oxford, but of which, from some violent displeasure excited against him on account of disrespectful treatment on his part, she attempted unjustly to deprive him. Cromwell sent her a letter by Tyrrel, giving her a frank and friendly exhortation to repair the in justice she had committed, and not incur the dishonour of a defeat in an open court of law about it, assuring her that the king was deter mined to see justice done ; but this letter is undoubtedly the one which she says Tyrrel refused to give up, except at a personal inter view.1 Unconscious of its contents, therefore, she thus addressed Cromwell on the subject. Master secretary, In my most hearty wise I commend me unto you, heartily thanking you of your great goodness to me at all times shewed, praying you of the con tinuance of the same, which will be much to my comfort. May it please you farther to be advertised that I am informed how you have sent to me a letter by one Robert Tyrrell, servant to the bishop of Win chester, which letter as yet is not come to my hands, but the same Tyrrell hath reported in divers places of the country that he hath obtained of you such a letter, insomuch as of late he was with me here at Camps to have delivered the said letter ; but in con sideration that I have known the said Tyrrell of long time to be my enemy, and of truth I have been in fear to suffer him to come near me, I sent there fore two of my servants to him for the delivery of the said letter; which, because I would not speak * He no doubt returned it to Cromwell, amongst whose papers it now remains. Miscellaneous Letters, 3d series, vol. n. fol. 180. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 117 with him myself, he therefore retaineth, and would by no means deliver : by reason whereof I am nothing privy of your pleasure in that behalf. But as I suppose the same Tyrrell hath obtained the said letter of you to desire me to be good concerning an old matter in suit betwixt me and him, which matter he hath not alonely had before the king's council but also at the common law, and hath so continued since the time I have been widow, always supposing that I should do him wrong ; — which I insure you I never intended to do, but always minding if I had done him wrong to make him a large amends : — but, upon the whole matter indifferently heard, it was always supposed I had no more than my right, nor so much ; as the bearer hereof, if it be your pleasure, shall advertise you more at large, which would be too tedious to write. I also farther desire you of your goodness to obtain for me, your letter to be directed to the abbot of Thorney in the county of Cambridge, twenty oaks, to be taken of his gift within his wood of Thorney : in the which request I suppose the abbot will not say you nay; and the same obtained will do me singular pleasure. As knoweth God, who send you long life and much honour. From Camps. Your assured A. Oxford. To the right honourable Master Secretary these be delivered. 118 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER LII. Anne Countess- Dowager of Oxford to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1534. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxx. no. 125, STATE paper office. Original. Master secretary, In my hearty wise I recommend me unto you, advertising you that where I am informed that there should be sundry abbies under the sum of 200/. by the year at the king's grace's pleasure, to oppress when his grace shall think best. Wherefore, in con sideration that I have no more houses of my own than one to resort unto, for any chance of sickness, I therefore pray yon to have your favour that by your goodness I may have to farm of the king's highness a place of nuns in Norfolk, called Black- borough, of which place I am foundress ; * and the same house, as I suppose, is under the sum of 100?. by the year, and adjoineth so near unto other manors that I have in those parts that the having of the same would be to me singular pleasure. Or else, if it shall not please you, upon such considerations a This statement is not easUy explicable : Blackborough was founded by Roger de Scales in the time of king Stephen, and none of the Ox ford famUy are recorded to have even been benefactors to it. Speed estimates the yearly value at 76/. 3s. Oirf., but the Valor Ecclesiasticus only estimates it at 42/. 6s. 7^d. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 119 as you shall have in your knowledge, that I may- have the said house of Blackborough, then it may please you that by your goodness I may have the house of Shouldham, which is in the said county of Norfolk," and not far from my said lands. Where fore, your mastership being good in the obtaining of either the said houses, I shall not alonely deserve your kindness, but also you shall bind me as you have done always ; as knoweth God, who send you much honour and long life. From Lambeth, this present day. Your friend to my power, A. Oxford. To the right honourable Master Secretary this be deUvered. LETTER LIII. Lady Catherine Daubeney to Secretary CromweU. a.d. 1534. [MISCELLANEOUS letters, second SERIES, VOL. VIII. NO. 58, state paper office. Holograph.] *** As sir Thomas More, who is referred to in the present letter, was executed before October 1535, and CromweU was not secretary tiU after October 1533, it is clear that it must have been written in 1534. The writer was the youngest daughter of Thomas duke of Norfolk, by his second wife Agnes Tilney ; her first husband was Rice a The yearly value of this house was 138/. 18s. \d. clear income. It remained in the hands of the crown till 1553. 120 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ap Griffith Fitz Vryan, a Welsh nobleman, and descendant of the ancient Welsh princes, by whom she had a son Griffith, ancestor of the present lord Dynevor, and two daughters. Her second was Henry lord Daubeney , afterwards raised to the dignity of earl of Bridgewater.1 What were the grounds of the matrimonial quarrel which forms the subject of the present letter is not known, but it was not of very long duration, for in a letter from Thomas Wanley to lord Lisle,b the re mark occurs that " Lord Daubeney was and is minded to take his wife again to him, remitting aU offences and displeasure past." This letter, though bearing no other date than February 17th, must have been written before 1539, when his lordship assumed the title of earl of Bridgewater, and after 1536, because in it CromweU is aUuded to as lord privy seal, an office which he did not hold tiU July 2d, 1536.° The countess was implicated in the disgrace of queen Catherine How ard and committed to ward, when her son and two daughters were taken from her and given to the care of three noble personages, to be honourably maintained ;d but she escaped with impunity. She had no chUdren by her second husband, who died in 1544. Master secretary, In my heartiest wise I heartily recommend me unto you ; heartily thanking you of the great good ness you have shewed unto me, as I have perceived by master Courtnay, whom I do perceive you be much his friend. And well I do know he is yours, that may lie in him. Also a farther perceiverancee I have, sir Thomas More, which hath shewed me of your good ness to me by your good word by me, and that you will be good to me : which is a great comfort to me, more than I can write, considering the great good- 1 See Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxvu. p. 544. b Lisle Papers, vol. viu. art. 42, State Paper Office. " Patent roll, 28 Henry VIII. pt. i. d Nicolas, Acts Privy Council, vol. vii. p. 283. e Used in the sense of perception, not perseverance. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 121 ness in you toward me, undeserved of my behalf; but my heart hath been always in hope of your good word, which I do find, and I do not know how I may ever (be) able to thank you or any of yours : but if it may so happen I may be able, I have a very great occasion to do what that ever may lie in my little power. And God help me and mine, I have as much need of help as ever had any woman ; for I have many kin, and few that doth for me, unless then the queen's highness," which I am very much bound unto. And yet I do hear and perceive as much as can be devised is devised to compass it continually to set her grace to withdraw her favour from me, and that my lord my husband hath paid well for to make friends against me. But I do trust that at length the truth what I do suffer will be known, and I desire you to be my friend as you have been, and as my trust is you will be. It shall be a very great comfort to me. Master secretary, one thing I did hear by sir Thomas More, which thing I did comfort me much, and that I did perceive that the words that he said unto me were like to be true, and without any dis sembling ; and that was, how you promised me afore time you would be good to me, and to have your good word. Truth it is very well in my remem- - Anne Boleyn, who, as being of the Howard famUy, was related to lady Catherine. Her ladyship was one of the chief mourners at the funeral of the countess of WUtshire, queen Anne's mother. — Husee to lady Lisle : Lisle Papers, vol. xii. fol. 39. VOL. II. G 122 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND brance you did so promise me at all times when I was a suitor to you, and in especially when I came to your house by the Friars in London when I first sued to you, with other words which I now find ; and this token that sir Thomas More told me from you, I well perceived none could tell it but you and I ; and I have not used to talk much of them that doth promise me to do me any pleasure or be my friend. And this considered hath caused me the more to per ceive your goodness to me. And as for sir Thomas More, I ensure you I had great marvel to hear him so much to be my friend, for I never did him plea sure, nor never desired him to say for me more than I desired all other gentlemen ; which I have cause to thank him. And much I have heard of him, that where he taketh he is very assured unto : which for my part I never gave him cause, the one nor the other ; and for that good will he sheweth to me, I desire yon to be good to him. Master secretary, that I have written here to you is my own hand, which is very ill, yet I have done the best I can, and rather than I would trust any so far as to know my mind I had liever it were undone. And I desire you, inasmuch as none is privy of this letter but myself and you, that if it be your pleasure I pray you that it be not seen ; for though I be fair spoken unto, yet am I not always in surety, and I am very unsure as it now chanceth. Master secretary, I most heartily desire you to be good to me, and to be so good to me as to speak ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 123 your good word when you think best to the king's highness for me, whom I most dread, under God, in this world, for that fear I most that bis highness should hear of me more than I deserve ; for without his favour I would desire no life, to have all the wealth in the world. And I desire you above all things to speak your good word for me, as you shall hear cause, and yet somewhat better ; for my ene mies will say the worst. I pray you be so good to me as I may hear from you some comfort. And as for the bearer hereof, though he know not what he carrieth, he is very sure : he hath been with me these nine years. And thus God reward you, whereas I am not able. Written the 10th day of October. Yours all assuredly, Catherine Daubeney. Master secretary, — Since I writ this letter I was desired to send to you to desire you in a suit, which suit the bearer hereof shall shew you, which is a gentle man of the abbot of Glastonbury ; and I have a gentle woman that hath been with me long that shall marry with him, which I do love her very well, and she is of a very good stock, and for her service done to me I would be glad to do him pleasure. Therefore I shall desire you at this my desire to be good to him for my sake in his suits, which is toward a helping of him; an you be so good to him as to get it him for my sake, you bind him with his heart to owe you his service, and in especially you do me 124 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND a very great pleasure, for I would fain do him a plea sure. He is a right honest man ; he shall disclose his matter to you, for because I am so ill a writer. Master secretary, I had thought to have sent a trusty servant of mine to you, but it hath so chanced since I could not, but I do intend to send shortly as I may ; but I desire you to be so good to me as to write me some letter of comfort by the bearer hereof, which is trusty to me, and will deliver it safe to me; and, thus doing, God reward you, whereas I am not able. I pray you yet, among all others my poor instances, to be good unto the abbot of Glaston bury, which I ensure you is a good religious man, and one that I am much beholden to. And thus God send you as well to do as your heart can desire, and as I can find in my heart to wish you. To the right worshipful Master Cromwell, secretary to the king's highness. LETTER L1V. Lady Elizabeth Dacres to Lord Dacres. a.d. 1534. [COTTON. MS. CALIG. B. VI. FOL. 135.] *+* Lady EUzabeth Dacres was the fifth daughter of George earl of Shrewsbury, and the wife of WiUiam lord Dacres, surnamed of Gil- lesland and Greystoke, because in right of his mother he inherited the lands of Ralph lord Greystoke. His father was Thomas lord Dacres, who played such a promment part in the Scottish affairs. Gratified With the prospect of so noble an aUiance for his son, lord Dacres at ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 125 first proposed to alienate his whole inheritance in behalf of the young couple, only reserving certain fiefs for Ufe for himself,a and, though he relinquished this scheme, he made very handsome settlements on them.b Dugdale mentions three sons and five daughters of the lord WiUiam and his lady ; but Elizabeth, whose birth is here commemo rated, is not named amongst them. Either on this or a simUar occa sion, lord Dacres wrote to his father-in-law the earl of Shrewsbury, in forming him that his wife had got a daughter, and requesting the earl to permit her sister, lady Northumberland, to visit her, since she was very desirous of her company.0 Lady Dacres seems to have been a person of considerable energy, since the weakness incident to her situa tion did not prevent her entering at large into business details for the benefit of her absent lord. On the 27th of March in this same year she sent him another letter, detailing the particulars of border incur sions and of assizes held at Lochmaben for their redress, &c.d Soon after this, lordDacresfaUing into disgrace with Henry VIII. was sent, on pretext of treasonable practices, to the Tower. Lady Dacres of fered no opposition to the seizure of his goods and papers, e probably because she knew resistance would be worse than fruitless ; but she in stantly undertook a journey to London, to sue in person to the king for her husband's deliverance. Her father, the earl of Shrewsbury, thus addressed secretary Cromwell in reference to her : f " So it is that my poor daughter, wife unto my lord Dacres, hearing that he, to her great a Lord Dacres to Wolsey. Wolsey Correspondence, vol. iv. art. 35, State Paper Office. b The marriage articles are given in full in the 16th volume of the Shrewsbury Papers, fol. R. 73, Lambeth MS. 709. c Shrewsbury Papers, vol. U. fol. C. 25, Lambeth MS. 695. d Cotton. MS. CaUg. B. VII. fol. 201. This letter, which is an original, and subscribed and signed " Your loving bedfellow, EUzabeth Dacres," is said in the Cotton catalogue to be addressed to the earl of Northumberland, and the following document, being a copy of a letter from sir Christopher Dacres to Jack Musgrave, which lady Dacres in closed in hers, and mentioned having done so, is caUed a letter from lady to lord Dacres ! e Henry earl of Cumberland to Henry VIIL date May 18th, 1534. Chapter-house Scotland Correspondence, fol. 84, State Paper Office. f Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xxxviii. fol. 325, State Paper Office, date May 29th. 126 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND discomfort and heaviness, is in the king's high displeasure for offences surmised by him to be done, and by the king's most dread command ment committed unto ward in the Tower of London, wherefore she, according to her duty, doth come at this time to make pursuit unto the king's said highness for my said lord ; for truth it is that she hath not been accustomed or brought up in such affairs or uncomfortable business, but after the homely fashion of the country : wherefore I de sire and heartily pray you to be good master unto her, and not only to give unto her your best advice and counsel under what manner and by what means she shall make her said pursuit, so as the same may be the more acceptable unto the king's said highness and more beneficial unto my said lord her husband, who I trust undoubtedly wiU declare him self an honourable man and the king's true subject ; and so doing I beseech you to be good unto him, so as, his truth tried, by your good help he may the sooner obtain the king's most gracious favour, and his accusers may be ordered according to their demerits." The king re ceived the lady Dacres' petition very cooUy, and she was ordered to make no farther suit for her husband tiU the laws had determined in reference to his offences.1 The wishes of his devoted wife were, how ever, soon accompUshed in his Uberation. The name of lord Dacres has descended to posterity unstained with treason, his accusers being only Scotchmen of mean extraction, who were supposed to be incited against him by the necessary severity he sometimes exercised as warden of the west marches. He was brought to trial on the 9th of July be fore his peers at Westminster, but triumphantly acquitted. Please it your lordship to be advertised, that upon Ash-Wednesday afternoonb it pleased Almighty God, of his mercy, to send me deliverance of a daughter; whereupon my uncle sir Christopher wrote, upon your behalf and mine, unto my lady Curven of Wirkington, and to the prior of Weddale, for the making of her a Christian soul. And so, thanks a George earl of Shrewsbury to secretary CromweU, June 29th. Miscellaneous Letters, 2nd series, vol. xsxvin. fol. 335, b Feb. 19th. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 127 be to Almighty God, they, together with your daughter Dorothy, hath christened her and named her Elizabeth, upon Friday last. All your little ones is in good health, loving to God, and desire you of your blessing. My lord, by the advice of mine uncle I held vour servant this bearer whiles I had knowledge from your espials forth of Scotland. My lord John Murray hath been at Halton, and did speak with my lord Mounteagle's counsel, and such answer as had of them I send your lordship here inclosed. My lord, 1 am advertised by your espials in Scot land that the king of Scots hath caused the lord of Fernihurst to be set in ward in the castle of Glas gow or Dumbarton ; Mark Carr under ward in Edinburgh, because he is sick ; David Carr of Graden in another castle ; the tutor of Wedderburn in a castle beyond Firth ; John Home of Blackater in another castle beyond Firth ; and your said espials says they will not all come forth again. The said king of Scots is very merry and pleasant of the last writings that came from the king's highness our sovereign lord ; the common voice and bruit in Scotland is that the peace shall be concluded dur ing the prince's lifetime," and a year longer. Also I am informed by your said espials that there comes no ambassadors at this time from Scot land but only the bishop of Aberdeen, treasurer of Scotland, b who sets forwards and takes his journey * Lyfnes in orig. b WUliam Stewart. 128 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND towards England either on Tuesday or Wednesday next coming ; the said ambassador will be in number threescore horses, with horse of carriage in all : the king hath made four knights anew to come in com pany with the said ambassador ; there comes to be his chaplain the abbot of Amloshe, and purposes to be as sumptuous a company as come forth of Scot land many days. My lord, Jock Bell of Cowsetthill's sons, with Will of Johnston's sons of Lockerby, lay await at Longher Foot for Rowe Armstrong, Red Dandison, and chased him through Blackshaw, and in Car- laeverock mire slew him, upon Thursday last, where with my lord Maxwell takes right great displea sure ; the lord of Johnston makes great suit for the same slayers, to have them re-set in England ; and my uncle will not in no wise to (till) he knows your lordship's pleasure therein. I send your lordship the said lord of Johnston's letter here inclosed of his said desire. My lord, mine uncle thinks good that sir William Musgrave be commanded to send down straight charges of commandment to his deputies of waste land, that they will obey the commandments of your officers, which they will not do ; for my lord Maxwell will ask no redress of no man saving of your lordship and your deputies. The said lord Maxwell hath shut (put off) the day marches that should have been kept on Tuesday next for Liddes- dale unto Thursday come sennight, and for Averdale ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 129 unto Monday come fourteen days, by reason of the coming of the ambassadors. My lord, whereas the ambassadors of Scotland was minded to have come through England to France, as your said espials says, they are turned and goes by water by the means of Frenchmen. My lord, I have word from your secret espials that the ambassador, the bishop of Aberdeen, will be at Newbottle upon Tuesday at night next com ing, and upon Wednesday at Biggar,a upon Thurs day at night at Dumfries, and there rest him all Friday, and upon Saturday or Sunday at Carlisle, and so forwards to London. Marked, " Sent with George Blenkinsop." Endorsed, ' ' A letter of my Lady Dacres to the Lord Dacres, touching the coming of the Scottish ambassadors to England." LETTER LV. Margaret Queen of Scotland to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1534. [SCOTLAND ROYAL LETTERS, VOL. 1. ART. 16, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Holograph.] *** King Henry VIII. had been very anxious to bring about a meeting between himself and his nephew, the young king of Scots, in order that the fascination of his own personal influence, which he estimated very highly, might be advantageously exercised. The Scottish councU raised many obstacles to the scheme, but queen a Byger in MS. g2 130 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Margaret earnestly endeavoured to promote it ; and, although her now sorely diminished influence availed but Uttle, either with her son or his council, she plumed herself greatly upon her efforts. Another letter from the queen on the subject, besides the two foUowing, dated AprU 27th, 1536, is in the State Paper Office.1 Dearest brother, In our most hearty, humble, and tender manner we recommend us unto your grace. Pleaseth you be advertised, we have, by your trusty and well- beloved servitors, master William Barlow, coun sellor, and Thomas Holcroft, sewer, deputy ambas sadors, received your right loving and affectionate letters, with sundry tokens of remembrance, which not only shall be to our honour, but in like manner unto your grace. Also we have considered and advisedly weighed every point of the credence shewn by them unto us in your grace's name, and, con form to the same, has done so concerning the meet ing betwixt your grace and our dearest son your nephew, that your desires is completely granted by our dearest son, most pleasantly, heartily, and ten derly ; as, by his report made to your said ambas sadors, they will inform you more large. Moreover, our dearest son has affectionately desired us write in his name unto you these words following, that not only will he meet, and com mune, and visit you, but also loves your grace better than any man living next himself, and will take your part, his person and his realm, against all * Scotland Royal Letters, vol. i. No. 20. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 131 living creature under God, without you first fail unto him, which he trusts never shall be. Dearest brother, since so it is presently effected such great and perfect, most tender and hearty love, betwixt your grace and our dearest son your ne phew, and we your sister, as most tender unto you both, has been the labourer hereof, to verify and make clearly understand to our dearest son your nephew such loving mind and most entire affection as proximity of blood required; most humbly and heartily, as we may possibly, we beseech your grace that you in like manner verify the same in deed and word, like as we have taken upon us by your com mand, and reported oft in your name : the which our undoubted confidence is your grace will do, better than we can think ; for we hope in God and by your constantness, that never so great love and perfect kindness was in any time bypast betwixt two princes, as is and shall be betwixt you and our dearest son your nephew. Dearest brother, since presently it is that the meeting is in effect to be, and that our dearest son your nephew has and does refer both the place and the time to be prefixed and set by you, we doubt not you will, by your wisdom, advise most pru dently, honourably, and discreetly thereupon in every behalf, and with expedition. Also, soon as pleases your grace to write again response to our dearest son and unto us of the premises, we shall address with expedition to the final effect ; putting 132 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND no doubt (that) as you will devise our dearest son will do. Dearest brother, please your grace be lieve surely we have in time past had great impedi ment by the council, and also has, to set forth this matter. Howbeit we have no doubt and shall pro ceed, will God, as said is. Please your grace, howbeit in times bypast some misadvised persons made unkindly reports of us unto you, without cause or offence in us, we have, and always shall, endure it, and continue your most loving, kind, and faithful sister, intending no less all time of our life, having such confidence in you that you will hold us the same. Your grace is our only brother, and we your only sister ; and since so is, let no divorce nor contrary have place, nor no report of ill-advised (persons) alter our conceits, both brotherly and sisterly love ever to endure, to the pleasure of God and weal of us both ; and trust no less in me than in yourself, in all and sundry things at our whole power, as pleaseth your grace com mand. And pleaseth your grace to give credence farther unto your grace's trusty servitors aforesaid. Beseeching the eternal God to conserve you in ever lasting grace. Written with our own hand, of* Edin burgh, the 12th day of December, by your grace's own and only Most humble and loving sister, Margaret R. To our dearest brother the King of England. a So in original. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 133 LETTER LVI. Queen Margaret to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1534. [SCOTLAND CORRESPONDENCE, VOL. 1. ART. 44, STATE PAPER office. Original.] Right well-beloved friend, my lord secretary, We commend us heartily to you. We have, by our dearest brother the king's servitors, master William Barlow, prior, and Thomas Holcroft, sewer, received the king our dearest brother's most loving letters, with sundry other honourable tokens of re membrance conform to your writing in all points, and also a goodly letter with a loving token from our dearest sister the queen, which not only shall be to our honour, but in like manner unto his grace and unto our dearest sister ; exhorting you most affectionately you will, in our name, thank his grace most heartily. And upon such points of cre dence, specified in writ and direct by words, to disclose unto us in name of the king our dearest brother ; after consideration and good attendance given thereto, weighing the same affectionately as requireth, with good advisement, we wrote unto our dearest son the king, who was of short convalescent of infirmity of pox and fever continual. Notwith standing, at desire of us, upon the fifteenth day took journey, and daily repaired to your parts, making, in eight days, seven score miles, and for great desire 134 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND to give his presence (for he came within twenty miles), wrote unto us to cause my lord our spouse* convoy our dearest brother's said conservators unto him ; which was done, and with our said spouse wrote unto our dearest son to receive them, and give them good audience by himself only : which was pleasantly fulfilled, as the said master William and Thomas will testify. On the next morrow, being most troublous wea ther that ever we travelled into, we came to our dearest son, whom withal we communed and rea soned, so that by advice of us and no other living person determined and concluded the meeting. Thereafter, when the chancellor and remnant of the spirituality had perceived the same, was wonderfully moved. Howbeit, none of them might attempt the contrary, and devised such means as durst obscurely, by a sermon made by a black friar, which friar we shall not stand content with, because of report in some part concerning our dearest brother and his realm ; howbeit the same was coloured, and not expressly specifying his grace nor his subjects; and we shall remember him as cause requireth. But assuredly the king our dearest son took no manner tent (heed) thereto. You shall perceive that we do not slight nor countenance no manner thing that concerns the king our dearest brother, advertising you that, since the departure of lord William,b we a Henry Stewart, lord Methven. b Lord WiUiam Howard, late ambassador. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 135 have been vigilant in the premises ; for there could be no more pleasant sight in this earth of worldly thing, as we to see our most dearest brother and our most dearest son in proper personages together, and of one loving mind, which now we doubt not will hastily be, with God's grace. And since so it is, that our dearest son the king has not only taken great pain to give hastily pre sence unto our dearest brother's servitors aforesaid, with good audience, and has gladly accepted the meeting to be, but also our dearest son has referred the place and time unto our dearest brother the king to prefix, the which our dearest son will always keep. Wherefore we, in our special and affectionate manner, exhorts and heartily prays you request the king our dearest brother to advise discreetly and honourably, as our trust firmly (is) his high wisdom will, anent the place and manner of meeting, so that all creature knowing the same may understand his loving tender mind, borne unto his nephew our dearest son, which we doubt not his grace has more experience and better heart than we can think. Howbeit. we must, of our best mind, as our duty requireth, desire you in our own name make this information unto our dearest brother, as of his grace's most faithful and loving sister, which is ready as his heart can think in all manner to pursue and labour such things as may be honourable and pleasant unto his grace. We think very good and expedient, our dearest 136 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND brother direct his mind with expedition again in this realm unto our dearest son and unto us, and that all things concerning the meeting be resolutely declared unto our dearest son, anent the place and time, and manner how our dearest son shall ad dress him and his company, and how to be ordered the part pertaining unto our dearest brother ; and his advice to be in like wise written unto us touching our dearest son ; and this to be affectionately written in good and ample manner unto the king our dearest son, and in like manner unto us, to testify unto him. We pray you have good attendance to the points of the premises, as our firm hope, trust, and confidence is you will. And in remembrance you will re ceive a little token, and to wear the same for our pleasure, as she that standeth to you your friend at our power ; and think us no less indebted hearing of your faithful and obedient service done and con tinuing unto (hitherto), to the pleasure, honour, and wealth of our dearest brother the king, and also your good and loving mind unto us, his grace's only sister. Trusty and well-beloved friend, we think good that these matters be not prolonged, but with good diligence expedited ; for the king our dearest son gives firm trust unto us concerning the convoying of this whole cause. And, on our part, first our dearest brother, before all the world, we hope into, and in his wisdom ; and as a faithful servitor unto (his) grace, we trust you will do your part. And in ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 137 all things pertaining us, we lippin (confide) to you, as your writing purports, which shall be your part so far as our good mind may. And God keep you. Written of Edinburgh, this 12th day of De cember. Your friend, Margaret R. To our right trusty friend my Lord Secretary. LETTER LVII. Jane Basset to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1534. [lisle papers, vol. i. no. 96, state paper office. Original.] *** Jane Basset has been previously named, as the eldest daughter of sir John Basset and the step-daughter of lady Lisle. She was in early Ufe affianced to Henry, son and heir of GUes lord Daubeney, afterwards earl of Bridgewater, and extensive lands were settled upon her in the event of a marriage, which, however, never took place. a When lady Lisle left England for Calais, she did not take her step daughters with her. Jane, who had now reached the maturity of wo manhood,1" wrote some time afterwards to request permission to reside with her sister Thomasine at Umberleigh, in Devon, a manor which was settled for Ufe upon lady Lisle, and to have pasture for one cow in the meadows there.0 This request was granted, and she had at the a Indenture between GUes lord Daubeney and sir John Basset, llth of December, 20 Henry VII. Close roU, 22 Henry VIII., mm. 9 et seq. in dorse. b Both she and Thomasine were born before the year 1504, and therefore she must have been upwards of thirty years old. See the close roll quoted above, where, however, Jane is by mistake called Anne ; but her identity is unquestionable, since she is named as the eldest daughter, who is called Jane by her father in his wiU. c Lisle Papers, vol. i. art. 95, date June 30th. 138 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND same time a sort of commission to look after the affairs of the house and estate, which ever since the remarriage of her ladyship had been left entirely to the care of servants. The task was not an enviable one, and the difficulties and annoyances experienced by the young lady are amusingly detailed in the foUowing letters. They are all written in a bold, clerk-like hand, but not by Jane Basset, who was unable even to sign her own name. My right honourable and singular good lady, In my most heartiest manner I commend (me) unto your good ladyship, thanking your ladyship for my gown that you sent me. Madam, Mr. Doctor sent me his man and his horse according to his pro mise ; but his man would not carry my male,3 nor suffer his horse to carry it ; wherefore I left my male behind me at Subberton, and when I came to Um- berleigh I was fain to send John Badcomb for my male, wherein I left your box and the great book : my male was new turned, and the box also. Your jointure is come to my hands, but the great book is left behind, for what purpose I have great marvel, seeing that he was fast in my male ; wherewith I am not a little sorry, desiring your ladyship to send with speed to Seller for the sure custody of the same book, for before I hear of it again I cannot be merry. b I charged Seller and his wife withal, and a Evidently identical with the French word malle, or trunk. b Lady Lisle, in her reply, ordered " the great book" to remain at Subberton, but complained of the loss of certain articles ; at which Jane expressed her surprise, seeing she had had them aU inventoried. — Lisle Papers, vol. i. art. 97. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 139 so he keepeth the same book, as I perceive by Badcomb. Also desiring your ladyship to give thanks to Mr. Doctor Cuffold, Mr. Wayte of Wembring, and to Benet of Porchester, for their great kindness to me shewed : they that promised me horses to ride deceived me, as Thomas can shew your ladyship. As knoweth God, who preserve my good lord, your good ladyship, and all yours. From Umberleigh, the 14th day of July, By your daughter, Jane Basset. Madam, — Also my sister Thomasine, she is at a point with my cousin Elizabeth Paslewe, for at Wynscott she will not be ; howbeit my cousin Anne Barry would fain have her. To the right honourable and my singular good lady my Lady Viscountess Lisle be this deUvered. LETTER LVIII. Jane Basset to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1535. [lisle papers, vol. x. no. 13, state paper office. Original.] *%* Sir John Bond, the priest who had the charge of lady Lisle's house and manor of Umberleigh, thus mentions the arrival of Jane Basset in a letter to lady Lisle, dated November 2, from Umber- 140 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND leigh: — " As touching Mrs. Jane Basset, she came unto Umberleigh the next week before Michaelmas. She Ueth in the corner chamber, and she hath the buttery, with other houses, at her pleasure, and such stuff as is necessary for her."a In the foUowing January, however, bis tone was somewhat changed : — " Touching mistress Jane Basset," he writes, " I wot not what to say. Her sisters cannot please her; your ladyship hath commanded to deliver unto her such things as I thought was necessary for her, yet she wUl not be pleased. I have de- Uvered unto her two feather beds and three pairs of sheets, with all that longeth thereto ; also she hath two cows, one horse, with other things ; also she hath a greyhound lyeth upon one of the beds day and night, but it be when she holdeth him in her hands, and that (is) every time when she goeth to the doors. "b In the beginning of February, Jane departed from Umberleigh for a while ; but her absence afforded Uttle reUef to the vicar, for she left behind her a woman servant who continued to trouble him, and who by private means had a back-door leading to the park thrown open, which was cause of great offence.0 In or before March Jane returned again. During her absence she had purchased another cow, which she added to the two cows and the horse already there ; thus stUl farther pro voking the indignation of sir John Bond, since her permission for pasturage had never extended beyond two cows.d Soon afterwards she wrote the foUowing letter to Lady Lisle. Jesus. Honourable lady, My duty remembered, &c, advertising you that I have received (your) amiable letters, by the which I perceive the contents of your mind. First, I have received the stuff of sir John Bond by a bill, and will do my diligence in it according unto your mind, * Lisle Papers, vol. a. art. 43. b Ibid. art. 38. *" Ibid. vol. xiv. art. 70. d Bond to lady Lisle, 10th of March. Ibid. vol. x. art. 41. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 141 God willing. I have received your beds, both flock and feathers, with bolsters and pillows, with cushions and coverlets, as he received them, by his saying: but God knows in what case they be ; some of them be not able to bide the handling of them to be car ried unto the wind. As now I have no space nor yet leisure, because the tabellary was so hasty in going away, wherefore I have overpast much of such things as I would have written unto you as now. And in my next letter I will write unto you an inventory of every thing that I have received, and in what case that every thing standeth, God willing. There is much as yet that I have not received ; and as for your cattle in the park, there is three heifers and three kine, which kine I have, I thank you. Two of your heifers hath calved, and one the vicar will deliver me for the cow that he sold at Allhallows' tide, and the other heifer he will sell, as he saith. He hath spoken unto the parson to have the tithing- calf already. You shall perceive that your miller hath been with me making his moan ; except that the water be stopped in time the mill shall stand still, which will be to the great hinderance of all your tenants,* and others also. The vicar and John Davyb saith it a Tenements in MS. b John Davy was the steward at Umberleigh. 142 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND must be made ; but there is no setting forth in it as yet. In this thing I and your miller will pray you to send your strait answer unto John Davy and to the vicar. The miller hath done his good will, and doth daily, unto his great pain ; but it is not one man's work, as you know. Write you unto me in your letter of this matter ; for if you write any thing unto them that it please them not, it shall be hid long enough from me, because I shall not call on them. There is but few letters that cometh unto me from you but is opened before it cometh unto my hands, and sometimes it shall be drowned in Bacus Lane, an if it be not- pleasure unto all parties. Write you unto them by parables, as though you knew nothing of this, because of the saving of my writer harmless of displeasure. Your chapel standeth unserved, saving the vicar causeth one mass in the week there to be said, which is of his devotion. But there is an honest priest hath guaranteed to serve there for forty shil lings by the year, because he will be quiet to serve God, and he will mend your bedding and other such stuff as is need, if it shall so please you for to take him ; a middle-aged man. I have stayed him unto the time I must know your mind in it. I thank you for your tokens by my cousin Chichester and Richard Herrys. I pray you to commend me unto my brothers and sisters, all in general, as well as though I had rehearsed them by name. And ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 143 thus T leave you and all yours in the keeping of Jesu. Written at Umberleigh, the 12th day of March, By your daughter, Jane Basset. I pray you to pardon me of my rude writing. Unto the honourable Lady Honor Lisle this to be deUvered. LETTER LIX. Jane Basset to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1535. [lisle papers, vol. i. no. 93, state paper office. Original.] *£* The dispute between Jane Basset and the vicar of Umberleigh grew every week more and more bitter and acrimonious, and each party was loud in accusations of the other to lady Lisle. The true spring of the dispute was, that each sought to possess rule and authority, a claim dis- aUowed by the other. Sir John Bond, writing on the same day with the foUowing letter, says : — " Also, as touching mistress Jane Basset, I have her displeasure, in that she may not have the keys of every chamber. Madam, I wUl cut my fingers unto the elbow before she or any other have such keys as beaieth any charge unto the time that please your ladyship command me to deliver."1 From the general tenor of the correspondence it may be gathered that Jane was petu lant and overbearing, and that sir John was not sufficiently con scientious in his office to brook her scrutiny, and would adopt any possible means to rid himself of her. Of Thomasine Basset, whose elopement is here recorded, we hear no farther particulars excepting those of her death, which seems to have occurred shortly afterwards. John Davy, the steward of Um berleigh, thus informs lady Lisle of it : b — " It may please your good a Lisle Papers, vol. x. art. 45. b Ibid. vol. in. fol. 1, date AprU llth. 144 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ladyship to perceive that mistress Thomasine Basset is deceased whose soul I pray Jesu take to mercy ; and she deceased the Friday before Palm Sunday, fuU well and virtuously, with aU the sacraments of the church. She died at Berry's house, and Ueth at Dowland. She was sick at Morris', and desired to go to Berry's; and thus was about the purification of our lady that she came there." * * * * " I do intend to see mistress Thomasine's month mind honestly to be kept.a She had in Berry's hands 20*., and I suppose there is a Httle in Mr. Digory's hands. b I have put her father's arms and her mother's to be made, to be set about her hearse, and have sent thither the black say (silk) that was about my master, whose soul Jesu pardon." Right honourable madam, After most hearty recommendations with reve rence, according unto my bounden duty, it may please you to be advertised that, after the receipt of your kind and loving letter unto me directed, whereby as I perceive you have not received your great piece of canvass, the which I left at Subberton at my de parting all whole, by my faith ; and I did take the other less piece, and have made you four pairs of sheets and a cupboard cloth ; but, as I suppose, your ladyship was deceived by the carriage, as I was. And also it may please you to be advertised, that through the counsel of Mr. Vicar, and divers others, that my sister Thomasine is gone from me unto my brother Morris, without any manner knowledge given unto me, in the morning early before my rising, and, to say the very truth, asleep ; and so 1 A feast celebrated for the dead a month subsequent to the date of their decease. See Nares' Glossary, sub voce. b Digory GrenvUle, or Graynefyld, named before. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 145 there did ride with her the Smith, a little boy, and mistress Thomasine, sometime Thomas Peler's harlot, and now God's holy vicar here in earth, as he may be, without devotion, as all the whole country says ; and here the said Thomasine is covered un derneath Joan Bremelcomb, the which men think her well near as unthrifty as the other. Wherefore they have rid away my sister in hope and trust to rid me also, because they might the bolder keep forth their baudy and unthrifty rule without any farther trouble. And since my sister's departing she hath sent for part of her clothes, the which she left behind her ; the which I do retain in my keeping, and will do, until such time that I may know your farther pleasure herein. And also the vicar shewed me that your lady ship had written unto him that she should depart, and go from me whither that she would ; and also he says, that I have written many and divers letters unto your ladyship, the which you shall never have knowledge thereof, or else I shall never have answer again : the which I never had indeed, as he hath said. And also he will not suffer me to have the looking upon none of your stuff, the which putrefieth for lack of good governance. And, farther, he says that I do covet to have my brother's evidence, and none thing else, regarding your profit. And as for your jointure, the which you had by my father, John Davy and the vicar did make search VOL. II. H 146 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND for him,a and could not find him, as I have ascer tained you before time. Wherefore I have delivered him your jointure, unto your ladyship by my lord made, with all your other bills, by indenture between him and me. And as for your fishing, he hath ut terly dispraised it unto your ladyship and diverse others, and Bremelcomb also, to this intent, that none body should offer for it. And now that they perceive that men will offer for it, they say that your ladyship's mind is turned, and will not sell. Where fore, if it be your pleasure to sell it, I pray you, madam, to call to your remembrance what you pro mised me, that you willed me diverse times to desire one thing of you when I should espy my time ; and you of your own goodness promised me that I should obtain therein. Wherefore I heartily pray you, madam, that I may be your farmer thereunto, as there is or shall be offered for with reason, so that I may be somewhat the better therefor, as my special trust is in you. For I ensure you it is very neces sary for me, dwelling here under your goodness, to wards the augmentation and amendment of my poor living, as in appareling and welcoming of your lady ship's friends whensoever they come, for your sake and honour, the which is very chargeable unto me in buying all things that I shall occupy, as corn, flesh, fish, and other necessaries ; unless that it may be a The use of the masculine instead of the neuter pronoun is stU common in the west of England amongst the lower orders. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 147 through your good ladyship's help. And if your ladyship do mistrust me for the rent of the fishing, I trust to find you three or four sufficient sureties for the payment thereof. Also, 1 pray you remember the words that were spoken in the parlour of Subberton by Walter Cawse. Somewhat I have perceived myself since my coming ; and also this bearer, John Bere, can somewhat say herein, if he list to speak the truth, or else to mell (meddle) herein. And also, I pray (you) to send me word what your pleasure shall be of your lamp in the chapel, for I ensure (you) he burnetii never day in the week, and scant holy days, except that I do light him (my)self. And I pray you send me word whe ther that I shall maintain your taper in the chapel of our Lady of Alston, the which hitherto (I have done) ; and as for the cleanly keeping of your house, your servant John Bere can ascertain your ladyship, the which is very uncleanly. As knoweth God, who ever preserve you and all yours in his honor. Amen. Written in your manor place of Umberleigh, in the eve of the Holy Cross. a And also my uncle Hache and my aunt Hache hath them heartily recommended unto my good lord and your good ladyship ; and I pray you have me commended unto good mistress Frances ; and to my sister Philippa, God's blessing and mine. And also I pray you, good madam, have me commended a The invention of the holy cross was on the 3d of May ; the eve, consequently, May 2d. 148 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND unto all the other gentlewomen. I pray you, good madam, send me some good works. By your daughter, Jane Basset. I pray you heartily, good madam, have me heartily recommended unto my special good lord as a poor maiden may. Unto the right honourable and singular good lady my Lady Lisle be this deUvered, with speed. LETTER LX. Jane Basset to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1535. [lisle papers, vol. i. no. 98, state paper office. Original.] *** Sir John Bond, writing to lady Lisle about the value of the fishery spoken of in the foUowing letter, declares that it has only been worth 8 J., exclusive of thirty salmon, and fifteen Uttle fishes put in salt.a In this matter, the charge of fraud advanced against him was probably weU founded, since Jane, who in the preceding letter had tried to negotiate for the purchase of the fishery herself, was not Ukely to overrate its value. Right honourable lady, With all due recommendations I commend me unto you, glad to hear of your prosperous health and welfare, the which I pray God daily long to continue, to his pleasure and your heart's ease, &c. The cause of my writing unto your ladyship at " Lisle Papers, vol. i. art. 39. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 149 this time is this : — Honourable lady, it is so that my cousin Degory Grenville was at Barnstable, and so desired sir John Bond to commend him unto me, and to shew me if I would send any letter or token unto your ladyship he would bring it ; and so I had no manner of answer of sir John Bond of that, but there was a tenant of yours heard when master Degory spoke the words, and brought me word of it : for I can never have knowledge of sir John Bond when any of your servants or any other come unto you. Also, madam, as for your feather-beds and your testers of silks, they were not put out this three quarters of a year, until the 6th day of June last was, and that was by the sight of a letter that was come unto him ; whether the said letter came from you or no I cannot tell, but I had neither letter, neither word of the two letters that I sent your ladyship afore these. Also, madam, it is your will and pleasure that I shall have a chamber here at your place ; but now I am taken up with sir John Bond, and also with Bremelcomb, that I cannot tell what to do, for they had liever that any bro- theller in these parts were here than I ; and so the said woman that I wrote unto you is here daily, and so she said unto me herself, and defied also. And this, good madam, doth grieve me very sore. Also, madam, as for your fishing, what accompt they make unto you I cannot tell, but I can prove that when he goeth to market with your fish and 150 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND receiveth 20s. a-day they put nothing in the book of accompt but 4s. ; that is one week with another : and he goes to market lightly, one week with another, three times a-week, besides that he doth sell otherwise. Also, good madam, I heartily desire you to send word that all this may be amended, and specially that this foresaid woman come not to your place, for all the country speaks of it. And so Jesu have you in his protection and keeping. Amen. Also, I hear say sir John Bond will be with you shortly, for to excuse him and Bremelcomb, and give you a pig of your own sow. By (your) daughter, in all thing to her small power, Jane Basset. To my right honourable Lady Lisle this be deUvered, with speed. LETTER LXI. Elizabeth Rede, Abbess of West Mailing, to Mr. Thomas Wyat. a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, first series, VOL. II. NO. 94, STATE paper office. Original.] *%* The foUowing letter is given as a curious specimen of diplo matic skill, in the ingenuity with which the writer attempts to parry the claims of her several petitioners for office. On the 17th of February she wrote to CromweU, stating her regret that she could not bestow the stewardship of her monastery on his nephew, Mr. Richard Cromwell, because of a previous promise to sir Thomas WiUoughby's ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 151 son, who was her nephew ja and three days afterwards she thus addressed a fourth applicant, who immediately sent off her letter to CromweU, among whose papers it is preserved. Right worshipful master Wyat, I commend me unto you, certifying you that I have received the king's grace's letters most favour ably written for you for the office of the high stewardship of our house. Good master Wyat, half-year passed I have made a fast promise thereof unto sir Thomas Willoughby, for his son and heir, after the death of master Fisher, to have the said office. And, also, I have received a letter from master secretary, for a kinsman of his mastership, for the same office, and upon his letter I have written unto his mastership of my fast promise aforesaid ; and also have promised him, by my said letter, that if the said sir Thomas Willoughby be contented to remit my promise that 1 have made him, that his mastership's kinsman shall have it. And farther, this day before I received the king's grace's letter, sir Thomas Neville, knight, hath written unto me for to have the said office himself ; and upon his letter I have made him promise, that if he can obtain the favours of master secretary and master Willoughby, that he shall have the same office. Wherefore, good master Wyat, I right heartily desire you to be contented, considering my a MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xlvii. fol. 184. 152 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND promises aforesaid. And if I had known the king's grace's pleasure before I had made them, as I am most bounden, being his grace's humble beadwoman, most gladly I would (have) accomplished his grace's commandment in preferring you to the same. And thus the Holy Trinity ever preserve you. Scribbled at our monastery of West Mailing, the 20th day of February, By yours, Elizabeth Rede, Abbess. To the worshipful master Thomas Wyat, Esq. To the surprise of the above candidates, a few days afterwards the abbess Elizabeth left them aU in the lurch, and gave the coveted office to one Edward Wotton, a private friend of her own. CromweU, in great indignation, immediately sent for Wotton, and, by promises or threats, induced him to reUnquish his newly acquired boon, and use his influence for Wyat, the king's protege, for whose sake the obse quious minister had waived his suit for his own relative. Wotton, in a letter dated March 6th, thus details the result of his visit to MaUing : — a " It may please your mastership to understand that, in my return homeward, I went to MaUing and declared to the abbess there how I had spoken with your mastership, perceiving by your communication that you did bear very great displeasure towards her for her late demeanours, both towards the king's highness and you, touching the office of the high stewardship of that house, and that you would shortly make the same more plainly to appear unto her ; whereof I shewed her I could reckon no way of help, unless she would be con tented to make a new patent of the said office under her convent seal unto master Wyat, and to send up unto your mastership the same new patent, as also mine, so as you and Mr. Wyat may see mine to be canceUed; and, in furtherance of that purpose, I was content to deUver - MisceUaneous Letters, vol. 1. fol. 574. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 153 my patent into her hands. Whereunto she answered, if I would so do, she would cancel my patent before my face, making no promise that Mr. Wyat should have any new grant thereof. Then I shewed her the only intent of deliverance of my patent into her hands should be for that she should so use the same as she might thereby recover your favour, which I knew well would not be unless she disposed that office to Mr. Wyat, and that she might esteem me to be of very mean wit if I would relinquish my hold in the said office after this sort, but only that I did see more danger like to grow towards her than the keeping of the office could be commodity to me. And thus, after long commu nication had with her, I could perceive no part of her determination in this matter, saving she said she would write unto your mastership herein. Wherefore, leaving my patent with her, desiring one of the chief servants about her to testify the intent thereof, I departed not a Uttle in her displeasure, insomuch she said she might have bestowed the office upon divers which would much better have shifted therewith than I have done. So that now, sir, I have lost this office, which was as meet for me as for any man, having thank of neither party." Shortly after this negotiation, Elizabeth Rede resigned her office to Margaret Vernon, the last prioress of West Mailing. The latest notice we find of her is in a letter from her brother-in-law, sir Thomas WUloughby. Writing to lord CromweU," he says, — '¦ Also, my lord, my wife's sister, dame Elizabeth Rede, your beadwoman, humbly beseeches your good lordship to have your letter to my lady abbess of MaUing, that she at your contemplation wiU be so good to her as to appoint her that room and lodging within the said monastery that she and other of her predecessors that hath Ukewise resigned hath used to have, and as she had herself a Uttle space, or else some other meet and convenient lodging in the same house ; not only that, but such plate as my father-in-law did deliver her to occupy in her chamber, that she may have it again." a MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xlviu. fol. 406. h2 154 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER LXII. Elizabeth Cressener, Prioress of Dartford, to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. VIII. NO. 44, STATE PAPER office. Original.] *** Although EUzabeth Cressener was prioress of Dartford during half a century, her name has not hitherto occurred in any Ust of the prioresses of that monastery. The allusion to Dartford being the only reUgious house of that order in England, is not easUy expUcable. In the Monasticon AngUcanum,a it is stated to have frequently changed between the Augustine and the Dominican orders, neither of which were uncommon in England. Edward III., who was the founder of the priory, stated that it was destined to the order of sister preachers, and this may possibly be what is meant. Jesu Maria. Right honourable sir, My duty of lowly recommendation had unto the same, &c. Pleaseth it your mastership to have in remembrance that of late you sent to me your letter for the office of our high steward, for a servant of yours, one Mr. Palmer, and at that time I was so bold to write to your mastership my mind, and all my sisters, in that cause ; certifying your good mastership that we never had none that occupied that room but such as hath been of the king's " Vol. vi. p. 537. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 155 grace's most noble council, as sir Reynold Bray, sir John Shaw, Mr. Hugh Denys, sir John Heron, and now sir Robert Dymmock, who hath surrendered into our hands the said office. Wherefore, if we durst be so bold, we would beseech you to accept such a poor gift, given to your good mastership by your poor beadwomen, with the fee thereunto belonging. Beseeching you of your charitable assistance in all our rightful causes, and especially that we may not receive into our poor monastery none of any other religion, for we be of that pro fession and habit that none other be of within this realm ; and therefore it should be very troublous to us to have any other than we bring up after our own order and fashion. As knoweth our merciful Lord, who have you in his blessed tuition and safe governance. By your daily oratrice, the poor recluse the prioress of Dartford, Elizabeth Cressener. To the right honourable Mr. Cromwell, se cretary to the king's most noble grace, this be presented. 156 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER LXIII. Cecil Bodenham, Abbess of Wilton, to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. LI. NO. 678, state paper office. Original.] *** CecU Bodenham succeeded Isabel Jordan as abbess of WUton in 1534, and received the royal assent to her election on the 25th of April in that year.a A letter of her predecessor, already given, b shews the difficulties experienced by the superiors of WUton in enforcing strict monastic discipUne, especiaUy in the point of enclosure. The present letter is a petition to CromweU for some sUght relaxations therein. Another letter from her, signed late abbess, written after the dissolution of her monastery, to intreat CromweU to continue to a kinsman of hers a lease she had granted him of some abbey lands, is in the same volume with the present.0 After my due and humble commendations to your good mastership, with like thanks for your goodness to my poor house in times past many ways shewed. Please it you to be advertised that master doctor Leigh, the king's grace's special visitor and your deputy in this behalf, visiting of late my house, hath given injunction that not only all my sisters, but I also, should continually keep and abide within a Patent roU, 26 Henry VIII. part n. b No. XV. in the present volume. c Fol. 676. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 157 the precincts of my house : which commandment I am right well content with in regard of mine own person, if your mastership shall think it so expe dient ; but in consideration of the administration of mine office, and specially of this poor house, which is in great debt, and requireth much reparation, and also which without good husbandry is not like, in long season, to come forward, and in consideration that the said husbandry cannot be, by my poor judg ment, so well by an other overseen as by mine own person, it may please your mastership of your good ness to license me, being associate with one or two of the sad and discreet sisters of my house, to super vise abroad such things as shall be for the profit and commodity of my house. Which thing though, per- adventure, might be done by other, yet I ensure you that none will do it so faithfully for my house's profit as mine own self. Assuring your mastership that it is not, nor shall be at any time hereafter, my mind to lie forth of my monastery any night, except by inevitable necessity I cannot then return home. With licence also, if it shall please your mastership, that any of my sisters, when their father, mother, brother, or sister, or any such nigh of their kin, come unto them, may have licence to speak with them in the hall in my presence, or my prioress, and other two discreet sisters ; which, of your goodness, if you grant unto us, we shall be your continual beads women to Almighty God for the continuance and 158 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND long preservation of your good mastership's pros perous estate. From Wilton, the 5th day of September. Your poor assured oratrice, Cecil Bodenham, Abbess there. To the right honourable Master Thomas Crom well, secretary and visitor-general to the king's highness. LETTER LXIV. Jane Lady Guildford to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. XV. NO. 68, state paper office. Original.] *%* Jane lady GuUdford has been previously noticed as the 11 mother GuUdford," whose dismissal from the service of Mary the French queen, by her husband Louis XII., excited much sorrowful resentment. On her return to England, Henry VIII., to compensate for her disappointment, granted her an annuity of 201. for Ufe for her services to his father and mother, and to his sisters, the queens of Scotland and France ; and the foUowing year added 401. more to it. Lady GuUdford lived to an advanced old age. An attested office copy of her wul, which was sent to lord CromweU by sir WiUiam Penison, one of her executors,3 is stiU in existence.b It bears date August 30th, 30 Henry VIII. (1538). She bequeathed her body to be buried in the church of the Blackfriars, the monks of which were to receive 20/. * Penison to Cromwell, 10th Sept. 1538. Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xxxii. fol. 235. b Amongst the MisceUaneous Exchequer documents, 2d series, No. 835, Rolls-house. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 159 to pray for her soul and the souls of her two husbands ; a also for the souls of sir Thomas Brandon, b of her son sir Henry Guildford, of her brother Nicholas lord Vaux, &c. To the sub-prior and to two monks of black friars, named Peerson and Willet, she also gave separate bequests of 53*. 4d. each to pray for her. She ordered that no pomp should be observed at her funeral, but " masses, dirges, and good prayers." To each of her servants, both men and women, she left 51. in money, a year's wages, and a month's board after her decease ; also a feather-bed, with sheets, bolsters, and other appur tenances, such as they usually slept upon, and a black gown. To poor householders in London, 10/. ; to prisoners, 20/. ; and 50/. to be distributed in sums of 6s. Sd. or 10s. to poor maidens on their marriages ; to lord CromweU, as a bribe to secure his good offices in the fulfilment of her wUl, she bequeathed her crucifix of gold, set with precious stones; to her nephew, Nicholas lord Vaux, her book of French, with her hanging of tapestry that had his arms, and her carpet of needle-work, that had her own arms in the middle ; to lady Kingston, her beads of coral, gauded with gold, and a pomander of gold ; and to sir WilUam Kingston, her " remnant of tawny velvet to make him a gown." To sir John Gage and sir WiUiam Penison, her executors, she gave 60/. each. Several legacies of money and clothes were also given to female relations, waiting-women, &c. At the commencement of her wiU, lady Guildford describes herself as of sound mind, but sick in body, and she only survived a few days. She died on Wednesday, September 4, 1538, between 11 and 12 a.m., " very weak and repentant," and was interred on Monday the 9th, at 3 o'clock p.m., not altogether without funeral pomp, although her wishes prevented any great display. Her ready money, plate, and jewels alone were, at a rough guess, calculated at 12,000 marks — a very large sum in those days.c a The name of her second husband was sir Anthony Pointz, but she retained the name of Guildford to the close of life. — Guildford and Pointz Pedigrees, College of Arms. See also Statutes of the Realm, vol. xi. p. 344, in which sir Anthony Pointz and lady Jane Guildford his wife, late wife to sir Richard Guildford, are named. b The uncle of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, who, in 1510, had bequeathed her a house in Southwark. c See, for these particulars, the letter of Penison, above quoted, and a joint letter from Gage and Penison to CromweU, date Sept. 6, 1538, fol. 249 of the same volume. 160 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND The present letter was written to entreat for a Uttle relaxation of the strict rules of monastic enclosure in behalf of the master of the Gaunts, a house of black friars standing on the right-hand side of the river Frome, near Bristol, and so named from its having been founded by sir Henry Gaunt. In this house lady GuUdford passed some of her later days, and bequeathed a gilt cup to the master, and 10/. to " sir John at the Gaunts" to pray for her soul. In my most hearty wise I commend me to you, with thanks for your great goodness all ways toward me, beseeching your mastership of continuance of the same, as my special trust is in you ; praying you to pardon my boldness in that I am thus a daily trou- blerof you. A suit I have now unto you, by reason of certain injunctions that I understand are given to the master of the Gaunts in Bristol, that no woman shall come within the precincts of the same, where I have a lodging most meetest, as I have chosen, for a poor widow to serve God now in my old days. And I trust both for myself and for my women, like as we have been hitherto, to be of such governance with your licence to the same, that no inconvenience shall ensue thereof. And where hereto before I have used from my house to go the next way to the church, for my ease, through the cloister of the same house to a chapel that I have within the quire of the same, I shall be content from henceforth, if it shall so seem convenient, unto you, to forbear that, and to resort to the common place, like as other do, of the same church. Farthermore, most heartily desiring you, as much ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. l6l as it shall become me in this case to be a suitor, to license the master of the house with a chaplain, to go abroad to see for the common weal of the same ; like as I hear say of your goodness you have done to other : for whom, like as for myself, upon my credit I shall be bound unto you, which is the thing I most esteem, that your goodness in this behalf shewed shall be as well to your contentation as to any other that you have shewed the same. And thus I make an end, beseeching Jesu long to pre serve you. Written at Hill, the 6th day of Sep tember. Sir, I pray give credence to this bearer. By your beadwoman, Jane Guildford. LETTER LXV. Mary Lady Guildford to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. XV. NO. 66, state paper office. Holograph.] *** The writer of the two foUowing and several other letters in the same MS. volume was the daughter of sir Robert Wotton, and second wife of sir Henry GuUdford, to whom and to his wife Henry VIII. in 1522 granted several manors. In June, 1531, he died, at the early age of forty-four, leaving a widow weU calculated, by her energy and business talents, to struggle with the world. She was ultimately re-married to sir Gavin Carew. 162 letters of royal and Jesu. Good Mr. Secretary, In my most hearty manner I recommend me to you, advertising you that I lately received by a lacquey of rny lady marchioness of Exeter a letter from you, whereby I perceive the king's highness hath given the keeping of Ledes and Langley to sir Edward Nevill, to whom you require me for your sake to grant the preferment of my lease of the three mills in Ledes park, and of the herbage and pannage, of Ledes and Langley ; and at that time of the receipt of your said letter, and by the same messenger, I received also a letter from the kind's highness for the said purpose, and a third letter from sir Edward Nevill of like effect. Wherefore, good master secretary, I think myself not well handled by Mr. Nevill in this matter; for, as he hath made it well appear to me, that he reckoneth by this means, what by the king's commandment and by your request, I shall by no means be able to say him nay of his desire, for if I should refuse to obey and follow the king's commandment, I should do more than becometh me to do, considering how good and gracious lord he hath been to me, which have nothing but of his grace's gift ; and if I should not accomplish your request, I were much to blame, considering what goodness I have always found in you in my suits to the king's grace, and by this handling it cannot appear, if I shall do any thing herein, whether I do it at the king's commandment ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. \63 or at your request : but notwithstanding, though my mind was to have kept it in mine own hands, I shall be content to commune with master Neville in this matter at a convenient leisure : so that my very trust is that neither the king's grace's pleasure is not that I should let it to my loss, nor you of your goodness I trust will not move me to the same. And thus, good master secretary, I commit you to God, whom I beseech to send you good and long life. At Bechworth Castle, the 9th clay of June, by the evil hand of the poor widow, Mary Guildford. To good Master Secretary this be deUvered. LETTER LXVI. Mary Lady Guildford to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. XV. NO. 64, state paper office. Holograph.] Good master secretary, I have received your letter, whereby I do per ceive that your desire is that I should take some reasonable way with Adam Sampson for a hundred pound that should be owing him by master Guild ford, whose soul God pardon ; which I assure you I would as gladly do as with any of the creditors ; 164 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND but he will take no way but to have all and in ready money, which I am not able to do, as I shewed you at my last being with you : at which time you were in hand with me for Marks Awgeyr, to whom at your desire I was contented to give out as much stuff as came to fifty pounds ; wherewith me thinketh he is not contented, and as you know — nobody better — that I have no money, nor the stuff is not raised to them but as it was appraised by the appraisers, to whom, if it please you to call to your remembrance, you gave the charge to appraise indifferently, and yet they are not contented. And as touching Adam Sampson, I have in like wise offered him fifty pound and he refuses it. Wherefore, good master secretary, I pray you take the matter in your own hands, and if you do promise him threescore pounds to be paid in stuff and in money, and the money to be paid as I am able to make it, which I think will be nine pounds a-year, and to offer him half in stuff and half in money, which I assure you is more than I am able to do, but with much pain, leaving any reasonable portion for master Monday, whose debt is that is owing to him nine hundred and thirty pounds, to whom I think myself as much hound in conscience to agree with as any other. Wherein, good master secretary, I most heartily and in the way of charity, beseech you to help me, for he will in no wise come to no end ; and I have offered him five hundred pounds, whereof three hundred to be paid out of hand in stuff ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 165 and plate, and one hundred pounds to be paid after my death, and the other to be paid yearly as I can make it. Whereto he was once agreed, and then brake off again, because he might not have the house and garden out of hand; which should have been his for the money that should be paid him after my death. Which payments I am not much able to perform after this sort if I do go thorough with Adam Sampson, but at longer days. And I think so to give him still five hundred pounds, if it please you to take so much pains for me as to speak with him, and to bring him to be agreed with this sum ; which I assure you will be much to my pain to perform : but that I would so gladly be at an end with these three that I have here rehearsed, that I shall the more willingly bear the pain, how great soever it be. And now that I have opened to you what I have offered them, you shall soon perceive with the sight of a bill that you shall see the next term, if it please you, what I have paid already, that there shall remain no great thing to myself of that which you of your goodness helped me to by the gift of the king's grace. Wherefore I once again, good master secretary, most heartily beseech you to take some pain for me as to speak with master Monday in this matter, and to bring him to a point ; for, if I obtain it not by your means, I think I shall never come to it. But I pray you never offer him above five hundred 166 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND pounds, for I am not able to go no higher; and if he be not contented with this, I would he and they would sue me, and then I think it shall appear to them that they shall not recover so much as I have offered them ; whereby they will the gladlier come to an end with me as I take it, whereof I should be a little glad. And thus, good master secretary, I am bold to trouble you, as she that hath few friends, and hitherto hath found as much goodness and help at your hand as at any friend that I have now living, beseeching you to help me in this matter, and so of continuance ; and so I pray you that it will please you that I may know what way you take with these men. If the letter be delivered to my nephew, Anthony Yssley, he will send it me. From Bechworth, the 18th day of December, by the evil hand of the poor widow, Mary Guildford. To good Master Secretary this be deUvered. In another letter from lady GuUdford, on the same subject as the preceding,1 she detaUs the number of debts owed by her husband, which greatly surpassed the value of his goods, but said that, as the king had compounded with her for 500/. for all owing to the royal exchequer,11 she feels herself released from all obUgation to pay her other creditors ; but is stUl willing to strain every nerve to satisfy * Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xv. art. 61. b This composition was made March 25, 1533. — Patent roll, 24 Henry VIII. part ii. On the close roU, 10 Henry VIII. m. 19, is a long list of recognisances, by which sir Henry Guildford bound himself to pay certain sums to the royal exchequer, but for what reason does not appear. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 167 them, leaving a very smaU sustenance for herself. This is dated AprU 31st, and on the 17th of Junea she reiterates the wish that CromweU would, as of his own accord, persuade her unrelenting dumier, Adam Sampson, to sue her at the law, that when he and the other creditors see that she has already done more than the law com pels, they may be better satisfied with her proceedings. LETTER LXVII. Catherine Lady Blount to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1535. [MISCELLANEOUS EXCHEO.UER DOCUMENTS, FIRST SERIES, NO. 809, rolls-house. Original.] *#* The present letter is without signature, but, from its style, as well as from its being dated at Knightley,b it is undoubtedly from the same Catherine Blount, a letter from whom has already been given. c It affords a curious specimen of an early electioneering squabble. In the present instance George Blount faUed in his object, but he was returned for Salop in the first parliament of Edward VI. a.d. 1547. Pleaseth it your mastership to be advertised, that at the coming down of the king's writ into Salop- shire (Shropshire) to the sheriff to choose the knights' for the parliament, there were of the worshipful of the shire with the justices that sent unto me and willed me to make labour that my son, George a Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xv. art. 63. b Of the four letters of Catherine Blount's which are known, two are dated from Knightley and two from Knigleit, probably different spellings for the same place. c Another letter from her to CromweU, as lord privy seal, about settling a quarrel amongst her neighbours, is in the Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. iv. art. 63, State Paper Office. 1 68 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Blount, should be one of them, and so I did, my son being at the court ; and, moreover, the shire laboured the sheriff that the election should not be appointed at Shrewsbury, because the plague reigned there so sore, but in any wise the sheriff would it should be there, to the intent that the inhabitants burgesses, with the franchise of the town, should assemble themselves to choose one Trentham : and so they assembled themselves riotously, that the worshipful of the shire were not content (saying their voice cannot be heard), and had much to do to keep the king's peace. Whereupon they titled their names and went to the sheriff, willing him to re turn George Blount, for they would have no other ; but in any wise he would not, because the under- sheriff is a dweller in the said town : and then the gentlemen delivered their names to this bearer, being a honest gentleman, to make report, who can advertise you more plainly than I can write (to whom it may please you to give credence), beseech ing you to be good master unto my son in this as •you have been unto me, and all those that mine be, at all times. And we can do no more but pray for you daily ; as we do, as knoweth God, who send you much comfort. Written at Knightley, the first day of June, by your beadwoman. a To the right honourable Master Secretary to the king's highness this be deUvered. = No signature. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 169 LETTER LXVIII. Elizabeth Countess- Dowager of Oxford to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxx. no. 130, state paper office. Original.] *** The present letter is inserted as affording a pleasing example of considerate kindness in the noble owner of extensive estates, in pre ferring old and tried tenants to new ones, however strongly recom mended. Right worshipful, In my hearty manner I recommend me unto you, giving you right hearty thanks that it hath pleased you of your goodness to give me your favourable reports unto my lord of Norfolk's grace, in pitying my losses, as I have well perceived by my lord of Oxford's letters to me, lately directed. And as to your requests in your late letters to me directed, dated the 28th day of October, I ascertain you I have not used to put out any farmer, albeit the years were determined, without great cause, but the old farmer rather to enjoy a new lease than any stranger. Yet notwithstanding my lease being to do you pleasure after the old lease determined, I shall be glad to accomplish your said desires ; so that your request be for any such your servant as VOL. II. I 170 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND shall dwell upon the same farm, as I have always used in all my leases ; considering as well for the maintenance of my manor and poor tenements there, as also for the wealth and relief of the poor tenants and parishioners of the same. As knoweth our Lord, who have you in his blessed keeping. Written the 3d day of November. Your loving friend, E. Oxford. To the right worshipful Master CromweU, the king's secretary, be this deUvered. LETTER LXIX. Margaret Dowager-Marchioness of Dorset to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second SERIES, VOL. II. NO. 24, state paper office. Original.] *** The abbey of TUtey, in Essex, was a frequent residence of the marchioness of Dorset after the decease of her husband, and in its welfare she was much interested. In one of her letters to CromweU she thanks him for having provided for the reformation of the abbey by displacing the former unthrifty abbot, and electing one who would, she hoped, attend better to the interests of the house.8 In another she exerts herself to gain for the abbey two benefices, about which a law suit was pending, — one of which she was the more anxious about, be cause, if it were so bestowed, it would be granted to the schoolmaster of her " son marquis," who could then attend him daUy at court.b a Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. ix. fol. 17. b Ibid. fol. 23. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 171 Notwithstanding, TUtey continued so poor that, at the dissolution, it was scarcely able to provide pensions for the only two monks who had been its latest inmates. a Good master secretary, In my most hearty manner I have me recom mended to you, and so right heartily thank you for the great goodness that my son marquis daily findeth in you, praying you so to continue to him, and that he from time to time may have your good counsel when you shall see need. And also for my part I heartily require you to continue my good friend, like as since my good lord my husband's death (whose soul I pray Jesu pardon) I have always found you in all my causes and matters. Wherefore it should be the more grievous to me now to find you otherwise minded towards me than in times past you have been, as partly it should seem by the message that Thomas Cornwall my servant, by your commandment, as he said, did lately report to me, assuring you, Mr. Secretary, it doth not a little trouble me to hear that you should think this monastery of Tiltey to be hindered or impaired by me, who have been always glad to help the same as much as in my small power hath lien. I doubt not but that by some sinister report it hath been shewed you much after the same manner, or rather worse ; but yet my trust is, Mr. Secretary, that you will be a Margaret marchioness Dorset to CromweU, ibid. 22. 17^ LETTERS OF ROYAL AND so good to me in this, or any other such like com plaints, to give little credence thereunto, till I may come to mine answer: whereby you shall bind me to reckon myself much happy to have such a friend, whereof no woman living hath more need than I ; for the most part of my lord's old friends have so forgotten their acquaintance with him, that I can reckon little assurance in any of them, save only in you. Master Secretary, you shall receive by this bearer, my son Medley, a poor remembrance of 10Z. and a cup, wherein I require you to consider more my good-will than the value of the poor gift ; and thus I commit you to the Holy Trinity, who have you always in his keeping. From Tiltey abbey, the 8th day of February. Yours assured to my power, Margaret Dorset. LETTER LXX. Catherine Countess of Northumberland to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, first series, VOL. X. NO. 45, SECOND FOLIATION, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original.] *** The countess Catherine was the daughter and coheir of sir Robert Spencer, by his wife Eleanora daughter of Edmund Beaufort duke of Somerset, a branch of the Lancastrian house of the royal Plantagenets. Her husband, Henry Percy, seventeenth earl of that ancient and noble house, was remarkable for his noble taste in archi- ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 173 tecture, and his love of the fine arts. His household-book for the year 1512, printed in 1770, affords ample iUustration of the splendid style of a baronial mansion. The household consisted of 223 persons, including almost aU the officers attendant upon a royal establishment, with singing men and choristers for the chapel ; the daUy expenditure averaging 1118/. 17s. Sd. The splendour of the Uvery and equipages of this nobleman, and the number of his retainers, excited jealousy in Wolsey, then archbishop of York ; and some angry correspondence passed between them on the subject.1 This great earl died at Castle Wressil, the early part of May 1527 ; on which occasion, as the young earl his son was a minor, Henry earl of Cumberland and Brian Higden were sent by the king to arrange the funeral, and wind up the affairs of the deceased nobleman. On the 15th of May they wrote to Heneage, gentleman-usher to cardinal Wolsey, complaining that, on account of the scarcity of provisions, and the large conflux of strangers, they feared they should scarcely be able to keep the house hold together till after the funeral.b In their second letter, dated June 17th, c they give the particulars of the funeral, the dissolution of the household, the disposal of the plate, jewels, &c, some of which, to the value of 666/. 6s. 4d., they had sold to the abbey of St. Mary's, York ; and also that, according to instructions, they had requested the countess -dowager and her sister to take up their residence with the earl of Cumberland. " And," continue the writers of this joint epistle, " I, the said earl of Cumberland, hath desired her thereunto in my most hearty manner, offering unto her to have mine house at her pleasure and commandment, and to be as chief lady and mistress of the same. And so she shall be, and I will so accept her with all my very heart, and in my most kind and loving manner. Albeit, she hath made answer unto us, upon good deliberation, that she is so weak, feeble, and diseased, that she is not able to take upon her such a journey as to ride into Craven. Albeit, we do perceive that it is sore against her mind to abide in the said country of Craven, as well for the coldness of the same as for other causes, which (as we suppose) she doth now write unto my lord her son ; and she would be right glad * The Ust of Wolsey's complaints is in MisceUaneous Exchequer documents, 2d series, No. 883 ; and Northumberland's reply, No. 2157, RoUs-house. b Chapter-house Scotland Correspondence, fol. 458, now in State Paper Office. <¦ Ibid. fol. 142. 174 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND either to tarry here or else to be with my lady Pickering in this country (being a widow, and of kin unto my lord her son), unto such time that she may be otherwise provided for, if she do Ue the more poorly for the season ; for she wUl be content to take much pain to please my said lord legate's grace, and to content my lord her son. And my said lady's children be marveUous glad to accomplish my said lord's grace's pleasure, and they do go with my said lord of Cumber land for the time, unto the farther pleasure of his said grace may be known." The wishes of Wolsey were, however, compbed with, for another letter of the countess, written at a later period, is dated from Bolton, in Craven, the residence of the earl of Cumberland.3 The present letter is one amongst hundreds which might be selected from the correspondence of the period Ulustrative of the extreme jea lousy with which the sUghtest murmurs against the king were watched for and suppressed. Master secretary, In my heartiest manner I commend me unto you. Please it you to be advertised, whereas it for tuned one of my servants at Lammas assize last past, at York, to be wrongfully accused for malice and ill- will of his great and old enemies, which hath long gone about him, compassing how at any time they might put him to displeasure ; and so at that time they made complaint of him for certain words, as they confessed themselves, that he should speak in drunkenness against the king's great highness : which words was examined and laid unto my said servant before the judges, and there openly he did deny them, saying that he never said them, and a MisceUaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. x. fol. 43, second foUation. The subject of the letter is a complaint against the parson of Catson, who had behaved disrespectfully to her. Another letter to CromweU, acknowledging favours and sending him a token, is at fol. 46. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 175 moreover knowledging himself to be as true a subject to the king's highness, to his power, as any is living. And notwithstanding all that, there did pass upon him an inquest of twelve gentlemen of the country, which did clearly acquit him of all things that was laid unto him. Howbeit, ever since he hath remained in prison, and doth still ; not only to the great loss and de struction of his goods, but also to the destruction and making lame his limbs. Therefore I beseech you most heartily, at this my writing and instance, to be so good as to send down to the sheriff your fa vourable letter by this bearer my servant, whereby he may be delivered, under surety, unto the next assize at York. And in your so doing I trust you shall do a great and a charitable deed, and also to me a great pleasure ; as knoweth God, who ever keep you. At my manor of Semer, the llth day of January. By yours to my little power, Catherine Northumberland. To the right worshipful Master Secretary be this deUvered. 176 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER LXXI. Cecil Lady Maunsell to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. XXVIII. NO. 31, state paper office. Holograph.] *%* In 1535, sir Rice Maunsell, having been previously knighted, was sent over to Ireland with a supply of soldiers to assist the lord deputy Skeffington in suppressing the Geraldine rebeUion. His de parture seems to have been hurried, and without leaving him time to make the usual preparations, as appears in the foUowing letter, fuU of conjugal affection, and in another dated Sept. 9,a urging the intreaty, that, since the king's enemies are now subdued, sir Rice may be per mitted immediately to return. The request was granted, and the fol lowing year he had a grant for life of the office of chamberlain of the county palatine of Chester. CecU, his third wife, was the daughter of WiUiam Dabridgecourt, esq. She had previously to her marriage been an attendant upon the princess Mary, who, in a letter to CromweU, requests him to favour sir Rice ; " for the said sir Rice hath married one of my gentlewomen, whom, for her long and ac ceptable service to me done, I much esteem and favour. "b Lady Maunsell seems to have died before her husband, since he makes no mention of her in his will, dated May 10, 1588. They Ue interred at St. Bartholomew's, London ; but a handsome monument is erected to their memory in Margam church, Glamorganshire, where their effigies at full length, surrounded by those of their three chUdren, are stUl to be seen. They were the ancestors of the present baronet of the same Good master secretary, My humble duty remembered. Pleaseth it your goodness, whereas the king's grace commanded my " MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xxvui. fol. 30. At ff. 26, 28, are two letters from sir Rice MaunseU. b EUis' Letters, 1st series, vol. U. p. 18. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 177 bedfellow, master Maunsell, to repair to Ireland to serve his grace there ; whereupon he, with all haste and speedy diligence, as his most boundenduty was, truly to serve his grace, repaired thither. At which time he passed not upon me, being his poor wife, neither upon his children, lands nor goods ; but left all his business, nothing regarding but only the king's grace's commandment, as his faithful true duty was. And whereas the most part of his poor living is incumbered with jointures and many other ways, with many charges, and no part of his mind therein known, so that if God should take him, I, with my poor children, were clearly undone ; forin these parts I am a stranger, and if the extremity should fortune I am assured of little favour to be shewed me, and also divers things which helped him well to his poor living when be was in these parts which now is not used to his profit : so that daily he sustaineth great losses, and continually shall do till his return, and never since his departing hath put nothing that he hath in no stay. Which considered, if it would (please) your good ness to obtain licence of the king's grace that he might come home for such time as it shall please his grace and you to appoint ; so that he may order such poor living as he hath that it might be used to his profit in his absence, and to the assurance of me and my poor children. And this I most humbly be seech you to shew your goodness in this my humble i2 178 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND suit, for in your goodness next God is all my trust for the saving of his life ; for, an he continue there this winter, I know well the pain and cold shall be so dangerous, that unless God preserve him he can not endure it. I daily see that ; for where the king's grace appointed him in his retinue two hundred there is many of them dead, and very few of them hath scaped of sickness. An he do tarry there, and have others appointed him, small service will they do at need with him, if he be not at the choosing of them. As Jesu knoweth, who ever preserve you with daily increase of honour. Written at Beaupere, this 3d day of August, By your humble daily beadwoman, Cecil Mat;nsei.l. To the right honourable Master CromweU, chief secretary to the king's most honourable grace. Endorsed, " My lady MaunseU." LETTER LXXII. Alice Lady More to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1535. [howard letters, p. 271. From the Original.] *** The wife of the celebrated sir Thomas More was the daughter of an Essex gentleman named Colt, who invited More, when a young law student, to his house, and introduced him to his three virtuous and accomplished daughters. " And albeit," says Roper, in his LUe of More, " his mind most served to the second daughter, for that he thought her the fairest and best favoured, yet, when he considered ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 179 that it would be both great grief and some shame also to the eldest to see her young sister in marriage preferred before her, he then of a certain pity framed his fancy towards her, and soon after married her. ' ' His disinterestedness was weU rewarded. Lady More proved a faithful wife, and their accomplished daughters were among the most learned ladies of their own or any other age. It is weU known that the high- minded integrity of More prevented him from enriching himself ; and though he had held the highest offices of state, yet pecuniary embarrass ments added to the distresses of his wife when his sunshine of prosperity had passed away. Her fear lest she should be prevented from pleading her husband's cause in person to the king arose from a suspicion of her house being infested with the plague, from the remotest contact with which Henry VIII. shrunk with almost ludicrous timorousness. After her husband's death, lady More had a pension of 100/. a-year aUowed her by the king.3 Right honourable, and my especial good master secretary, In my most humble wise I recommend me unto your good mastership, acknowledging myself to be most deeply bounden to your good mastership for your manifold goodness and loving favour, both be fore this time, and yet daily, now also showed to wards my poor husband and me. I pray Almighty God continue your goodness so still, for thereupon hangeth the greatest part of my poor husband's comfort and mine. The cause of my writing at this time is to certify your especial good mastership of my great and extreme necessity, which, over and besides the charge of mine own house, do pay weekly fifteen shillings for the hoard-wages of my poor husband a Issue Book, 31 Henry VIII. RoUs-house. 180 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND and his servant ; for the maintaining whereof I have been compelled, of very necessity, to sell part of mine apparel, for lack of other substance to make money of. Wherefore my most humble petition and suit to your mastership at this time is, to desire your mastership's favourable advice and counsel whether I may be so bold to attend upon the king's most gracious highness. I trust there is no doubt in the cause of my impediment ; for the young man% being a ploughman, had been diseased of the ague by the space of three years before that he departed. And besides this, it is now five weeks since he de parted, and no other person diseased in the house since that time. Wherefore I most humbly beseech your especial good mastership (as my only trust is [in you], and else know not what to do, but utterly in this world to be undone), for the love of God, to consider the premises, and thereupon, of your most superabundant goodness, to show your most favour able help to the comforting of my poor husband and me in this our great heaviness, extreme age, and ne cessity. And thus we and all ours shall daily, during our lives, pray to God for the prosperous success of your right honourable dignity. By your poor continual oratrix, Dame Alice More. To the right honourable, and her especial good master, Master Secretary. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. l8l LETTER LXXIII. Margaret Vernon, Prioress of Little Marlow, to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1535. [cotton ms. cleopatra, e. iv. fol. 55. Original.] *** The dissolution of the monasteries was one of those acts of mingled good and evU, justice and injustice, which, however beneficial in its ultimate results to the glorious cause of Protestant reformation, was at the time attended with much hardship and misery to mul titudes of recluses of both sexes, who were thus unexpectedly deprived of shelter and home. The original proposition was only to suppress such estabUshments as, upon a general visitation, were found to be irregular and licentious in their conduct ; but, to complete the work, the remainder were advised to offer their monasteries to the king, and throw themselves upon his generosity as to the disposal of them. This was the case with the priory of Little Marlow, of the order of St. Benedict ; and the present letter is addressed on the subject to secretary CromweU, the principal agent of Henry VIII. in this affair, by his old friend and correspondent Margaret Vernon. Two years afterwards it was given to the abbey of Bisham, in Berk shire, on its refoundation. At that time its clear annual income was only 232. 3s. Id. There were then resident in it only two nuns, two men and two women servants, and a priest.3 Margaret, trusting in the friendship of Cromwell, did not make any provision for herself, and the supplying of her own personal wants became a source of great anxiety, as appears in the present and foUowing letter. b She was afterwards prioress of West MaUing, and on the dissolution of that monastery in 1538 received a retiring pension of 40/. per annum. After all due commendations had unto your good mastership, with my most humble thanks for the great cost made on me and my poor maiden at my last being with your mastership, farthermore pleaseth it you to understand that your visitors hath been a Monasticon AngUcanum, vol. iv. p. 420. b Two others of similar purport are on ff. 110, 112 of the same MS. 182 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND here of late, who hath discharged three of my sis ters, the one is dame Catherine, the other two is the young women that were last professed, which isa not a little to my discomfort ; nevertheless, I must be content with the king's pleasure. But now, as touching mine own part, I most humbly beseech you to be so special good master unto me, your poor beadwoman, as to give me your best advertisement and counsel what way shall be best for me to take, seeing there shall be none left here but myself and this poor maiden ; and if it will please your goodness to take this poor house into your own hands, either for yourself or for mine own .... your son, I would be glad with all my heart to give it into your mastership's hands, with that you will command me to do therein ; trusting, and nothing doubting, in your goodness that you will so provide for us, that we shall have such honest living that we shall not be driven by necessity neither to beg nor to fall to no other inconvenience. And thus I offer myself and all mine unto your most high and prudent wisdom, as unto him that is my only refuge and comfort in this world, beseeching God of his goodness to put in you his Holy Spirit, that you may do all things to his laud and glory. By your own assured beadwoman, Margaret Vernon. To the right honourable, and her most special good master, Master Secretary unto the king's most noble grace. » It in MS. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 183 LETTER LXXIV. Margaret Vernon, late Prioress of Little Marlow, to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 109, state paper office. Original.] After most humble commendations, &c, pleaseth it your goodness to be advertised that I have divers times been at the Rolls to have spoken with your mastership, h but by the reason of the great mul titude of suitors, and also for lack of friendship within your mastership's house, I am kept back ; so that I cannot come to your presence to solicit my cause. Wherefore I most humbly beseech you to license me to write my mind at large, and that it may stand with your pleasure to command one within your house to put you in remembrance for an answer of your determination and pleasure. Sir, my request is to desire you to call to remem brance your good and comfortable promises made both unto me and unto my friends, whereunto I have ever hitherto trusted ; beseeching your goodness to open unto me some part of your determination what thing you mind that I shall have, or else to help me to some reasonable living, so that I may not continue this long suit. For I have but singly provided for myself to maintain it withal, because your mastership * CromweU was created master of the roUs on the 8th of October, 1534.— Patent roll, 26 Hen. VIII.pt. ii. 184 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND commanded me that I should nothing embezzle or take away, but leave the house as wealthy as I could ; which commandment I followed : I hope all shall be for the best. I pray our Lord put in your heart to make provision for me according to his holy will and pleasure, and wholly to rule your mas tership by his Spirit. Amen. Written from Stepney, the day after St. Paul.1 Your assured and most humble beadwoman, Margaret Vernon, Late Prioress of Little Marlow. To the right worshipful Master CromweU, the king's chief secretary. LETTER LXXV. Joyce, late Prioress of Catesby, to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. v. no. 180, state paper office. Original.] *£* During the visitation of the reUgious houses which preceded the dissolution, the verdict pronounced upon Catesby nunnery had been decidedly favourable, the prioress being characterised as a " right sad matron,'' and the sisters having Uved without suspicion of irregularity for sixty years.1" They received the king's commissioners 1 June 30th. b Dr. Tregonnel to secretary Cromwell. Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xliii. fol. 227, date Sept. 27th. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 185 with a degree of courtesy which those unwelcome officials but seldom met with, and were in consequence earnestly recommended to the royal forbearance, that if any houses were spared this might be among the number, one recommendation being that they were so bountiful to the poor.a Perhaps it was owing to these representations that queen Anne Boleyn interfered to rescue Catesby from impend ing destruction. The queen seems to have been disinterested in her efforts, since she was to receive only just the sum she paid to the king for his forbearance. The bribe offered to CromweU is but one of many proofs of the venaUty of that statesman. Pleaseth it your mastership to call to your re membrance that doctor Gwentb informed you yesternight that the queen's grace hath moved the king's majesty for me, and hath offered his highness two thousand marks in recompence of that house of Catesby, and hath as yet no perfect answer. If it may like you now, in my great sorrow and pensive- ness, to be so good master to me as to obtain that the king's grace do grant that the house may stand, and get me years of payment for the two thousand marks, you shall have a hundred marks of me to buy you a gelding, and my prayers during my life, and all my sisters during their lives. I trust you have not forgotten the report that the commissioners did send unto you of me and my sisters. Master Onley saith that he hath a grant of the house ; but my very a Letter of the commissioners to CromweU. Printed in Strype's Memorials, vol. i. part i. p. 394, Oxford edition; and by sir Henry ElUs, 1st series, vol. U. p. 72. b Dr. Gwent was much in favour ; he had a Ucense to wear his hat in the king's presence. He was dean of the arches for a long period. 186 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND trust is in God and you to help forward that the queen's grace may obtain her request that it may stand. And thus I beseech Almighty God send you ever such comfort at your need, as it was to my heart yesternight, when doctor Gwent did send me word that you would move the king's grace for me this morning again. Your most bounden of all creatures, Joyce, Late prioress of Catesby. To the right honourable and my most especial good master, Mr. Secretary. LETTER LXXVI. Queen Anne Boleyn to the Magistrates of the City of Bristol, a.d. vers. 1535. [lansdowne MS. NO. 1045, ART. 62, fol. 79.] *%* The letters already given of queen Anne Boleyn are not of a character to reflect honour upon their writer. It should not be for gotten, however, that the struggling cause of Protestantism in Eng land was indebted to her for support. It was the poUcy of the rival of Catherine of Aragon to espouse the contrary faith, which aided to loosen the matrimonial bonds between Henry VIII. and his first queen, and to raise his second to her short-Uved and perilous dignity. The four following letters refer to the obtaining of church preferments, &c. for learned Protestant ministers. None of them have before been published. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 187 Trusty and well-beloved, We greet you well, letting you to wit that for the great zeal and tender favour which we do bear towards the good advancement of it your town of Bristol, we be right desirous to have a friend of ours, who, as we know right well, is a man of right good learning, and of no less virtue and good de meanour, to be preferred into the room of master of the college of St. John Baptist, standing in RatclifT Pit in the town aforesaid : being of your patronage, after the decease of the now incumbent of the same. Wherefore we desire and heartily pray you that for this purpose you, at your contemplation of these our letters, will make your sufficient grant under your seal of the next advowson of the said college or hospital, unto our trusty and right well-beloved councillors, sir Edward Bainton, knight, our cham berlain, and Mr. Nicholas Shaxton, D.D., our al moner," and to our trusty and well-beloved David a Afterwards raised to the see of Salisbury. In a contemporary letter from dean Richard Sampson to the archbishop of Canterbury, Miscel. Letters, 1st series, vol. Ui. fol. 17, after promising to provide at his request, though at some inconvenience, that Nicholas Shaxton, the queen's almoner, shaU preach before the king some day in Lent, the dean adds, — " And to say Uberally to your grace of that man, by my troth I favour him in my mind for his learning. I pray God it (his sermon) may be moderate — the signs are not most pleasant — since that his teaching moveth no Uttle dissension among the people wheresoever he cometh ; the which is either a token of the new doctrine, or else negU- gence in not expressing of his mind more clearly to the people." The 37th volume of the 2d series of MisceUaneous Correspondence contains many original letters from this prelate. Strype speaks of him as a decided and vigorous reformer. 188 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Hutton. To the intent that they, immediately upon the next vacation of the same, may present there unto our said friend ; by whose good life and spi ritual conversation we verily trust that such cha ritable order, concord, and unity shall be augmented and increased among you, as may not only be to the pleasure of Almighty God, but also to the no little rest, quietness, weal, and benefit of your said town in time to come, whereof we be right desirous. And of your good minds herein we pray you to send to us your answer in writing, by this bearer, accord ingly. Given under our signet, at my lord's manor of Westminster, the 20th of January. LETTER LXXVII. Queen Anne Boleyn to Dr. Crome. a.d. vers. 1535. [lansdowne MS. NO. 1045, ART. 64, FOL. 79 b.] *%* The Dr. Crome here named was the same who, although at one time one of the court preachers,1 was, in May 1546, examined before the privy councU for preaching, by the advice of the celebrated reformer Latimer, two sermons at St. Paul's Cross and Mercer's HaU, not in conformity with the arbitrary pleasure of Henry VIII.b Newcourtc names Edward Crome as rector of St. Mary's, Alder- a Letter of the bishop of Rochester to lord CromweU. Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xxxv. fol. 114, State Paper Office. b State Papers, vol. i. p. 842. c Repertorium Ecclesiasticum, vol. i. p. 136. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 189 mary, about this period, but does not give the date of his instal lation. Strype, in his Memorials, preserves many interesting records of him, by which it appears that he was famed aUke for his piety, learn ing, and strict adherence to the Protestant faith. Trusty and well-beloved, We greet you well, marvelling not a little that, albeit heretofore we have signified unto you at sundry times our pleasure concerning your promotion unto the parsonage of Aldermary, within the city of London, which we have obtained for you, yet you hitherto have deferred the taking on you of the same ; by which your refusal, we think that you right little regard or esteem your own weal or ad vancement. We, minding nothing more than the fur therance of virtue, truth, and godly doctrine, which we trust shall be not a little increased, and right much the better advanced and established, by your better relief aud residence there, signify therefore unto you, that our express mind and pleasure is that you shall use no farther delays in this matter, but take on you the cure and charge of the said benefice of Aldermary, as you tender our pleasure in any behalf. Given under our signet, at my lord's manor of Richmond, the 20th of May. 190 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER LXXVIII. Queen Anne Boleyn to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1535. [HISTORICAL MSS. VOL. I. NO. 32. IN THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF dawson turner, eso.. Original.] Master secretary, Whereas heretofore, at our instance and for our sake, you have been good master unto Robert Power, whom we put to you in service, insomuch, beside others, you granted him afore this time, as we be informed, the nomination and preferment of an abbacy or house of religion for his friend, through the which he might be the more able to maintain himself in your service; and now, as we be in formed, the abbot of Wallryale in Lincolnshire a is lately deceased and departed this world, wherefore the said monastery is now void and without a head : wherefore we desire and heartily pray you, at the contemplation of these our letters and at our re quest, in preservation of your said grants to be fulfilled, to help his said friend to the preferment of the said house or monastery. And in so doing we shall hereafter have you in our remembrance, with condign thanks, &c. to be shewed unto you. " Vale-Royal in Cheshire ? There was not in Lincolnshire an abbey bearing a name at all simUar. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 191 Given under our signet, at my lord's manor of Langley, the 18th day of July, in the twenty-seventh year of my said lord's reign. Anne the Queen. To our right weU-beloved and trusty the Secretary to my lord's grace. LETTER LXXIX. Queen Anne Boleyn to the Abbot of St. Mary's, York. a.d. vers. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. lii. no. 42, state paper office.] *** WiUiam Thornton was elected abbot of St. Mary's, York, March 2d, 1530, and received the temporaUties AprU 10th.a Anne Queen. Trusty and well-beloved in God, we greet you well. And albeit at the time of your preferment to be head and governor of that my lord's monastery of Saint Mary beside his city of York, we then made request unto you for one dompneb John Eldmer, bachelor of divinity, a man, as we (be) credibly informed, of good learning, sad demeanour, and a The ruins of St. Mary's abbey, which have been recently cleared out, now form an object of interest to the visitors of York. They stand in the Botanical Gardens. b For dom, or dominus, or dan, as dan John Lydgate, monk of Bury. 192 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND virtuous governance, who then for the same his elect qualities stood in election (as you did) to be abbot, like as we doubt not but you remember right well, that the same dompne John Eldmer should apply and continue his study and learning at my lord's university of Cambridge for the increase of virtue and learning : wherewith at that time you were well content. Yet notwithstanding the same, you, contrary to our said request (as we be credibly informed), have not only called him from his learn ing at the said university, but also have intricate and charged him with sundry rooms and offices in your said monastery, to the no little disturbance and inquietation of his mind, and to alienate him as much as may be from his said study and learning : to our no little marvel. We, considering the good affection and desire the said dompne John Eldmer hath to the increase of virtue and learning, desire and heartily pray you. that you will permit and suffer him to repair again to the university for the intent aforesaid, giving unto him sufficient exhibition to the maintenance of his study there, or else to signify unto us in writing, by this bearer, a cause reason able why you defer to accomplish our said request made unto you in that behalf. Given under our signet, at my lord's manor of Westminster, the 13th day of May. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 193 LETTER LXXX. Lady Mary Stafford to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1535. [howard letters, r. 493. From the Holograph.] *„.* The writer of the foUowing very pathetic and eloquent epistle was the elder daughter of sir Thomas Boleyn, viscount Roche ford and earl of WUtshire, and the sister of queen Anne Boleyn. Much obloquy has been thrown upon her early history by a suspected disgraceful connexion between herseU1 and king Henry VIII., and the truth or falsehood of the suspicion has been warmly contested. It would seem, however, that the accusation was but too true. In the State Paper Office is an original confession of sir George Throck morton, who had violently opposed the marriage of the king and Anne Boleyn. In this document he detaUs a conversation he had with the king, in which Henry tacitly confessed, or at least did not deny, the fact of his previous association with her sister Mary.a * Letters to King and CouncU, vol. vi. art. 6. The passage aUuded to is in a detaU of Throckmorton, in a letter to the king, of a conversation between himseU' and sir Thomas Dingley. It is entirely in his own hand. They met in the gardens of St. John's, and con versing on parUamentary matters, " the said sir Thomas said, ' I hear say you have spoken much in divers matters ;' and I said, ' True it is I have spoken something in that of appeals : whereupon the king's grace did send for me and speak with me in divers matters, so that I perceive his grace's conscience is troubled, for that he hath married his brother's wife, and he thinketh God is not pleased therewith.' And I said to him, that I told your grace I feared if you did marry queen Anne your conscience would be more troubled at length, for that it is thought you have meddled both with the mother and the sister. And his grace said, ' Never with the mother.' And my lord privy-seal standing by said, ' Nor never with the sister neither, and therefore put that out of your mind.' " VOL. II. K. 194 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND The crimes and follies of the early youth of the lady Mary Boleyn were, however, forgotten, and she became, in due time, the wife of William Carey, esquire of the body to Henry VIII. His early death, in 1528,a left her « widow at a time when her famUy was rising high in court influence, and it was no smaU mortification to them that, a few years afterwards, she perpetrated a secret love-match with sir WiUiam Stafford. The present letter was written to secure the interference of Cromwell in her behalf, and, were nothing else known of Mary Boleyn, it would certainly be characterised as the production of a pure and high-minded woman. Master secretary, After my poor recommendations, which is smally to be regarded of me, that am a poor banished creature, this shall be to desire you to be good to my poor husband and to me. I am sure it is not unknown to you the high displeasure that both he and I have, both of the king's highness and the queen's grace, by reason of our marriage without their knowledge, wherein we both do yield our selves faulty, and do acknowledge that we did not well to be so hasty nor so bold, without their know ledge. But one thing, good master secretary, con sider, that he was young, and love overcame reason ; and for my part I saw so much honesty in him, that I loved him as well as he did me, and was in bondage, and glad I was to be at liberty : so that, 1 He died of the sweating sickness. They had two chUdren, sir Henry Carey, afterwards lord Hunsdon, queen Elizabeth's cham berlain, and Catherine, wife to sir Henry KnoUys, who, having been forced to fly from Romish persecution in the time of queen Mary, was made a knight of the garter and treasurer of the household by queen Elizabeth. — Hari. MS. 1233, fol. 81. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 195 for my part, 1 saw that all the world did set so little by me, and he so much, that I thought I could take no better way but to take him and to forsake all other ways, and live a poor, honest life with him. And so I do put no doubts but we should, if we might once be so happy to recover the king's gra cious favour and the queen's. For well I might have had a greater man of birth and a higher, but I assure you I could never have had one that should have loved me so well, nor a more honest man ; and besides that, he is both come of an ancient stock, and again as meet (if it was his grace's plea sure) to do the king service, as any young gentleman in his court. Therefore, good master secretary, this shall be my suit to you, that, for the love that well I know you do bear to all my blood, though, for my part, I have not deserved it but smally, by reason of my vile conditions, as to put my husband to the king's grace that he may do his duty as all other gentle men do. And, good master secretary, sue for us to the king's highness, and beseech his highness, which ever was wont to take pity, to have pity on us ; and that it will please his grace of his goodness to speak to the queen's grace for us ; for, so far as I can perceive, her grace is so highly displeased with us both that, without the king be so good lord to us as to withdraw his rigour and sue for us, we are never like to recover her grace's favour: which is too heavy to bear. And seeing there is no remedy, for 196 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND God's sake help us ; for we have been now a quarter of a year married, I thank God, and too late now to call that again ; wherefore it is the more almones (alms) to help. But if I were at my liberty and might choose, I ensure you, master secretary, for my little time, I have tried so much honesty to be in him, that I had rather beg my bread with him than to be the greatest queen in Christendom. And I believe verily be is in the same case with me ; for I believe verily he would not forsake me to be a king. Therefore, good master secretary, seeing we are so well together and does intend to live so honest a life, though it be but poor, show part of your good ness to us as well as you do to all the world besides ; for I promise you, you have the name to help all them that hath need, and amongst all your suitors 1 dare be bold to say that you have no matter more to be pitied than ours ; and therefore, for God's sake, be good to us, for in you is all our trust. And I beseech you, good master secretary, pray my lord my father and my lady to be so good to us, and to let me have their blessings and my husband their good will ; and I will never desire more of them. Also, I pray you, desire my lord of Norfolk and my lord my brother to be good to us. I dare not write to them, they are so cruel against us ; but if, with any pain that I could take with my life, I might win their good wills, I promise you there is no child living would venture more than I. And so ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 197 I pray you to report by me, and you shall find my writing true, and in all points which I may please them in I shall be ready to obey them nearest my husband, whom I am most bound to; to whom I most heartily beseech you to be good unto, which, for my sake, is a poor banished man for an honest and a godly cause. And seeing that I have read in old books that some, for as just causes, have by kings and queens been pardoned by the suit of good folks, I trust it shall be our chance, through your good help, to come to the same ; as knoweth the (Lord) God, who send you health and heart's ease. Scribbled with her ill hand, who is your poor, humble suitor, always to command, Maby Stafford. To the right worshipful and my singular good friend, Master Secretary to the king's highness, this be deUvered. LETTER LXXXI. Queen Catherine of Aragon to Dr. John Forest. a.d. 1535. [POLLINI, ISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA DELLA RIVOLUZION d' INGHIL- terra, p. 126. Italian.] *** The original of the following very interesting letter is now en tirely lost. It iU deserves, however, from the touching piety and resignation of its sentiments, to remain unknown to the EngUsh 198 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND reader, and is therefore presented in a Uteral translation from the ItaUan of PoUini. This writer, though a violent Romanist, never tampers with the documents he quotes, as is evident by a careful col lation of several of those printed by him with the originals which are stiU in existence. The following may therefore be considered as the genuine sentiments of the unfortunate Catherine of Aragon, although the language in which they are clothed has unfortunately had to pass through » twofold translation. It was addressed to her confessor, when he was suffering rigorous imprisonment in Newgate for his at tachment to his queen and his faith. Father Forest answered the queen's letter by an eloquent and pa thetic epistle, of which a translation may be found in Miss Strick land's Memoirs of Catherine of Aragon." The old man suffered a cruel martyrdom two years afterwards .b My revered father, Since you have ever been wont in dubious cases to give good counsel to others, you will necessarily know all the better what is needed for yourself, being called to combat for the love of Christ and the truth of the Catholic faith. If you will bear up under these few and short pains of your torments which are prepared for you, you will receive, as you well know, the eternal reward, which, whoever will basely lose for some tribulation of this present life, I verily esteem him wanting both in sense and reason. But O happy you, my father, to whom it has been graciously granted that you should ex perience this more fully than other men ; and that none otherwise than by these bonds, by this im prisonment, by these torments, and finally by a most a Queens of England, edit 1844, vol. iv. p. 138. b PoUini, p. 149. • ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 199 cruel death, for Christ's sake, you should happily fulfil the course of your most holy life and fruitful labours. But woe to me, your poor and wretched daughter, who, in the time of this my solitude and the extreme anguish of my soul, shall be deprived of such a corrector and father, so loved by me in the bowels of Christ. And truly, if it were lawful for me freely to confess what is my most ardent desire in reference to this, to your paternity, to whom I have always hitherto revealed (as was my duty) all the secrets of my heart and conscience, I confess to you that I am consumed by a very great desire to be able to die, either together with you or before you ; which I should always seek, and would purchase by any amount of the most heavy and infinite torments of whatever sort, provided it were not a thing re pugnant to the Divine will, to which I always wil lingly submit all my life and my every affection and desire : so much do I dislike, and so greatly would it displease me, to allow myself any joy in this miserable and unhappy world, those being removed of whom the world is not worthy. But perhaps I have spoken as a foolish woman. Therefore, since it appears that God has thus or dained, go you, my father, first with joy and for titude, and by your prayers plead with Jesus Christ for me, that I may speedily and intrepidly follow you through the same wearisome and difficult journey; and, meanwhile, that I may be able to share in your holy labours, your torments, punish- 200 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ' ments, and struggles. I shall have all this by your last blessing in this life, but when you have fought the battle and obtained the crown, I shall expect to receive more abundant grace from heaven by your means. As to the rest, I think it would be an ex travagant thing in me to exhort you to desire above all other things that immortal reward, and to seek to acquire and gain possession of it, at whatever expense of pain in this life, you being of such noble birth, gifted with such excellent knowledge of divine things, and (what I ought to mention first) brought up from youth in a religion so holy, and in the profession of the most glorious father St. Francis. Nevertheless, since this is a very principal and su preme good bestowed by God on mortals, that for his sake they may endure grievous pains, I shall always supplicate his Divine Majesty with continual prayers, with passionate weeping, and with as siduous penitence, that you may happily end your course, and arrive at the incorruptible crown of eternal life. Farewell, my revered father, and on earth and in heaven always have me in remem brance before God. Your very sad and afflicted daughter, Catherine. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 201 LETTER LXXXII. Queen Catherine of Ar agon to* * * . a.d. 1535. [cotton, ms. otho, c. x. fol. 176. Much burnt, supplied FROM SMITH MS. NO. 82, FOL. 11, BODLEIAN LIBARY.] *** So much has been written on the subject of the divorce between Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon,a and the subsequent indignities heaped upon the unfortunate queen, that nothing wUl here be added in iUustration of the foUowing letter (which contains an earnest remonstrance against the most keenly felt of aU her woes, — her separation from her chUd), excepting such particulars as are gathered from documents hitherto inedited. The foUowing extract is translated from the original Latin account given by John Louis Vives, a Spaniard, and a personal friend of Queen Catherine, b of her conduct when agi tated by apprehensions of her impending calamity. His intimacy with the queen caused him to be subjected to the severest scrutiny by the council of Henry VIII. ; but all they could extort from him was a tes timony aUke honourable to him who gave it — venturing alone, amidst parasites who feU in with every whim of their capricious master, to defend the cause of oppressed innocence — and to her whose meek en durance of wrong is thus vividly portrayed. After assigning his reason, namely, the express order of the king for thus laying open the confidential intercourse of private friendship, Vives thus continues : — " Last May (1527), when I asked permission from his royal majesty (Henry VIII.) to revisit my home and famUy, he asked me when I should return : I said I should return when it seemed good to him. a Amongst the most curious and least known printed works on this subject is a long dissertation against the divorce by Ferdinand Loazes, a Spaniard, dedicated to the emperor Charles V., and pub Ushed in black letter on the 5th of June, 1531. b Vives wrote a treatise on female education, which he dedicated to Catherine of Aragon, pubUshed in quarto at Antwerp in 1524 ; and a system of instruction for the princess Mary, dated October 7, 1523, from Oxford, where he had a lectureship. Soon after the com mencement of the misfortunes of his royal patroness he retired to Bruges, where he remained untU his death in 1536. k2 202 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ' Let it be after the hunting season,' he said ; ' that is at Michaelmas.' I answered, I would so do. At the same time the queen was in hand with me, that this winter I should teach the most illustrious lady princess the Latin language, and such precepts of wisdom as would arm her against any adverse fortune. That I might at once satisfy the royal desire and the wish of the queen, I returned here the latter end of September. The most serene queen, troubled and afflicted with this controversy that had arisen about her marriage, began to unfold to me this her calamity, since I was her compatriot and used the same language ; thinking, too, that I might have read somethmg which in this affair might be a consolation to her grief. Then she wept over her destiny, that she should find him whom she loved far more than herself so aUenated from her that he thought of marrying another ; and this affected her with a grief the more intense as her love for him was the more ardent. I answered her, that God thus ex ercised his own chUdren for the increase of their highest virtues ; that this was a proof that she was dear to God, and that thus she was more happy than those whose desires are crowned with success. As proof of this, I brought forward many examples, and that not only of holy men of our profession, but of others who were endowed with secular wisdom, and exhorted her to set before her eyes not ordinary misfor tunes but the bitterest possible, and to strengthen her heart against them ; that, whatever might happen, it would produce less impression and force upon a breast already prepared, in which she exceUed more than I, or aU those who had written on those subjects. " Who can blame me, that I listened to a miserable and afflicted woman ? that I soothed her by discourse and consolation ? She, a queen born from such a race, and whose parents, I tremble to re member, were formerly my natural princes, and of such virtue that she seems least of aU worthy of misfortune. In the course of time the thing went on, and reached the disputation and examination of the cause. What was concluded was not known. The queen was unable to ascertain what his royal majesty had decreed in this behalf ; for it was concealed from aU excepting a very few ; only report and common opinion was noised abroad that the cause was remitted to the pope. Then the queen commanded me to go to the emperor's orator, and to ask him, on her behalf, to write to request the emperor that he would deal with the pope, that she might not be condemned in ignorance (a thing indeed most just) ; but that she might be heard before his ho liness decided on her cause. The orator promised so to do ; but whether he did it, whether the emperor received the letters, — in fact, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 203 of the whole of what was done we are as yet ignorant. Who does not admire and respect the moderation of the queen ? In an affair in which other women would have raised heaven and earth, and fiUed all with clamour and tumult, she merely seeks from her sister's son to obtain from the judge that she may not be condemned unheard ! "This is the sum of aU about which the queen and I conversed, nor wiU more be found. Nor did I intermeddle with other things, because I interfere not willingly in the affairs of princes. Nor did she require more from me ; but, as a most holy matron, as I know her to be, and have ever found her, she trusted in no human aid or assistance, but in God alone, who gives these calamities to his own and takes them away again. May he, pitying his people, give peace and quiet to chiefs, people, houses, and every single man, for ever. " John Louis Vives." a Several weary years, spent in sickness and sorrow, passed over be tween the date of this statement and that of the following letter. A memorandum, entitled " Letters and presents sent to the princess dowager, A°, 23", 24°, 25° Henry VIII.," shews that during these years her residences were at the manor of the More, Woburn, Hatfield, Hertford, AmpthiU, and Bugden. Her correspondents during this time were " the lady marchioness" of Exeter; lord Mountjoy, her former page ; lady Salisbury, the governess of the princess Mary ; lady WUloughby, one of her Spanish maids, who had married the lord WiUoughby d'Eresby ; and, more frequent and more constant than all the others, the princess Mary. Though deprived of personal in tercourse, the mother and daughter kept up an uninterrupted cor respondence.1' Mary earnestly seconded her mother's entreaties for a 1 Miscellaneous Exchequer documents, 1st series, No. 63. RoUs-house. b The lady Darell, and Blanche, one of Catherine's maids, named by Shakspeare, were in constant attendance on their mistress during this period. For these particulars see the memorandum before alluded to in the MisceUaneous Exchequer documents, 1st series, No. 176. In the 2d series of the same records, No. 253, is an account of "the expenses of the lady Catherine, dowager of the most iUustrious Arthur, lately prince of Wales, and her family," from the 19th of December, 1532, to the 31st of September, 1533. The total amount expended during that time was 2951/. 14s. b\d. ; classified, as usual in royal accounts, into fishery, pantry, butlery, wardrobe, 204 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND meeting ; but " although," says cardinal Pole, " the daughter asked the same thing with tears, whUe her mother was trembling on the kitchen, poultry, scuUery, saltery, hall, and chamber, &c. This do cument proves that, up to this period, considerable attention was paid to the provisions for the state of the divorced queen. The allowance of plate for her service was also respectable, and principauy provided from the royal stores. The "book of the parcels of plate remaining with the princess-dowager for her daUy service," besides enumerating the usual articles of household use, gives us a curious peep into the contents of the private closet of the queen : — " In her closet. Item, a gUt pix, with the image of St. Jerome, weighing 11$ oz. Item, an image of St. Barbara, with a tower and a reed in her hand, aU gUt, standing upon a foot sUver and gUt, with a vice of sUver under the foot, weight 33f „ Item, an image of St. Peter, standing upon a base, with a box and a key, all gUt, with 2 silver pins under the base . . 33 „ Item, an image of St. Margaret, gUt, with a crown and a cross, standing upon a dragon with two wings and a writhen tail, standing upon a base with a rose, portcuUis, and fleur-de- lys, all gilt, with two pins of sUverwithin the base, weighing 311 „ Item, an image of our Lady, with a crown, a chUd, and a sceptre, standing upon a base, all gUt, with two pins of sUver under the base, weighing »¦>! „ Item, an image of St. Catherine, with a crown, a wheel, and a sword, standing upon a base, aU gUt, with two pins of sUver under the base, weight *4 » Item, an image of St. John Baptist, with a book and a white lamb, standing upon a base, aU gUt, with three pins of sUver ward under the base •>» ,, Item, a crucifix of the Spanish work, standing upon a foot of her own plate, weighing 95 » Item, a small crucifix, gUt, of her own 334 » Item, a little gUt box for singing -bird, of her own 6 ,, Item, a bezaunt of golt, of the Trinity and our Lady, of her own." — Miscellaneous Exchequer documents, 1st series, Ao. 529. After this period she was much neglected. There are in the State Paper Office MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xiv. art. 53, 54, and 56, three letters to Cromwell, dated August 19 and September 2 ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 205 brink of eternity, a thing which the most cruel enemy would never have denied, yet the wife could not obtain it from her husband, the and 27, 1535 ; and a fourth in 3d series, vol. i. p. 87, in which bitter complaints are made of want of money to carry on the expenses of her household. The avarice with which Henry grasped at her small possessions when she died is signally set forth in another letter in the same series, vol. xxxvi. fol. 192, from Richard Rich, dated Kimbolton, Jan. 22, 1536, in which he expresses himself much at a loss how to act in reference to the legitimate claims of her women and officers on her goods. He adds that, as some apparel was given away by her during her Ufe, and cannot now be honourably reclaimed, he is greatly at a loss how to fulfil the royal injunctions. With the same meanness, the king actually denied the queen the honour of having a hearse erected for her in St. Paul's, urging that it was an unnecessary expense! — Ibid. vol. xxxvii.fol. 23. Sadler to Cromwell. It can scarcely be wondered at that, treated with such mercenary cruelty as the unfortunate queen was during her last hours, a report should have been propagated on the Continent that she had been poi soned by the king's command. — See Letter from Philip to Cromwell, dated St. Sebastians, 30th January, 1536. Ibid. vol. xvii. fol. 267. Her situation excited universal compassion in the neighbourhood of her residence ; and a parish-priest of Kettering was summoned before the councU for saying it was a pity the king had not been buried in his swaddling clothes, and that whoever should venture to caU the lady Anne Boleyn queen at Bugden should have his head knocked to a post. — Ibid. vol. xxxiv. fol. 507. Catherine's patience under her matri monial troubles is commemorated by a biographer who wrote her his tory in verse, which he thus concludes : — - " Here endeth the history of GrysUde the second, only meaning queen Catherine, mother to our most dread sovereign lady queen Mary. Finished the 25 day of June, a.d. 1558, by the simple and unlearned Sir William Forest, priest, propria manu." Wood MS. 18 D, cap. iv. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Amongst the MisceUaneous Exchequer documents stUl remaining in the Chapter-house, 2d series, No. 2829, is one of several closely- written pages, seemingly a list of interrogatories to be answered by the bishop of Rochester, relative to some letters in an unknown hand ad dressed to Catherine as princess dowager, which had been found in his 206 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND mother for her daughter ; nor would he grant this last consolation to a departing spirit." a Mine especial friend, You have greatly bound me with the pains that you have taken in speaking with the king my lord concerning the coming of my daughter unto me. The reward you shall trust to have of God ; for (as you know) in me there is no power to gratify that you have done, but only with my good will. As touching the answer which hath been made you, that his highness is contented to send her to some place nigh me, so as I do not see her, I pray you vouchsafe to give unto his highness mine effectual thanks for the goodness which he showeth unto his daughter and mine, and for the comfort that I have thereby received ; and as to my seeing of her, you shall certify that, if she were within one mile of me, I would not see her. For the time permitteth not that I should go about sights, and be it that I would I could not, because I lack provision therefor. Howbeit, you shall always say uuto his highness that the thing which I desired was to send her where I am ; being assured that a little comfort and mirth, which she should take with me, should undoubtedly be half a health unto her. I have proved the like study, and also to some letters of hers ; but the document is so torn, eaten, and injured by damp, that until it has undergone thorough re pair it will not bear examination, since a touch destroys some parts of it. A Latin version of the same interrogatories, in Uttle better condi tion, forms No. 2856 of the same series. a Pole, Apolog. ad Carol, p. 102. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 207 by experience, being diseased of the same infirmity, and know how much good it may do that I say. And, since I desired a thing so just and reasonable, and (that) so much touched the honour and con science of the king my lord, I thought not it should have been denied me. Let not, for my love, to do what you may that this may be yet done. Here have I, among others, heard that he had some suspicion of the surety of her. I cannot believe that a thing so far from reason should pass from the royal heart of his highness ; neither can I think that he hath so little confidence in me. If any such matter chance to be communed of, I pray you say unto his highness that I am de termined to die (without doubt) in this realm ; and that I, from henceforth, offer mine own person for surety, to the intent that, if any such thing should be attempted, that then he do justice of me, as of the most evil woman that ever was born. The residue I remit to your good wisdom and judgment as unto a trusty friend, to whom I pray God give health. LETTER LXXXIII. Mary Lady Willoughby to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1535. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. LI. NO. 671, state paper office. Original.] *** Mary lady WiUoughby was, as has before been observed, one of the Spanish attendants of queen Catherine of Aragon. Her maiden 208 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND name was Salines, or Salucci, and her descent iUustrious. Through the influence of her mistress, whose anxiety for the matrimonial pro sperity of her maids of honour has been alluded to in several of her letters, the lady Mary became the wife of William lord WUloughby,* who settled upon her an ample jointure. The death of her husband in 1527 left her a widow before the period when the present letter was written. She was, as we have seen, in constant correspondence with her royal mistress, to whom she clung with the tenacity of long-tried affection ; but when she heard that the hand of death was heavy upon the queen, her agonised feel ings no longer permitted her to endure the restraints of absence im posed by the severe mandates of the king ; and, dangerous as were any manifestations of love towards the unfortunate Catherine, she wrote the following letter to CromweU, imploring permission to attend her. With womanly tact, she avoids giving her either the title of queen, which might have effectually nullified her petition, or that of princess-dowager, which Catherine so constantly refused to hear, and simply styles her " my mistress," or " her grace." Lady WUloughby's petition seems not to have been granted; for, although the day but one after the date of the present letter she arrived, weary and worn, at Kimbolton, she could shew no Ucense of entrance ; but, by a ruse of ingenious affection, contrived to obtain ad- mittance to the chamber of her dying mistress, who expired in her presence the very next day.b Master secretary, In as lowly manner as I can, heartily I re commend me unto you, &c. And thus it is I have forborne you all this same while, for my servant brought me word, when I sent him to you, that you were in such importunate business that you could neither dispatch me nor no other body. And now, a She was probably married in 1520, since in that year the king received her homage. She is styled " Mary de Salynas, a lady born in Spain."— Originalia, 8 Hen. VIII. Addit. MS. 6363, fol. 145. b The particulars of lady Willoughby's visit are most interest ingly given by Strype in his Memorials, and copied from him by Misi Stiickland, Queens of England, vol. ic.p. 141. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 209 Mr. Secretary, need driveth me to put you to pain, for I heard say that my mistress is very sore sick again ; wherefore, good Mr. Secretary, I pray you remember me of your goodness, for you did promise me to labour the king's grace to get me license to go to her grace afore God send for her : for, as I am informed, there is no other likelihood but it shall be shortly. And if so be that the king's grace of his goodness be content that I shall go thither, without I have a letter of his grace, or else of you, to shew the officers of my mistress's house that his grace is content with my going, else my license shall stand to none effect. And as touching that, there is no body can help me so well as you. Mr. Secretary, under God and the king, all my trust is in you : I pray you remember me now at this time. And so Jesus have you in his keeping. From the Barbican, the 30th day of December. By your beadwoman, Mary Willoughby. To the right worshipful Mr. Secretary, one of the king's honourable councU. LETTER LXXXIV. Anne Lady Berkeley to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1535. [cotton, ms. vespasian, F. xin. art. 177 a, fol. 161. Holograph.] *** The writer of the following letter was the daughter of sir John Savage, and the second wife of Thomas lord Berkeley. Her 210 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND husband had been in early Ufe the ward of Charles duke of Suffolk, and had contracted, by the connivance of his wife, Mary the French queen, a stolen betrothal with the lady Anne Gray, daughter of the marquis of Dorset, and one of the maids of honour of that queen ;a but the match was broken off, and Berkeley wedded, first, Mary daughter of lord Hastings, and afterwards Anne Savage. During the time of her married Ufe she seems to have been active in tie management of her husband's affairs. A letter of hers to Crom weU at this timeb complains of a person who, " for malice or lucre," has got possession of some lands adjoining Berkeley castle which had usually belonged to the lords of Berkeley. This person, she says, " maketh his cracks, and putteth no doubt but he wUl have it, which should be unto my husband and me a great hinderance, and also a great blemish unto my worship, that such a lewd feUow as he is should so encroach upon me, I paying as much rent as another wiU do." Lord Berkeley's premature death on the 19th of September, 1534, left her a widow, with a Uttle daughter three quarters of a year old, and nine weeks and four days afterwards she gave birth to her son and heir Henry. The young widow conducted her affairs with great spirit. Several other letters of hers to CromweU are extant : one requesting a discharge from the Uvery of the lands of her late husband ;c another complaining that, in a suit between her and the executors of her late husband's father, they, by favour of the master of the wards, had re tained Serjeant Montague, who had been her husband's favourite legal adviser, and whose enlistment on the opposite side tended greatly to embarrass her ;d and a third requesting to have the abbey of Ringswood for her chUdren, since it had been founded by the Berkeley fanny.' But the most curious account of her spirited temper is found in a letter from John Barlow, dean of Westbury coUege, to lord CromweU,' in which he states that, passing by the church-house of the parish of Yate, in Gloucestershire, where the lady Anne Berkeley resided, he found several persons playing at tennis in service time ; and on his a Suffolk to Wolsey. Wolsey Correspondence, vol. xi. pt. i. fol. 226, State Paper Office. b Howard Letters, p. 311. c Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. in. fol. 175. State Paper Office. •> Ibid. fol. 174. « Ibid. fol. 172, date llth Feb. 1538. ' Ibid. fol. 65. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 211 approach they ran away : but he obtained the names of some of the trespassers, and summoned them before the sessions. " But," he adds, " at my coming to the said sessions there was such a band of the said lady Berkeley's servants and retainers, being common jurors aU, as she hath no smaU number of such, and were impanelled the same time in juries there, rather to let (hinder) than to prefer justice, as I then mistrusted, and as most commonly they use to do ; for fear of the same, I thought it good to defer the setting forth of the said matter tiU the coming of the justices of the assize ; wherewith the said lady Berkeley, upon knowledge given to her of the same, greatly being dis pleased, uncharitably raUed with many slanderous and opprobrious words against me in the presence of diverse gentlemen, wishing that the said evtt-disposed persons had beaten me, saying that I should have been weU beaten indeed if she had had knowledge before of my coming thither: and farther, with threatening words, said, at the same time, that she would sit upon my skirts." One of the causes of the indignation felt by lady Berkeley against the dean was, that he had persecuted a Romish priest for keeping forbidden books ; who, being a retainer of hers, was concealed by her from the rigour of the law, and in revenge she accused him and his servants of diverse trespasses at Gloucester. The present letter refers to lady Berkeley's situation as one of the king's wards. After my duty of due recommendations to your mastership had, I humbly recommend me unto you, right so thanking your good mastership of your manifold kindness to me shewed, with humble desires of your good continuance, &c. Pleaseth your mastership to be advertised, that the master of the king's wards maketh great stays that the writs concerning the office to be founden, after the decease of my late lord and husband, whose soul God pardon ; whereby the farther as surance of my poor jointure should be found, the 212 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND occasion whereof your mastership knoweth ri°-ht well, &c. Sir, it is great loss and hinderance to me, and no profit unto him, for I cannot survey or ever see the same, nothing to my profits. Wherefore, an it might stand with your mastership's pleasure to be so good master unto me as to move the king's highness in my behalf touching the premises, so that the said master may owe his lawful favour in that behalf, I were farther bounden, as I have been ever, not only to be your beadswoman, but also to content and pay your fee of Silebe, which I knowledge to be un paid for this year ; instantly desiring you to take no displeasure for the same : for I assure your master ship very need causeth me to be slack, not doubting but I shall, ere it be long, make payment thereof. I am so bold to write unto your mastership, for that my special trust is in the goodness of your master ship ; as Christ best knoweth, to the governance of whom I remit your good mastership, with long life and prosperous health, and much increase of honour. Written the first day of May. Yours to command, Anne Berkeley, Widow. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 213 LETTER LXXXV. Elizabeth Shelley, Abbess of St. Mary's, Winchester, to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1535. [lisle PAPERS, VOL. XIII. NO. 104, state paper office. Original.] *£* On the departure of lord and lady Lisle to Calais, lord Lisle's two younger chUdren were left in England. The lady Elizabeth Plantagenet remained in the care of her half-brother, sir John Dudley, a and the lady Bridget, who was the youngest, resided at Subberton, hut was placed soon afterwards under the charge of EUzabeth SheUey, abbess of St. Mary's, Winchester, for education. This lady was a person of great energy and spirit; in 1536, when her convent was destined to dissolution along with aU the smaUer monasteries of under 200?. annual income, she contrived not only to avert the catas trophe, but to obtain a re-foundation of her house, with almost aU its former possessions ; b and when, in 1540, it was at last dissolved, she remained in Winchester, still indulging the hope of its restoration, as appears by the terms of a gift from her of a silver chaUce to the coUege of Winchester, on condition that it should be presented to St. Mary's if it were ever restored.' The foUowing letters shew the detaUs of her correspondence with the step-mother of her young pupil. After due recommendation, pleaseth it your good ladyship to know that I have received your letter, dated the 4th day of February last past, by the which I do perceive your pleasure is to know how mistress Bridget your daughter doth, and what " Lisle Papers, vol. xiv. art. 44 ; vol. iv. art. 90, 108. b Fcedera, vol. xiv. p. 574. ' Monast. Anglic, vol. ii. p. 452. 214 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND things she lacketh. Madam, thanks he to God, she is in good health, but I assure your ladyship she lacketh convenient apparel, for she hath neither whole gown nor kirtle, but the gown and kirtle that you sent to her last. And also she hath not one good partlet to put about her neck, nor but one good coif to put upon her head.a Wherefore, I beseech your ladyship to send to her such apparel as she lacketh, as shortly as you may conveniently. Also, the bringer of your letter shewed to me that your pleasure is to know how much money I have received for mistress Bridget's board, and how long she hath been with me. Madam, she hath been with me a whole year ended the 8th day of July last past, and as many weeks as is between that day and the day of making of this bill, which is thirty- three weeks ; and so she hath been with me a whole year and thirty-three weeks, which is in all four score and fi -e weeks. And I have received of mistress Katherine Mutton, 10s., and of Stephen Bedham, 20s.; aud I received the day of making of this bill, of John Harrison, your servant, 40s. : and so I have received in all, since she came to me, to ward the payment for her board, 70s. Also, madam, I have laid out for her, for mending of her gowns a John Pownte, a priest of Subberton, in whose care lady Bridget and Mr. George Basset had been left, wrote to request lady Lisle to send Bridget " a thing that goeth over the forepart of the head," to be made of crimson satin and edged with gold. The word coj/'had no place in his canonical vocabulary. — Lisle Papers, vol. xiii. art. 48. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 215 and for two matins books, four pair of hosen, and four pair of shoes, and other small things, 3s. 5d. And, good madam, any pleasure that I may do your ladyship, and also my prayer, you shall be assured of, with the grace of Jesus, who preserve you and all yours in honour and health. Amen. Written at Winchester, the 26th day of Fe bruary, by her that is at your commandment, Elizabeth Shelley. To the right honourable lady my Lady Lisle. LETTER LXXXVI. Elizabeth Shelley to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1535. [lisle papers, VOL. XIII. NO. 105, state paper office. Original.] Mine singular and special good lady, I heartily recommend me unto your good lady ship ; ascertaining you that I have received from your servant this summer a side of venison and two dozen and a half of pee-wits. And whereas your ladyship do write that you sent me an ermine cape for your daughter, surely I see none ; but the tawny velvet gown that you write of, I have received it. I have sent unto you, by the bringer of your letter, your daughter's black velvet gown; also I have caused kirtles to be made of her old gowns, accord- 216 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ing unto your writing ; and the 10s. you sent is be stowed for her, and more, as it shall appear by a bill of reckoning which I have made of the same. And I trust she shall lack nothing that is necessary for her. And thus I pray Jesu alway preserve my good lord and you to his pleasure. The 2d day of October, by yours to her small power, Elizabeth Shelley, Abbess. To mine singular and especial good Lady Lisle. LETTER LXXXVI I. Elizabeth Shelley to Lady Lisle, a.d. vers. 1536. [lisle papers, VOL. XIII. NO. 106, STATE paper office. Original.] Madam, In my most lowly manner my duty remembered. This is to advertise your ladyship, upon a fourteen or fifteen days before Michaelmas, mistress Waynam and mistress Fawkenor came to Winchester to see mis tress Bridget Lisle, with whom came two of my lord's servants, and desired to have mistress Bridget to sir Anthony Windsor's to sport her for a week. And because she was out of apparel, that master Windsor might see her, I was the better content to let her go ; and since that time she came no more at Winchester : wherein I beseech your ladyship ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 217 think no unkindness in me for my light sending of her: for if I had not esteemed her to have come again, she should not have come there at that time. And thus I refer me to your ladyship, and I beseech Jesu long to preserve you and all yours. Written at Winchester, the 21st day of Sep tember, By your poor beadwoman, Dame Elizabeth Shelley. To the right honourable and my singular good lady my Lady Lisle, this be delivered. Sir Anthony Windsor was the steward at Subberton, and pro bably an old and faithful servant of the Greys, the family of lady Bridget's mother. The detention of his young lady is thus mentioned by himself in a letter to lord Lisle." " Also mistress Bridget recommendeth her to your good lordship, and also to my lady, beseeching you of your blessing. She is now at home with me, because I wUl provide for her apparel such things as shaU be necessary, for she hath overgrown all that ever she hath, except such as she hath had of late : and I wiU keep her here stiU if it be your lordship's and my lady's pleasure that I shall so do, and she shaU fare no worse than I do, for she is very spare and hath need of cherishing ; and she shaU lack nothing in learning nor otherwise that my wife can do for her." The old man's wishes seem to have been granted, and he to have been permitted to cherish his young mistress tUl lady Lisle visited England in 1538, when, contrary to her husband's wishes, she took her step-daughter back to Calais with her.b On the attainder of lord Lisle in 1540, Bridget was residing with her father, and, as there was no matter of accusation, the king's plea sure was consulted as to what was to be done with her.c a Lisle Papers, vol. viti. fol. 78. b Lord to lady Lisle, vol. i. art. 18. c Earl Sussex and sir John Gage to earl Essex. Calais Corresp. bundle 1, art. 34, State Paper Office. VOL. II. L 218 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND In spite of her youth and innocence, she was placed under capti vity in a separate place from either her step-mother or sisters, with whom she was aUowed no sort of intercourse.11 Here she probably remained tUl their return to England in 1542, soon after which she became the wife of sir William Carden. LETTER LXXXVI1I. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1536. [cotton, ms. vespasian, r. xin. fol. 79. Original.] *** EUzabeth duchess of Norfolk was the eldest daughter of Edward duke of Buckingham, and the wife of Thomas duke of Nor folk, who married her on the decease of the princess Anne Plantagenet, his first wife, sorely to her discomfort, since she was previously plighted to Ralph earl of Westmoreland, between whom and herself had existed a long and ardent attachment. The marriage was, as might have been expected, an unhappy one, though for many years an amicable exterior conduct was adopted. The violent quarrels between the duchess of Norfolk and her hus band seem to have been partly occasioned by the matrimonial infidelity of the duke, of which, in some of her subsequent letters, she so bitterly complains, though no doubt greatly aggravated by the termagant temper of his duchess. This is evident from the fact, that her brother and others of her own relations frequently endeavoured to induce her to a reconciUation with her husband, and greatly blamed her violent conduct and language. The foUowing extract from a letter addressed' by her brother, Henry Stafford, to secretary CromweU, in answer to a request preferred by the duke of Norfolk and seconded by Crom weU, that he would receive the duchess into his own house, gives a graphic picture of this tameless shrew : — " Right worshipful master CromweU, With as hearty recommendations as my heart can think I recom mend me unto you, and certify you I received this day your loving » Turpyn's Chron. Hari. MS. 542, fol. 65 b. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 219 letters by my lord of Norfolk's servant. And by the content of the same I perceive your advertisement touching the taking of my lady of Norfolk into my house, whereby you reckon that, by my good counsel, a quietness and tranquUUty between my lord and her might ensue and continue. Sir, to be assured of that, I would not only receive her into my house, but I would fetch her on my feet at London, and endure also a greater pain ii need were ; but the redress of this standeth not in the advertisement (advice) of her kin, whereof she hath had sundry times great plenty near, in the pitiful exclam ation of her poor friends, praying her to caU to remembrance the great honour that she is come to by that noble man her husband, and in what possibUity she was in to do aU her friends good, if she had foUowed the king's highness' pleasure — as doth become every true subject to do, which shewed her so great favour that had been to move any aUen's heart I think Uving — and the gentle advertisement that his highness hath sent to her divers times, as of some his highness made me privy unto. And also, on the other side, to consider what more shame could her enemies wish her than to be at this continual contention with my lord her husband, which doth not only make him to absent her company, and nothing to tender the preferment of any of her friends ; but also, beside the common obloquy of this world, which every good person would eschew, bring herself in the king's high displeasure, which is to every true heart death, and her poor friends in continual hinderance, whereof our Lord knows they have no need, to the uttermost discomfort of her well-wUlers and rejoicing of them that bear her no good-wUl. Now, since aU these considerations, sundry times renewed by the best and wisest of her kin, nor the wisdom nor gentleness of my said lord's grace her husband, can not induce her to break her sensual and wilful mind, only reckoning at all times her own wit best, and taking me and aU other at aU times for flatterers and Uars that have advertised her to a better con formity. As this is not to my said lord unknown, I trust that you nor other my good friends wiU not reckon that in this matter I might do good, but rather to put myself in great jeopardy to match myself with her, that by her wild language might undo me and aU mine, and never deserving the same. But if I had not found you my especial good friend, I would never have opened my mind so far, which is my shame and sorrow, being her brother, to rehearse."2 aMiscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xl. fol. 573. State Paper Office. 220 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND The ultimate separation of the duke and duchess took place on Tuesday, March 23d, 1534.a Master secretary, In my most loving wise I commend me unto you. And this my writing to you is that I desire and pray you to have me in remembrance with some venison when you see time convenient, for it is very scanty with me, for there be many of my friends that sent me venison the last year, that dare not send me none this year for my lord's displeasure, and my lord my husband never sent me none since I came to Redburn ; and I heartily thank you for all such kindness as you have done for me, and I pray you to continue still good friend, and I pray God I may deserve some part of your kindness that you have shewed me. No more to you at this time, but I pray God send you as well to fare as I would myself. Written at Redburn, the 23d day of August. Master secretary, I pray you to let me have knowing whether you have received my book of 1 In a letter in the State Paper Office, dated March 3d, and endorsed, Anno 30° (1539), the duchess says she has been from her husband five years ; and in another letter she names the Tuesday in the Passion, week as the particular day of separation. The same date is fixed in a paper in the Gentleman's Magazine for March 1S45, from the fact that the letters on her matrimonial quarrels, which extend over four years, are aU addressed to CromweU as privy seal, an office which he only held from 1536 to 1540, — thus determining the dates of the letters, from which that of the separation is readily calculated. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 221 articles and my letter that I sent you withal, to entreat my lord my husband to have a better living. I pray you send me word in writing what answer you had. I pray to God that it may be my fortune to do you some pleasure for the kindness that I have found in you ; you shall have my heart and my good (will) while I live, and all the friends that I can make. By yours as long as I live, as the p . . . poor friend, E. Norfolk." I pray you send me my book (of) articles by this bearer, as my trust is in you. To my very good friend Master Secretary, one of the king's most honourable council. a The original orthography of the latter paragraph, which was written by the duchess, is as foUows : — Master secretary, I pra you to lat me haff knowyng wwhether you haff rassawyd my boke hoff hartacles and my later that I sand you, wythal to intrat my lord my hosban to haff a bater leffeng. I pra you sand me word in wryeteng wat hanware you had. I pra to God that I maybe my fforten to do you sum plaser ffor the kyness that by haff ffon in you ; he sal haff my hart and my god wyl hy leff, and hal the ffrendes thahat I kan make. By yours hass hass long hass I leffe, hass the p . . . power ffrend, E. NORFFLKEY. I pra you sand me my boke artycless by thess barer, hass my trosst hiss in you. 222 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER LXXXIX. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1536. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, FIRST SERIES, VOL. VIII. FOL. 157, state paper office. Holograph.] Master secretary, Here I send you a pair of carving-knives, that you should have had at new-year tide an they had been ready, and I am sorry that I have no better to send you ; but I pray you to accept my good will : for, an I were able to my good will, I would it were worth a hundred pounds for the kindness that I have found in you : but you shall be sure of my heart during my life. I fear me that you cannot read my hand, it is so ill English. I pray you to send me word in writing an you can read my hand or not. No more to you at this time, but I pray God send you as well to do as I would myself. 3d day of March. By yours during my life, E. Norfolk. To Master Secretary. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 223 LETTER XC. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1536. [cotton ms. titus, B. i. fol. 384. Original.] *** The quarrel of the duchess of Norfolk was not confined to her husband, but extended also to her daughter and her son. Her complaints of the latter wiU meet with Uttle sympathy, however, when it is remembered that this " ungracious son " was the chivalrous, the accompUshed, the generous, the Ul-fated " Surrey of the deathless lay," whose name is famUiar to every English ear as one of the earUest and most graceful of our national bards, and whose life was an embodied personification of the genius of his poetry. My very good lord, In my most loving wise I commend me unto you, and I thank, you for all your kindness that you have shewed me. You have bound rne to love you, and all yours that be of your kin, during my life. My lord, since I came home I had a letter from my aunt Hastings, and she desired me to deny the said two articles ; and I do send to Mr. Richard Cromwell a copy of the letter of the answer I made to her, to deliver to you: which I pray you take the pain to over-read at your convenient leisure ; and there you shall perceive that I will never deny the said two articles during my life. And so I pray you shew my lord my husband that I will 224 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND never deny them, for no ill handling that he can do to me ; nor for no prisonment : so I pray you shew my lord my husband that he may trust to it. Seeing that I will not do it at the king's com mandment, nor at your desire, I will not do it for no friend nor kin I have living : nor from this day- forward I will never sue to the king, nor to none other, to desire my lord my husband to take me again : for I have made much suit to him and no thing regarded; and I made him no fault, but in declaring of his shameful handling of me : as I have written to you, my lord, in other letters before. There shall no imprisonment change my mind, nor a less living. I pray you, my lord, to be in hand with the king to get me a better living, ere my lord my husband go northwards : for I have but 50/. the quarter, and here I lie in a dear country, and I but three hundred marks a-year. I have been from my lord my husband, come the Tuesday in the Passion-week, three years. Though I be left poorly, yet I am content withal, for I am out of danger of mine enemies, and of the ill life that I had with my lord my husband since he loved Bessy Holland first, which was but washer of my nursery eight years, and she hath been the causer of all my trouble. I pray you, my lord, when you be at leisure, write to me an answer whether I shall have a better living or not : for if my lord my husband go northward, I will get me into some other quarter, where I may be better cheap. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 225 I am fully determined never to write nor to send more to my lord my husband as long as I live, how poorly soever I live ; for he never sent me answer of the last letter that I did write to him by the king's commandment, nor no answer of the two gentle letters that I did write to him before. And if he should take me again, I know well it is more for the shame of the world than for any love he beareth me ; for I know well, my life should be as ill as ever it was. I have been well used, since I went from him, to a quiet life, and if I should come to him, to use me as he did, he would grieve me worse now than it did before ; because I have lived quiet these three years, without brawling or fighting. I may say I was born in an unhappy hour to be matched with such an ungracious husband, and so ungracious a son and daughter. My lord, I thank you for all your kindness that you have done for me, which I will never forget. No more to you at this time ; hut I pray God send you as much honour, and as well to do, with long life and health, as I would myself; and to over come your enemies. Written at Redburn, the 30th day of December, by yours that is most bounden to you during my life, E. Norfolk. My lord, I pray you shew my lord my husband this letter. l2 226 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND My very good lord, — Here I send you, in token of the new year, a glass of steel a set in silver-gilt, in token of the new year, I pray you take it worth : an I were able it should be better. I would it were worth a thousand pounds. I pray God send you as many good new years as I would myself, (with) long life (and) as much honour.b I thank you, my lord, for all your kindness, and I pray (you) to continue so to (be) good lord to me, as my trust is in you next God. I pray you to speak to my lord my husband and the king's grace for me, that I may have a better living before he go north ward.0 My very good lord and trusty friend, my Lord Privy Seal. LETTER XCI. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Mr. Popley. a.d. 1536. [miscellaneous letters, thirh series, vol. hi. no. 109, state paper office. Original.] *** The commissioners, whose visit to Calais is aUuded to in the foUowing letter, were sir WiUiam FitzwiUiam, treasurer of the house hold, Thomas Walsh, John Baker, George Poulet, and Anthony St. Leger,d who arrived on the 18th of August, 1535, being sent a Setyl in original. •> Mess honhar in original. c The postscript is in the duchess' own hand. d See a letter from them to CromweU, date August 27th. Cotton. MS. Cahg. E. II. fol. 98. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 227 on a report that affairs there were in very disorderly condition. This they found to be the case,a and the result of their representations was the passing of a new act of parhament entirely remodelling the adminis tration, and exacting oaths of strict observance of the rules from the deputy and each inferior officer. b Lady Lisle, as might be expected, did not regard the new regu lations with very amicable feeUngs. Amongst the Lisle Papers1 are several letters from Mr. Popley to the viscountess, but not the par ticular one to which the present is a reply. After mine old true hearty manner I recommend me unto you, as she that is as glad to hear from you as any living. And as yesterday received your letter, dated the 6th day of this instant month, and am right sorry it was not your chance to make your request before Michaelmas ; and so is my lord, who hath him heartily recommended unto you, for as then my lord might have holpen it better than now ; ensuring you, although your letter had not come, I was minded to have made my moan unto you, for my lord is now in authority without liberty. For since the commissioners were here, as it is com prised in the acts, he cannot give no room but after the manner following. First, one in petty wages, to the 6d. ; and he in 6d. to the Sd. : so that he must first begin in petty wages ; yet my lord hath two over seers, the lord comptroller and the vice-treasurer. Nevertheless, I pray you send your friend as shortly as you may : let him be a tall man and a good a Several letters from FitzwUliam to CromweU on the subject are in MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xi. b Statutes of the Realm, vol. Ui. p. 632 et seq. " Vol. xin. fol. 55 et seq. 228 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND archer, and my lord will admit him incontinent in his wages, and then give him the first 6rf. that shall fall; and after, the first 8d., although the acts he contrary. For I trust so to entreat my lord comp troller and the vice-treasurer that they shall be content. And where you write he shall recompence me, good Mr. Popley I would not for 100?. take one penny ; nor never did of no man, whatsoever hath been reported ; and loath I would be to begin with you. And in any thing that I may do I am yours, praying you to give credence unto Hussey, who shall shew farther of my mind. And thus most heartily fare you well. From Calais, the 12th day of June, By yours ever assured, Honor Lisle. LETTER XCII. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Mr. Culpeper. [miscellaneous letters, third SERIES, VOL. III. NO. 110, state paper office. Original.] Good, master Culpeper," I do send you by this bearer two bracelets of my colours, according to your desire : they be of no value to be esteemed, but only that it was your gentle request to have them ; praying you to accept a In Lisle Papers, vol. a. Nos. 70, 71, are two letters from Tho mas Culpeper to lady Lisle, in one of which he acknowledges a present of hawks from her. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 229 them, for they be the first that ever I sent to any man. I sent them unto you long ere this time, according to my promise, and they came again, be cause you were not then, at the court, nor your ser vant Vaughan, to have received them. I looked for your said servant that he should have come over, which I had been glad of, for that I might have heard by him of your good news ; but I under stand he shall not come. My lord hath sent to him into England that he shall not need to come ; pray ing you that I may hear from you. Sir, I do thank you heartily for the ring that you sent me by your servant, and I was sorry I had uo better to send you. If there be any thing here wherein I may do you pleasure, I shall be glad to accomplish it to my power. And thus, with my most hearty recommendations unto you, I bid you farewell. From Calais, the 14th day of October, By yours assuredly, Honor Lisle. LETTER XCIII. Honor Viscountess Lisle to Sister Anthoinette de Ftivences. [LISLE PAPERS, VOL. I. ART. 64, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original French.] *** Lady Lisle was very extravagant in her habits in aU matters connected with personal decoration. On one occasion, an agent of 230 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND hers perambulated the whole of Paris without being able to purchase as many large pearls as she had commissioned him to obtain for her.a On the dorse of the present letter are a few lines, scribbled in the barbarous handwriting of Anthoinette, the milliner, of which many samples are to be found in the French volumes of the Lisle corres pondence, to rectify her ladyship's reckoning in the important matter of the nightcaps, and to ask farther instructions about the arrangement of a coif. Anthoinette was probably a nun, since aU her letters are signed "sister Anthoinette de Favences." Dame Anthoinette, I commend myself very cordially to your good favour, and am very sorry that I have kept you waiting so long for your money which I owe you for the night-caps that I have had from you. I had written to you to know what money would suit you best, and thinking that you had received my letter I was waiting a reply ; but I have since found that the man whom I commanded to deliver it to the messenger for Dunkirk, kept it almost eight days in his hands before he delivered it. Begging you will not take it ill that I have not sent you your money earlier, I have given it to the bearer, who has brought me your last letter of the 16th day of this month, in rozimbos. According to my reck oning, this is all that I owe you; but if it be less, write me what it is by the first that comes, and I will send you more. I send you half-a-dozen caps to be changed ; for the young ladies in England who have had them, and also my daughters and those 3 J. Bekinson to lady Lisle. — Lisle Papers, vol. u . art. 17. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 231 of my house, complain that their caps are too wide. I should wish to have them made after the fashion of the cap that I send you with the said half-dozen, and I will pay what is needful for the change. More over, if there be any thing in which I can do you pleasure, I shall very willingly employ myself therein, praying our Creator to give you good life and long. From Calais, this 19th day of April. Entirely yours to do you pleasure, Honor Lisle. This said money is for the caps that you have last sent me, and for the half-dozen which were re maining of the old ones. Madam, I would not have sent you this half-dozen to be changed, were it not that all those which you last sent me were too wide, and a dozen were of that work ; therefore you cannot be surprised, since I had written to you for lozenge-work. I beg that the half-dozen which you send me may be of the said lozenge-work, and may be narrower even before, although the pattern is the contrary. I send you here enclosed 16 rozimbos and 2 half- angels of Flanders, a Carolus of gold, which amount to 4 sols Tournois more than the sum I owe you, according to my reckoning ; if it be less, write for what remains, and you shall have it. To Madame Anthoinette de Favences, at ¦ Dunkerk. 232 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XCIV. Anne Lady Skeffington to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1536. [miscellaneous LETTERS, SECOXO SERIES, VOL. XXXIX. NO. 376, state paper office. Original.] *** Sir William Skeffington, the late husband of lady Skeffington, had for some years occupied the important post of lord deputy of Ireland.1 The present letter, announcing his decease, was accom panied by another addressed to queen Anne Boleyn on the same subject, which is printed in the State Papers. b Right honourable my very singular and especial good master, My humble duty remembered, as appertaineth. It may please you to be advertised the last day of December the king's grace's deputy, my husband, departed this transitory world, whose soul Jesu pardon. Therefore now I most humbly beseech you, as ever my said husband's most singular trust was ever in you above all men living next God and my sovereign lord the king's highness, to be and continue a good master and a mediator for me unto his grace ; for as I am left, without the king's most gracious mercy and pity shewed me, I am, and all my poor children, utterly undone. » He was appointed in August 1529. State Papers, vol. U. p. 147, note 1. b Vol. u. p. 302. From letters to king and councU, vol. \ . No. 72. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 233 Wherefore, to the honour of the king, and in way of charity, you, with all other the noble lords and gentlemen that you know did any thing favour my said husband, be mean to the king's highness for me his poor wife and children, that his grace, of his most merciful pity, and in recompence of some part of my late husband's good service, be my good and gracious lord ; and that I may be as well remembered by his grace's pity, as allowed of all such articles of petition as I have written unto your mastership. For I am here, hy my said late hus band's service, greatly indebted. And I trust in God that it is manifestly known that my said husband did endeavour diligently and painfully himself in the king's grace's service, as much as in him possible was, or any one poor man might do, which I trust the whole council and country of Ireland will and can report the same. And if God had given my said husband health a short space longer, he intended to have sent your mastership a token in remembrance of your goodness and favours always shewed to him, which I shall accomplish accordingly, and amend it to the uttermost of my power ; wherein, and in all other my causes, I humbly beseech you to give firm credence unto the bearer hereof, and to be my good and gracious master, which shall bind me during my life to con tinue your headwoman, and all mine. Otherwise I reckon myself and children clearly undone hy my said husband's service. As knoweth the blessed 234 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Trinity, who preserve you with long life and increase of honour. Written at St. Patrick's, nigh Dublin, the 26th day of January. Your assured beadwoman during life, Dame Anne Skeffington. To the right honourable my singular and most especial good master, master Thomas CromweU, chief secretary to the king's most exceUent highness. The foUowing are the " articles " aUuded to by lady Skeffington, which were enclosed in her letter : — Articles of Petition to be declared and shewed unto the Right Honourable Master Secretary, for me, Dame Anne Skeffington, humbly beseeching Mm to be my good master in the same. First, that I may be answered and aUowed of aU such fees and stipend as was and is due unto my late husband, as weU in England as here in Ireland. Item, that where my said late husband, to his great costs and charges, at his coming last into Ireland, did provide for the king's grace's service here four teams of great cart-horses, with their carts, draughts, and harness, to draw the king's great ordnance here, which without them, in this country, could not have been carried to any journey or place of service to be done ; for the which and their charges I most humbly beseech allowance. Item, that whereas I am left alone, and God hath taken from me my husband in doing the king's grace's service in a strange country, by the which I am not able to convey myself home into mine own country, to the king's honour : wherefore I most humbly beseech your mastership to be a mediator for me to the king's grace for my tran sporting, and for part of my said husband's servants, being at the king's wages, to accompany me home j which shaU be more to the king's honour than charge. Item, that where the said late deputy did diverse times command ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 235 to take up as weU carriages to hostings (musters) and journeys as divers other parcels of stuff concerning the king's business here ; most humbly beseeching you to be discharged of the same, by such as the king shaU thereto assign : that is to say, for carts and carriages, to be levied upon the country as hath been accustomed ; and aU other stuff concerning the reparation of the king's ordnance and artiUery here to be discharged by his grace's treasurer. Item, a commission to be had that no man shaU vex nor trouble me for no matters of old, before the last coming of the said deputy into Ireland. Item, that I may have Ucence to convey and carry over the sea all such horses as the late deputy had in his lifetime, with aU other my moveable goods, without any let, vexation, or interruption of any person or persons. LETTER XCV. Anne Lady Skeffington to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1536. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxxix, no. 373, state paper office. Original.] *** Sir WiUiam Skeffington was succeeded in his office of deputy by lord Leonard Grey, brother-in-law of Gerald Fitz-Gerald earl of KUdare, who had formerly occupied the same post, but had been harassed and ultimately displaced by the busy, and, as it would seem, false insinuations of Skeffington, who had been very active in perse cuting the unfortunate Geraldines. Lord Leonard seems now, if we are to beUeve the accusations of the present letters, to have been disposed to avenge the injuries done to his relative upon the widow of his foe. Her statements should be received with some caution, how ever, for the councU of Ireland wrote to CromweU1 to warn him against the slanderous propensities of the lady and her son-in-law, Mr. 1 Irish Correspondence, vol. i. art. 84. State Paper Office. 236 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Anthony CoUy ,a exhorting him not to beUeve the complaints she makes of them, and especiaUy the lord deputy. She pretended that they were too much in awe of the deputy to dare to teU the truth, a charge which they indignantly repudiated. Right honourable and my very singular and most especial good master, My humble duty remembered, as appertaineth. It may please you to be advertised that I am here greatly troubled, vexed, and hindered many other ways, otherwise, I am right sure, than is the king's grace's pleasure or yours ; so that I can find neither favours, love, nor no right of indifferency in no man here, since the departing of my late husband, the king's deputy, out of this transitory world, but only in my cousin Brabazon, the king's treasurer here, who to his power according right, so much as in him may lie, doth lean unto me for my comfort. Notwithstanding his good will, nothing can prevail to my fartherance in my causes, for the lord Leonard Gray, appointed governor and justice of the land by the king's council here, did deny me to have mine own goods out of the castle of Maynooth, left there necessary of household for my said hus band when he would repair to the same place meet for the expedition of the king's affairs and business ; but utterly hath let me, when I did send my car- a In the Lambeth MS. 602, fol. 98, is a letter from this Anthony Colly, complaining of Grey's violence and rigour, and accusing him of hastening Skeffington 's death. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 237 riage there, for to have had away the same, unless I would content myself to let him have such parcels of my stuff as he hath mind unto, at his own pleasure. And farther, where I have and had ordained and made ready my letters, as well unto the king's highness, to your mastership, and also to divers other my friends there, appointing one such of my friends as I might specially trust to move all my causes there by petition as otherwise, and had hired a boat for him and for the conveyance over of a hoi'se to the king's grace, another to the queen's grace, and two to your mastership, the said lord Leonard by commandment took the same ship from me ; then I, being very weary of their evil handling, thought shortly by your goodness to have remedy, and prepared another, and paid for her planking and freight, and sued my license, and all things in readiness to depart : then the said lord Leonard caused to be arrested anew the said ship, so that in nowise he will suffer me to send such as I may trust to solicit my causes there, fearing thereby that your mastership should have over plain knowledge of my mishandling, and other their cruel demean ours here. What else he doth mean thereby I know not, unless he do it only to have me utterly undone, and to weary me of my life, considering I am comfortless, in a strange country without any manner comfort. Wherefore I humbly beseech you, in the honour 238 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND of God and in way of charity, that, with as much expedition as you may, you cause a strait command ment to be sent from the king's highness that I may send any such as I think meet to solicit my causes there, and to convey from me such horses to the king's grace and you as was my said husband's will. For, as far as I can perceive, here is as much dis pleasure daily invented against me and mine as can be devised, without ever any deserving thereof by me, I take God to record. And what favours or comfort it shall please the king's grace to consider me with, I heartily beseech you that it may be directed to the lord chancellor, to the kings trea surer, and to the chief baron of the Exchequer : for if the lord Leonard, the chief justice, or the master of the Rolls, be in any authority thereof, they will not forget to advance all matters cruelly, to the great vexation of me and of other that was of my said late husband's servants and retinue, who hath done the king's grace right acceptable service. Trusting, therefore, that you will provide for them, that they may be at their liberty and discharged of service, for they are not able to continue service here, now that God hath taken from them their master, but it is overmuch to their danger. For they that ruleth them here under the king, and should bear them most good will and favours, be now most against them ; whose displeasure, you know right well, poor soldiers be not able to abide. As ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 239 knoweth Jesu, who preserve you in long life and increase of honour. Written at Dublin, the 18th day of February. Your daily poor beadwoman during life, Dame Anne Skeffington. To the right honourable my very singular and most especial good master Mr. Thomas Cromwell, chief secretary unto the king'smost exceUent highness. LETTER XCVI. Anne Lady Skeffington to Secretary Cromwell. a.d. 1536. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxxvm. fol. 379, state paper office. Original.] Jesus. Right honourable, My duty premised, as appertaineth. May it please your mastership to be advertised, that by your mastership's means and goodness Mr. William Body hath caused all my stuff to be delivered from my lord deputy, saving some part, which he still holdeth, which I will not complain me of; for I trust likewise, by the said Mr. Body, to have thereof remedy. Nevertheless, it hath not over much pleased the said lord deputy the delivering of 240 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND my said stuff; for, immediately after the order in that behalf taken, the said lord deputy with haste caused my servant, which kept my said stuff, to have it out of the castle of Maynooth, and would not suffer him to have leisure to provide carts for the carriage of the same. Wherefore he was fain to lay it in a church or else it must have been in the street ; and after it was in the said church, there came certain men from the lord deputy, and arrested the said stuff for certain debts which my said late husband should owe for the king's causes here ; which shall be paid as soon as I may receive the wages of my said late husband, which is as yet unpaid. Wherefore I most humbly beseech your master ship, with effect somewhat sharply, to write to Mr. Treasurer here that he will pay me the said wages, that I may content and pay the debts of my said husband ; for else I fear greatly that I shall be drawn on with fair words by him, like as I have been ever since the departure of my said husband : which will not only cause me to labour from hence in winter, but also linger me here, to my great cost and undoing : which, God knoweth, 1 have much more need of furtherance than hinderance, as your mastership shall farther perceive at my coming into England. At which time, God willing, I shall bring your mastership a token of Irish hobbies, which at this time, for lack of money, is not in fair plight to present you with. Wherefore, in the mean season, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 241 I beseech your mastership so to write to Mr. Trea surer here, that what I shall lack beside my husband's wages to rid me out of this country, that I may borrow it here of him, and to make payment of the same to the king's grace, or to your master ship, in England. For if I should be drawn to sell here, for lack of money, such household stuff as I have, a great deal thereof were worth but a little money in this country. Wherefore I beseech you to be so good to me as to help me home, for at home 1 could better shift, and easier pay a pound, than here to pay forty pence. Also, I beseech your mastership to move the king's grace, that I may have of his grace my passage and carriage of my stuff from this country home, like as my husband should have had, if God had given him life ; with such of his grace's army here to accompany me home, of their wages for that season, so many as his grace shall please ; and I shall daily pray to God for the preservation of your honour. From Dewllyng,a the first day of August. Your beadswoman, Dame Anne Skeffington, Widow. To the right honourable Mr. Thomas CromweU, chief secretary to the king's highness. - Dublin ? VOL. II. M 242 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XCVII. Princess Mary to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1536. [cotton, ms. appendix xxix. fol. 66 b. Holograph, much burnt, supi-lied from smith ms. no. 68, fol. 27, BODLEIAN LIBRARY.] *** The period at which the foUowing series of letters commences is that of the contests between Mary and her father and his council, who long and vainly strove to induce her to acknowledge her own iUegitimacy by sunendering the title of princess. At the period in question, this title was generaUy conceded to the lauful daughter of a king. It was enjoyed by aU the daughters of Edward IV. The youngest of these, Catherine countess of Devon, always assumes this style in her official documents (some of which are stiU in existence) during the early part of Henry VIII.'s reign. It was not, therefore, as has been sometimes supposed, merely because the title imphed that she was heiress to the throne that Mary clung to it with such un daunted pertinacity, but because its relinquishment would reflect on her own birth and the honour of her mother. That she thus viewed the subject appears, too, from the foUowing passage in one of her letters to the king, remonstrating agamst a letter sent to her in which ¦the title of princess was omitted, — " At which," she says, " I could not a little marvel, trusting verily that your grace was not privy to the same letter, as concerning the leaving out of the name of princess, forasmuch as I doubt not that your grace doth take me for your lauful daughter born in true matrimony." The points in dispute wUl be best explained by the foUowing hitherto inedited document, entitled, — Articles to be proposed and observed on our behalf vnto our daughter Lady Mary, and all other the officers and servants of her household, by our right trusty and right xrell-belored cousins and councillors the earls of Oxford, Essex, and Sussex; and by our trusty and right trell-belored clerk and councillor the dean of our chapel, whom we send at this time unto our said daughter for the purposes ensuing. First, our mind and pleasure is that the said earls, accompanied with the said dean, shall upon Wednesday next, in the morning, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 243 assemble and meet together at our town of Chenisforth, and there communicating first each with other the effect of their charge, shaU afterward immediately repair unto our manor of BeauUeu, whereas our said daughter is now abiding, and after their access unto her presence shaU, by the mouth of our said councUlor the dean of our chapel, enter the declaration of their credence as hereafter foUoweth. That is to say, that we, understanding now of late, to our no little discontentation and marvel, not only by sundry credible reports but also by such letters as the lord Hussey hath written unto the lords of our council, and specially by our said daughter's own letters, now of late addressed and deUvered unto us by one of her servants, how that she, forgetting that natural honour and obedience which she oweth unto us her father, and much less regarding her duty of allegiance unto us, being her sovereign lord and king, and thereto also contemning our high commandment given unto her to the contrary hereof, and signified unto her in our behalf, as well by the said lord Hussey as also by the letters of our trusty and right well-beloved counciUor sir WUliam Paulet, comptroUer of our household, doth not only most boldly and arrogantly attempt to usurp and take upon her the name and title of princess, pretending thereby to be our lawful heir-apparent, but also encourageth our subjects to do the semblable ; insomuch that she hath not been afraid to signify unto us by her said letters that she neither can nor wiU in her conscience think the contrary, but that she is our lawful daughter born in true matrimony, and that she thinketh that we in our own conscience do judge the same. We, therefore, considering how highly such contempt and rebellion done by our own natural daughter, and her servants our subjects, to the no little dero gation of our high estate and dignity royal, doth touch not only us, and the surety of our honour and person, but also the tranquilUty of our .realm and succession, and not minding to suffer the pernicious example hereof to spread far abroad, but to put remedy unto the same in due time, have given you strait in commandment to repair thither, and to open and declare unto her not only the great foUy, temerity, and undiscretion she hath used herein, with the great perU and jeopardy also which she hath incurred by reason of her so doing, but also our farther mind and pleasure how she shall use and order herself, as well touching her title, name, and estate, as also other orders con cerning her household and servants. And to the intent that, like as she by these her ungodly doings hitherto hath most worthily deserved our high indignation and displeasure, and thereto no less pain and punition than by the laws of our realm doth appertain in case of high 244 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND treason, unless our mercy and clemency should be shewed in that behalf; even so she, understanding our mind and pleasure in the premises, and conforming herself humbly and obediently to the observation of the same, according to the office and duty of a natural daughter, and of a true and faithful subject, may give us cause here after to incline our fatherly pity to her reconciUation, her benefit, and advancement, rather than to the execution of due punishment to be inflicted unto her according to her deserts.a It was determined by the king that his disobedient daughter should no longer be permitted to enjoy the splendour to which she had been accustomed in her mansion of BeauUeu. A removal to Langley or KenUworth was at first contemplated,1' but relinquished in favour of a scheme stUl more wounding to her feeUngs, that of making her an appendage to the establishment of the princess EUzabeth at Hunsdon. On the 25th of December, 1533, Mary's household was broken up.c In one of the household-books of the princess Elizabeth for that period, the comptroUer makes many apologies for the extraordinary expenses incurred, pleading the costliness of Christmas cheer, the aUowauces for coals in the winter, the necessity of providing many things on the formation of the household, &c, and adds the foUowing curious paragraph respecting the lady Mary : — " Item, where the lady Mary, the king's daughter, after she was restored to her health of her late infirmity, being in her own house, was desirous to have meat immediately after she was ready in the morning, or else she should be in danger eftsoons to return to her said infirmity, therefore order was taken by my lady of Salisbury and the lord Hussey, by the advice of the physicians, that every day not being fast- day she should be at dinner betwixt nine and ten of the clock in the morning, and so eschew the superfluous breakfast ; forasmuch as, since she came to the princess' house, for considerations assigned by a MisceUaneous Exchequer documents, 1st series, No. 609, Rolls- house, b Sir J. Shelton to Cromwell. MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xxxvui. fol. 310, State Paper Office. c See the household account of the princess EUzabeth from the 10th of December, 1533, to the 25th of March, 1534, Historical documents, 2d series, No. 891. Formerly in the Chapter-house, now in the RoUs-house. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 245 the lady Brian, lady mistress to the princess, the service of her grace conveniently could not be served before eleven of the clock, at the least, every day. Therefore the said lady Mary, whose appetite was to have meat in the morning, according to her accustomed diet, desired to have her breakfast somewhat the larger, to the intent that she would eat Uttle more meat until supper, for the continuance and preservation of her health. The occasion of which breakfast, with her suppers diverse times served unto her chamber, advanced the charge of the said house, for the said time, at least to the sum of 261. 13*. 4d." The indisposition of the princess becoming more serious, a report reached the Spanish ambassador, who watched over her with eagle-eyed vigUance, that she was either dying or dead. This was represented to the king, on which he, in some trepidation, sent his physician, Dr. Butt, to see her, who presented the foUowing report to CromweU : — After the king's pleasure in your letters expressed, I came to my lady Mary this day at seven of the clock, whom I find in mean state of health, but in the beginning of her old disease, wherefore I being here have caused her another physician to be sent for, with the apothecary, for the help of this thing in the beginning. The cause of this rumour by the ambassador, as I can learn, cometh of these two things : one is, that she of late being diseased in her head and stomach, my lady Shelton sent for Mr. Michael, a who gave to her piUs, after the which she was very sick, so that he, thereby troubled, said that he would never mimster to her any thing alone, and thus signified s'larply to the ambassador ; the other cause is, that the ambassador's servant, coming to know how she did, was not suffered by my lady Shelton to see her. And thus our Lord keep you. From Hunsdon this 6th day of September. Your own assured William BuTT.b To the honourable Mr. Secretary. So much commiseration did the situation of the princess excite, that the pubUc mind was ready to receive any wUd and improbable tale concerning her. Some commotion was excited by a young female, * One of the physicians of Henry VIII. b MisceUaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. xin. fol. 94 b, State Paper Office. 246 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND eighteen years of age, name Mary Baynton, the daughter of Thomas Baynton, of Burlington, Yorkshire, who went about the country pretending to be the princess Mary, turned adrift into the world by her tyrannical father, and thus deceived many of the people in York shire and Lincolnshire, where she was every where received with open- hearted sympathy. " First, the said Mary, being in Boston, in many houses there, before diverse and sundry persons, as weU men as women, named herseU' lady Mary, the king's daughter, and said upon displeasure she was put forth into the broad world to shift for her Uving. Also, she said that the French queen was her aunt and her godmother, and upon a time the said French queen, being of her pleasure in a bath, and she with her there, looked upon a book, and said to her, ' Niece Mary, I am right sorry for you, for I see here that your fortune is very hard; you must go a-begging once in your Ufe, either in your youth or in your age.' ' And, therefore, I take it upon me now in my youth, and I intend to go beyond the sea to mine uncle the emperor, as soon as I may get shipping.' a This circumstance, not in itself important, becomes so when we consider what must have been the suffering undergone by a princess of England before such a tale could have been devised or beUeved. The first letter of this series was written shortly after the death of Anne Boleyn, when a gleam of hope shot athwart the murky atmo sphere which had so long enveloped the prmcess. It is addressed to CromweU, who professed himself an active agent in promoting a recon ciUation between her and her father. Master secretary, In as hearty manner as I can devise I recom mend me unto you, as she which thinketh herself much bound unto you for the great pain and labour that you have taken for me, and specially for obtain ing of the king my father's blessing, and license to write unto his grace, which are two of the highest a Articles against Mary Baynton. MisceUaneous Exchequer docu ments, 1st series, No. 1041. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 247 comforts that ever came to me, desiring you of your gentle and friendly continuance in your suit for me, wherein (next unto God) I trust you shall find me as obedient to the king's grace as you can reasonably require of me. Wherefore I have a great hope in your goodness, that, by your wisdom, help, and means, his grace shall not only withdraw his displeasure, but also that it may like his grace (if it may stand with his gracious pleasure) to license me to come into his presence ; for the which I pray you, in the honour of God, to be a continual suitor for me, when your discretion shall think the time most convenient, for it is the thing which I ever have and do desire above all worldly things. And in all these things, good Mr. Secretary, for the love of Him that all comfort sendeth, I beseech you to be my most humble petitioner ; and that, in like case (as I take God to my judge), I would be for you if the same did lie in my power. And thus I must desire you to accept this short and evil written letter, for the rheum in my head will suffer me to write no more at this time. Wherefore I pray you in all other things to give credence to this bearer ; and with this end I commit you to Al mighty God, whom I shall pray to be with you in every thing that you go about. From Iiunsdon, the 30th day of May, By your bounden loving friend, Mary. 248 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER XCVIII. Princess Mary to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1536. [cotton, ms. appendix xxix. fol. 64. Holograph, much burnt, supplied from smith ms. no. 68, fol. 29. BODLEIAN LIBRARY.] *** After having twice written to her father without obtaining any reply, Mary again addressed the secretary a week afterwards. Good Mr. Secretary, I think so long to hear some comfort from the king's grace my father, whereby I may perceive his grace, of his princely goodness and fatherly pity, to have accepted my letter and withdrawn his dis pleasure toward me, that nature moveth me to be so bold to send his grace a token, which my servant, this bearer, hath to deliver to you, or to any other at your appointment ; desiring you, for the love of God, to find some means, by your wisdom and goodness, that the king may be so good and gracious lord to me as to send me a token : which (I assure you) shall be one of my greatest worldly comforts, till it shall please his grace to license me to come into his most desired presence : the suit whereof my full trust is in you that you will not forget, when you shall see the time convenient. And thus I commit you to God, whom I both do ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 249 and shall daily pray to reward you for your great pains and labours taken at all times for me. From Hunsdon, the 7th of June, By your assured and loving friend during my life, Mary. LETTER XCIX. Princess Mary to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [COTTON. MS. APPENDIX XXIX. FOL. 64. SECOND FOLIATION. Holograph, much burnt, supplied from smith ms. no. 68, fol. 30.] *** On the 1st of June, Mary wrote to the king, but received no answer. She followed up her epistle by the present letter, penned a week later. Although the king professed to have pardoned her offences, yet, as he had not obtained her signature to her fuU, uncon ditional submission and acknowledgment of her Ulegitimacy, he re fused to see her or write to her. In as humble and lowly manner as is possible for me, I beseech your grace of your daily blessing, by the obtaining whereof, with license also to write unto your grace, albeit I understand to mine ines timable comfort that your princely goodness and fatherly pity hath forgiven all mine offences, and withdrawn your dreadful displeasure long time con ceived against me, yet shall my joy never be full, nor my hopes satisfied, unto such time as your grace vouchsafe more sensibly to express your reconciled m 2 250 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND heart, love, and favour towards me, either by your gracious letters or else some token ; till I may, by your merciful calling and sufferance, attain the fruition of your most desired presence. For the which I humbly desire your grace to pardon me, though I trouble you with my continual suit and rude writing, for nature will suffer me to do none otherwise ; and, that obtained, I shall have my chief worldly joy and desire, as I take Almighty God to my record, whom I do and shall daily pray (as I am bound by my duty) to preserve your grace and the queen with long life and much honour, and shortly to send a prince between you both, which shall he gladder tidings to me than I can express with writing. From Hunsdon, the 8th day of June, By your grace's most humble and obedient daughter and handmaid, Mary. LETTER C. Princess Mary to Secretary Cromwell, a.d. 1536. [cotton, ms. otho, c. x. fol. 263 b. Holograph, much burnt. supplied from SMITH MS. NO. 68, FOL. 41.] *** In a letter to the king, dated the 10th of June, Mary promised her father that, next to Almighty God, she would submit her whole state and Uving to his gracious mercy. But even this recognition of ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES, 251 superior homage to the Divine Being offended the haughty monarch, who claimed unbounded deference to aU his capricious will, and who affected to believe that his daughter suspected him of commanding something contrary to God and her conscience. CromweU signified this to her, and also drew up for her a letter dictated to her father, such as he thought best calculated to propitiate his master. This she copied and sent, with the foUowing letter, to CromweU. Good Mr. Secretary, I do thank you, with all my heart, for the great pain and suit that you have had for me, for the which I think myself very much bound to you. And whereas I do perceive by your letters that you do mislike mine exception in my letter to the king's grace, I assure you I did not mean as you do take it. For I do not mistrust that the king's goodness will move me to any thing which should offend God and my conscience ; but that which I did write was only by the reason of continual custom, for I have always been used, both in writing and speaking, to except God in all things. Nevertheless, because you have exhorted me to write to his grace again, and I cannot devise what I should write more but your own last copy, without adding or minishing, therefore I do send you, by this bearer my servant, the same, word for word ; and it is unsealed, because I cannot endure to write another copy : for the pain in my head and teeth hath troubled me so sore these two or three days, and doth yet so continue, that I have very small rest day or night. Wherefore I trust in your good- 252 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ness that you will accept this, and find such means, by your wisdom, that the king's grace may do the same ; which thing I desire you, in the honour of God, to procure, as my very trust is in you. For I know none to make suit unto nor to ask counsel of, but only you ; whom I commit to God, desiring him to help you in all your business. From Hunsdon, the 13th day of June. Your assured, bounden, loving friend, during my life, Mary. LETTER CI. Princess Mary to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [cotton, ms. otho, c. x. fol. 265. Holograph, much burnt. SUPPLIED FROM SMITH MS. NO. 68, FOL. 5.] *** The present is the letter to the king dictated by CromweU, and copied by Mary, as aUuded to in the last. In my most humble and lowly manner beseech ing your grace's daily blessing. Forasmuch as since it pleased your most gracious mercy, upon mine hearty repentance for mine offences and trespasses to your majesty, and mine humble and simple sub mission to the same, of my life, state, and condition, to be gladly received at your highness' hand and ap- ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 253 pointment, whatsoever the same shall think con venient for me, without the remainder of any will in myself but such as shall be instilled from the most noble mouth of your excellent majesty, to grant me license to write unto you ; albeit I have written twice unto your highness, trusting to have, by some gracious letters, token, or message, perceived sensibly the mercy, clemency, and pity of your grace, and, upon the operation of the same, at the last also to have attained the fruition of your most noble pre sence (which above all worldly things I desire) ; yet I have not obtained my said fervent and hearty desire, nor any piece of the same, to my great and intolerable discomfort. I am enforced, by the com pulsion of nature, eftsoons to cry unto your merciful ears, and, most humbly prostrate before your feet, to beseech your grace to have pity and compassion of me ; and in such wise to put apart your displeasure, justly conceived against me, as I may feel some piece of your most abundant grace, that hath never wanted to them that have inwardly repented their offences, not committed by malice but by youth,3- frailty, and ignorance. For yet I remain almost void of all hope, saving the confidence I have in your blessed nature re-comforteth me. And, therefore, eftsoons prostrate at your noble feet, I beseech your majesty to countervail my trans gressions with my repentance for the same ; and a Yonghe in margin. — Smith MS. 254 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND thereupon to grant some little spark of my most humble suit and desire ; which (God is my judge) I desire for no worldly respect, trusting in Almighty God to use myself so from henceforth as your grace shall have cause to think your mercy and pity well extended unto me : to whom I shall daily pray (as I am most bounden) to preserve your highness, with the queen, and shortly to send you issue, which shall be gladder tidings to me than I can express in writing. From Hunsdon, the 14th day of June. Your most humble and obedient daughter and handmaid, Marv. LETTER CII. Anne Lady Shelton to the Privy Council, a.d. 1536. LETTERS TO KING AND COUNCIL, VOL. V. NO. 54, STATE PAPER office. Original.] *** The following letter from Mary's gouvernante shews the extreme vigUance which at this critical juncture was exercised in re ference to the sUghtest correspondence between the princess and her friends. Pleaseth it you to understand that, according to your commandments, I have spoken with my lady Mary, and demanded of her by whom she sent the ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 255 letters to master Carew, and she made answer that she sent it by her servant Randal Dod. And as concerning my lady Carew's letter, she said my lady Bryan did deliver it open unto her ; the effect whereof was to desire her, for the passion of Christ, in all things to follow the king's pleasure, and in so doing she trusted the king's grace would be good and gracious lord to her, and otherwise she was ut terly undone. And after that I had spoken with my lady Mary, I went to my lady Bryan and asked her the sfime question, and she affirmed it to be true. From Hunsdon, this Sunday, at eight of the clock in the evening, By yours at commandment, Anne Shelton. To the King's most honourable CouncU. LETTER CIII. Princess Mary to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [COTTON. MS. APPENDIX XXIX. FOL. 61, SECOND FOLIATION. Holograph, much burnt, supplied from smith ms. no. 68, FOL. 13, COLLATED WITH HARLEIAN MS. 283, FOL. Ill b, AND COTTONIAN MS. TITUS, C. VII. FOL. 17 b.] *** The present letter was written to accompany Mary's humble submission and confession, which contained a complete yielding of aU the disputed points, including the king's supremacy as head of the church, and the acknowledgment of the unlawfulness of her mother's marriage, which she was at length persuaded or frightened into signing. 256 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Most humbly prostrate before the feet of your most excellent majesty, your most humble, faithful, and obedient subject, which hath so extremely offended your most gracious highness that mine heavy and fearful heart dares not presume to call you father, nor your majesty hath any cause by my de serts, saving the benignity of your most blessed na ture doth surmount all evils, offences, and trespasses, and is ever merciful and ready to accept the penitent, calling for grace in any convenient time. Having received, this Thursday at night, certain letters from Mr. Secretary, as well advising me to make mine humble submission immediately to yourself (which because I durst not, without your gracious license, presume to do before), I lately sent unto him, as signifying that your "most merciful heart and fatherly pity had granted me your bless ing, with condition that I should persevere in that I had commenced and begun, and that I should not eftsoons offend your majesty by the denial or refusal of any such articles and commandments as it may please your highness to address unto me, for the perfect trial of mine heart and inward affection. For the perfect declaration of the bottom of my heart and stomach, first, I knowledge myself to have most unkindly and unnaturally offended your most excellent highness, in that I have not sub mitted myself to your most just and virtuous laws; and for mine offence therein, which I must confess were in me a thousand-fold more grievous than they ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 257 could be in any other living creature, I put myself wholly and entirely to your gracious mercy, at whose hand I cannot receive that punishment for the same that I have deserved. Secondly, to open mine heart to your grace in these things, which I have here tofore refused to condescend unto, and have now written with mine own hand, sending the same to your highness herewith, I shall never beseech your grace to have pity and compassion on me, if ever you shall perceive that I shall privily or apertly vary or alter from one piece of that I have written and subscribed, or refuse to confirm, ratify, or declare the same, where your majesty shall appoint me. Thirdly, as I have and shall, knowing your excellent learning, virtue, wisdom, and knowledge, put my soul into your direction, and by the same have and will in all things, from henceforth, direct my con science, so my body I do wholly commit to your mercy and fatherly pity, desiring no state, no con dition, nor no manner degree of living but such as your grace shall appoint unto me, knowledg ing and confessing that my state cannot be so vile as either the extremity of justice would appoint unto me, or as mine offences have required and de served. And whatsoever your grace shall command me to do, touching any of these points (either for things past, present, or to come), I shall as gladly do the same as your majesty can command me. Most humbly, therefore, beseeching your mercy, most gracious sovereign lord and benign father, to 258 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND have pity and compassion of your miserable and sor rowful child, and with the abundance of your ines timable goodness so to overcome mine iniquity to wards God, your grace, and your whole realm, as I may feel some sensible token of reconciliation, which, God is my judge, I only desire, without any respect: to whom I shall daily pray for the preservation of your highness, with the queen's grace, and that it may please Him to send you issue. From Hunsdon, this Thursday,1 at eleven of the clock at night. Your grace's most humble and obedient daughter and handmaid, Mary. LETTER CIV. Princess Mary to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [cotton, ms. otho, c. x. fol. 266. Holograph, much burnt, sup plied FROM SMITH MS. NO. 68, FOL. 6.] *£* The desired end had at length been accomplished ; the king had vouchsafed to send bis penitent and submissive daughter some token, or letter, denoting complete reconciliation, which she thus ac knowledges. Most humbly, obediently, and gladly lying at the feet of your most excellent majesty, my most dear and a June 15th. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 259 benign father and sovereign lord, I have this day per ceived your gracious clemency and merciful pity to have overcome my most unkind and unnatural pro ceedings towards you and your most just and virtuous laws, the great and inestimable joy whereof I cannot express; nor have any thing worthy to be again presented to your majesty for the same your fatherly pity extended towards me, most ingrately on my part abandoned (as much as in me lay), but my poor heart, which I send unto your highness, to remain in your hand to be for ever used, directed, and framed, whiles God shall suffer life to remain in it, at your own pleasure : most humbly beseeching your grace to accept and receive the same, being all that I have to offer, which shall never alter, vary, or change from that confession and submission which I have made unto your highness in the presence of your council and other attending upon the same ; for whose preservation, with my most gracious mother the queen, I shall daily pray to God, whom eftsoons I beseech to send you issue, to his honour and the comfort of your whole realm. From Hunsdon, the 26th day of June. Your grace's most humble and obedient daughter and handmaid, Mary. 260 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CV. Princess Mary to Lord Cromwell, a.d. 1536. [SMITH MS. NO. 68, FOL. 10, BODLEIAN LIBRARY.] *** One thing yet remained to perfect the reconciliation between the king and the prmcess, and this was her admission into his presence. After making due aUowance for the servUe homage of some of her expressions, a style which was imperiously exacted from aU who approached Henry VIII., Mary seems to have clung with real affec tion to her sole remaining parent, and to have cherished the hope that the personal intercourse she so long and earnestly pleaded for would completely restore her to her place in his affections. With this feeUng she wrote to CromweU, who had recently become lord privy seal.a My lord, After my most hearty commendations, I think the time so long since I heard from the king's highness, my most benign father, that nature moveth me to be so bold as to send my servant, this bearer, with letters to his grace, and also to the queen, because I would very fain know how their graces do; desiring you, my lord, if, for lack of wit, I have sent sooner than I should have done, molest ing his grace with my rude letters, you will make such an excuse for me as your wisdom shall think best. For, till it may please his highness to • On the 2d of July, 1536 Patent roll, 28 Hen. VIII. pt. 1. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 261 license me to come into his presence (which of all worldly things is my chiefest desire), my next com fort is to hear often of his grace's health and prosperous estate; which I beseech our Lord 'long to preserve. My lord, your servant hath brought me the well-favoured horse that you have given me, with a very goodly saddle, for the which I do thank you with all my heart ; for he seemeth to be, indeed, as good as I have heard report of him, which was, that he had all the qualities belonging to a good horse. Wherefore I trust, in time to come, the riding of him shall do me very much good con cerning my health, for I am wont to find great ease in riding. And thus, my lord, your benefits increase daily so much towards me, that I can do nothing for the same again ; but pray for you to Him which is able to recompense all good deeds, unto whom I commit you. From Hunsdon, the 20th of August. Your assured loving friend during my life, Mary. 262 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CVI. Princess Mary to Queen Jane Seymour, a.d. 1536. [DOMESTIC RECORDS, TEMP. HENRY VIII. NO. 178, STATE PAPER office. Holograph.] *^* This is probably the identical letter to the queen aUuded to in the preceding. My duty most humbly remembered to your grace, pleaseth the same to be advertised that I have received your most gracious letters, being no less full of motherly joy for my towardness of recon ciliation than of most prudent council for my further proceeding therein, which your grace, of your most abundant goodness, promiseth to travail to bring to a perfection, as most benignly you have commenced and begun the matter of the same ; the inestimable comfort which I have conceived of that most joyful promise, like as I cannot with tongue or pen express, so, with heart and mind, this I shall assure your highness, that from this day forward neither shall mine office want to the king's majestv, my most merciful and benign father, who hath the whole disposition of mine heart in his noble hand, ne yet my service to your grace, to serve you as humbly, gladly, and obediently, with my hands under your noble feet, as is possible to be devised or imagined. Most humbly beseeching your grace, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 263 with such acceleration as shall stand with your pleasure, to have in your gracious remembrance (touching the accomplishment of my most hearty desire) for the attaining of the king's most noble presence. Your grace's most humble and obedient daughter and handmaid, Mary. To the Queen's grace my good mother. LETTER CVII. Anne Barneys to Lord Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1536. [MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS, SECOND SERIES, VOL. III. NO. 79, state paper office. Holograph.] *** The extensive changes introduced by Henry VIII. into the reUgious discipline of the country were productive of much discontent amongst a people whose prejudices and habits were so greatly in favour of an adherence to the court of Rome. The monarch and his councU watched jealously over the risings of discontent, and any inform ation of so caUed seditious speeches was eagerly received. Of this feeling the present letter affords a striking specimen. Right honourable and my singular good lord, This is to advertise your lordship that whereas one Richard Freestone, one of the esquires for the body to the king's highness, hath spoken certain words against the king's grace and your good lordship, in saying that his grace and your lordship does naught in taking away the bishop of Rome's 264 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND high name and dignity, and also for taking away out of diverse places the images; and also he maintains many false priests about him in the country to hold up the same. And these words were spoken by the said Richard Freestone a month after Michaelmas last past, with other more words, which methought it becomed not him so to do. And some of those words were spoken amongst a hundred priests, being in one company at a month's mind,3 which the said Richard made himself in my own hearing, being a poor woman. Whereupon I called him traitor in his own house, and so I call him every time I meet him ; for I think your lordship would so say if that you had beard him speak as I have done. And more I shall shew unto your lordship, if it may please you that I might come to your speech. I would have been with your lordship before this time, but I was great with child, and sithen I was delivered of child I have been sick till this time ; and now, I thank Almighty God, I have recovered, and I am come now, and am at your lordship's commandment, and will shew you the truth. And thus I remit all unto your lordship's high wisdom, which I pray Jesu to preserve as I am bound to pray for. By your poor oratrice and beadwoman, Anne Barneys. Wallar of Norwich was present at the speaking of these words, and also one Wryseley of Norwich. a A solemnity held in honour of a deceased person a month after his death, frequently attended with feasting. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 265 LETTER CVIII. Elizabeth Cressener, Prioress of Dartford, to Lord Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1536. [miscellaneous letters, second series, VOL. VIII. NO. 43, state paper office. Original.] *** The present remonstrance against the unjust and unkind treatment of the bishop of Rochester was either preceded or followed by another equally earnest, which is on foUo 45 of the same volume from which this letter is extracted. Jesu Maria. Right honourable and my most singular good lord, My duty of lowly recommendation had unto the same, &c. Beseecheth your good lordship, in the way of charity, to tender the fervent desire and petition of your suppliant, Elizabeth Cressener, prioress of the monastery of Dartford, the which hath been this forty-nine years unworthy governor of this poor house, the praisings be to God, with great quietness as hitherto. And now, forasmuch as when my lord of Rochester came to the place of the Black Friars, he perceived that he could not quietly live with Mr. Stroddle then being there, therefore he sent him to me for a time. And as soon as he came he took upon him to be president, contrary to my mind, but only that he said he had the king's grace's authority ; the which I now perceive he never had, till this time, of your good VOL. II. n 266 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND lordship, and he took no manner of pains belonging to the said office. And now of late I understand he hath purchased letters of your good lordship, under our most gracious founder's seal, to be president here the term of his life, by feigned and untrue suggestion, forasmuch as he hath governed the office so well, as he himself reporteth. Verily, my good lord, it was not he, but it was God only, and hy the help of one that is my ghostly father, an ancient doctor, obtained by my great instance and labour for my soul's health and quietness in mine old age ; the which I fear never to have, the said Mr. Stroddle abiding with me : I have too far experience by him. And my ghostly father, that was president, will go from me, to my great pain and desolation, without your most gracious help and comfort. And this great, unkind deed, my lord of Rochester did, for he knew hiin better than I, and to put himself in quietness he hath put me far from it ; for I had a full good number before his coming. And thus my only hope and trust is in God, and in your good lordship, for the repealing or reformation of the premises; and I, with my poor sisters, shall always continue your poor beadwomen, as we be especially bound. As knoweth the Holy Trinity, who ever preserve your good lordship, and all yours. By your daily oratrice, the poor recluse the prioress of Dartford, Elizabeth Cressener. To the right honourable and my singular good lord the Lord Privy Seal, this be presented. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 267 LETTER CIX. Mrs. Joanna Creke to Lord Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1536. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. vii. no. 123, state paper office. Original.] *%* The present letter is worthy of notice, as affording a curious Ulustration of the system of wardship which was prevalent even in the middle and lower classes of society in the 16th century. In another letter on the same subject, the writer, after vehemently protesting against the claim of the abbot of St. Alban's to the wardship of her son, exclaims, ' ' Alas, my lord, this is an extreme fashion to use a poor woman, which hath no succour but of your lordship, for, an they may have the heir and the land, they care not an I and the other children go a-begging." a My good lord, Pleaseth your good lordship to understand that, fourscore years past, the abbot of St. Alban's that was in those days had, wrongfully, my husband's grandfather to his ward ; when he was fourteen years old the abbot sold him to a fishmonger of London, and he kept him two years, and then this child ran away from the fishmonger unto a knight, one sir Davy Phillip, which knight married this child unto Mr. St. John's daughter, of Kent, and a Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. vii. fol. 122. State Paper Office. A third letter from the same person is on fol. 121. 268 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND then the friends of his wife sued with the abbot, and proved him not his ward. Then the abbot gave him, in recompense for the wrongs he had done, a farm, which is called Ballard's beside Luton, in Bedfordshire. But this young man was not con tented with that gift. Then the abbot gave him more to have an end with him, and made him master of his game. This my father-in-law, Mr. Creke, and my husband, did tell me many times, and yet there be old men in the country, and in Rickmansworth parish, that will say thus at this day. Whereupon I lowly desire your good lord ship's help, or else the abbot that is now will do my children wrong ; for he will not shew his records, but doth say he will have my son to his ward, and I am not able to go to the law with him, nor never shall have end with him, except it will please your lordship, of your abundant charity, to send for the abbot to come afore your lordship. He is now in London, in a house of his own, by the Charterhouse gate. And thus Jesu save your good lordship. Your poor beadwoman, Joanna Creke, Widow. To the right honourable and my especial good Lord of the Privy Seal. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 269 LETTER CX. Margaret Lady Audelay to Lord Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1536. [miscellaneous letters, second SERIES, VOL. 1. NO. 116, state paper office. Original.] *^* As the preceding letter shewed the absolute authority exercised by a patron over a minor ward, so the one now before us proves how heavily unfortunate widows were bound with similar restraints, so as sometimes to find it very difficult either to re-marry to their own minds or to remain unmarried. After my duty of most lowly recommendations, pleaseth it your good lordship to be advertised that I have received your most kind letters to my great comfort, notwithstanding that I have not deserved any such thanks, neither at the king's majesty's hands, neither at your good lordship's, as in your said letters is mentioned, for any entertainment that I have either shewed or used to his grace's servant, George Aylesbury, but according to my bounden duty, if it lay in my poor power, to make any cheer to any that shall come from his highness to so poor a woman as I am, being his poor and comfortless widow ; yea, though it were the meanest person that could come from his majesty, if I could make better cheer to one than to another I would shew it to the best of my power to any such. But for any intent 270 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND or purpose of marriage, either to the said Aylesbury or any other living creature, as yet I have none. And if it shall chance me hereafter to have any such fantasy or mind, which 1 pray God I may not have, I do assure your good lordship it is not he that I can find in my heart to take to my husband, of all creatures alive. And my trust is, that as the king's highness hath been always good and gracious lord unto all other his poor widows, his majesty will be so much my good and gracious lord to give me liberty to marry, if ever it be my chance, such one as I may find in my heart to match me unto : either else, undoubtedly, I am fully purposed to abide and continue in this estate during my life. As knoweth it Almighty God, to whom I shall be a continual beadwoman for the preservation of your good lordship long to endure. And as concerning my coming up to London, I do certify your good lordship that I have such importunate business at this present time, what for the accomplishing such things as I have in charge by the will of my late husband, whose soul God pardon, as also for great causes of my own, that it should be great hinderance unto me ; beseeching your good lordship of your benign goodness, as you shall be ever assured of the prayer of a poor widow, to be a mean for me to the king's highness, that his majesty do take no displeasure with me for not coming up, according to your lordship's letter to me in that behalf directed. And thus I beseech Al- ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 271 mighty God send your lordship long life, with much honour. Written the 16th day of October, by her that is at your commandment, Margaret Audelay. To the right honourable lord my Lord Privy Seal. LETTER CXI. Elizabeth Lady Hungerford to Lord Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1536. [cotton, ms. titus, b. i. fol. 388. Original.] *** The present letter, being addressed to Cromwell as lord privy seal, must have been written between 1536 and 1540. The writer was the daughter of John lord Husee and the wife of Walter the last lord Hungerford.1 He was afterwards attainted and beheaded at the same time with Cromwell; "which certainly," says the chronicler HaU, " at the time of his death seemed to be very unquiet in his mind, and rather in a frenzy than otherwise. "b Perhaps his iU treat ment of his wives fiUed up his cup of remorse. Most piteously complaining and meekly be seeching your good and gracious lordship tenderly " Dugdale names only two wives of this nobleman, Susan, the daughter of John lord Danvers, and AUce, of William lord Sandys ; but the third, EUzabeth or IsabeUa, appears in the MS. pedigree of the Hungerfords in the College of Arms. b HaU's Chronicle, 1st edition, fol. 244. 272 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND to consider the humble complaint and true intent of me, your most poorest and unfeigned beads woman, Elizabeth Hungerford, now abiding as I have been long in captivity and as a prisoner within my lord's castle of Hungerford, where no creature is suffered nor dare come unto me at any time, what need soever I have or shall happen unto me, for my lord's displeasure, but all only such as is by him appointed at this time, which have not only heretofore sought all the means they might to rid me in secret out of my life, but yet daily doth, as it is not unknown to all this country, if it shall please your good lordship to inquire of any gentle man or yeoman dwelling about my lord. I wdl except none. And whereas my said lord Hungerford of late, unknown to me, obtained a commission of your lordship to the intent he would have been from me divorced for mine incontinency, as he damnably hath reported to my great slander and utter con fusion in world, objecting such a crime of me unto your lordship and other as I never offeuded in, I take God to record ; and now perceiving with himself that he could not, nor yet can prove, any manner of cause on my behalf to him given to be divorced, but that I may sooner object such matters against him, with many other detestable and urgent causes, than he can against me, if I would express them, as he well knoweth. And farther, that it pleased your good lordship of your goodness and ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 273 charity to advertise him at the sending forth of your commission that I should have things necessary in every behalf, as it beseemed for his own honour, and that he should depart somewhat with me yearly towards my sustentation and living ; which things chiefly, as I suppose, is the very cause only at this time of his stay in this matter : for surely it may please your good lordship to understand that it will grieve him not a little to depart with one groat at any time, although I am not of myself owner of one penny, nor have any earthly friend more than your lordship in this world able to help me, or house to resort unto, or that any man will or dare speak or do for me towards your lordship, or any other, for fear of my lord's displeasure : by reason whereof now of his own presumption he hath discharged your lordship's commissioners assigned, without any exa mination or amendment had or used of his demean our towards me. And so am I, your most woefullest and poorest beadswoman, left in worse case than ever I was, as a prisoner alone, and continually locked in one of my lord's towers of his castle in Hungerford, as I have been these three or. four years past, without comfort of any creature, and under the custody of my lord's chaplain, sir John a. Lee,a which hath once or twice heretofore poisoned me, as he will not deny upon examination. And " Sir John a Leigh was made knight of the Bath in 1523, and died August 27th, Mi^.—Harl. MS. 897, fol. 16. n2 274 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND after that he heard say that your lordship's pleasure was that my lord Hungerford should give me yearly a pension for my honest sustentation, he then said and promised my lord that he would soon rid me for that matter, and so ease my lord of that money paying, if he might have the keeping of me again, as now he hath ; and I am sure he intendeth to keep promise with my said lord, if your good lordship see not remedy in this behalf shortly, for I have none other meat nor drink but such as cometh from the said priest, and brought me by my lord's fool continually, mine old servitor, as all men in these parts knoweth. Which meat and drink, con sidering the priest's promise made unto my lord. and his acts heretofore done unto me, as my lord well knoweth, I have oft feared, and yet do every day more than other, to taste either of the same meat or drink ; wherefore many and sundry (times) I have been and yet am fain to drink water, or else I should die for lack of sustenance, and had, long ere this time, had not poor women of the country, of their charity, knowing my lord's demeanour always to his wives, brought me to my great window in the night such meat and drink as they had, and gave me for the love of God, for money have I none wherewith to pay them, nor yet have had of my lord these four years four groats. And thus, my singular good lord, I am like to perish I fear me very soon, unless your good lord ship, moved with pity and compassion, will com- ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 275 mand my said lord Hungerford, now being in London as I believe, to bring me before your lord ship ; and also the said priest, sir John a Lee ; by whom your lordship, upon his examination, shall perceive many strange things of my lord's demean our : and to the intent that I may, upon causes rea sonable, be divorced from my said lord, or else require him to suffer me to come out of prison. And then will I come up on foot with some poor body unto your lordship, for the security of my life, if it may please you to condescend thereunto, as I shall most humbly beseech your good lordship, for surely I will not longer continue this wretched life with him ; I had rather destroy myself, or beg my living from door to door. And therefore, on the reverence of Jesus Christ, let not his fair, crafty, and subtle tongue longer defraud your good lord ship in this matter. But require his lordship to send for me, and safely to be brought before your lordship, without farther delay ; or else to command some other man at your lordship's pleasure to fetch me from him. And in so doing I shall be most bounden to pray, as I do evermore, to God for the preservation of your honourable estate long to endure. By your most bounden beadswoman, Elizabeth Hungerford. To the right honourable and my singular good lord, Lord Privy Seal. 276 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CXII. Margaret Queen of Scotland to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [SCOTLAND ROYAL LETTERS, VOL. I. ART. 22, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Holograph.] *%* The king of Scots, unwilling to fulfil the wishes of Henry VIII. and give him the meeting in England, had adopted various devices, such as procrastinating the time and altering the place, and, to shift from himseU' the odium of a refusal, even wrote to request the pope to forbid the meeting. Lord WiUiam Howard, and WUliam Barlow bishop of St. David's, then ambassadors in Scotland, writing to CromweU on May 13th, the day after the date of the present letter, make the foUowing mention of Margaret : — ' ' Farthermore, the queen is weary of Scotland and folly deter mined to come into England, so that the king's grace therewith pleaseth to be contented ; and herein she hath directed her letters unto his highness, instantly requiring us likewise to write in her cause, for she is in high displeasure with her son, because she hath so earnestly intermeddled in the cause of meeting, he saying unto her these words : ' that she received gifts of the king her brother to betray him, and that if the king would betray him he had Uever he did it he being in his own realm than when he were in England.' " a It was under these circumstances that the foUowing letter was written. Dearest brother the king, In my most humble and hearty manner I re commend me unto your grace, whom pleaseth be a MisceUaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. xvin. fol. 335. State Paper Office. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 277 certified I did write at great length unto you by you/ ambassador lord William's post, called Brown, and as yet no response, which makes me very afraid that your grace should have other business, because pf his tarry. Dearest brother, I beseech God con serve you, for in you lies much ; and I beseech your grace consider and remember my true heart toward you and your realm in such thing as y our grace gave me charge to do ; whereof I trust you have advertisement by my lord William and the bishop, and last by the post aforesaid. Dearest brother, you shall surely trust there is no labour I may do possibly, but the same shall be gladly accepted by me, and done to your pleasure and honour, before all the whole world, in all pertaining you. Anent the meeting, what your grace thinks thereof I beseech your grace that I may be surely advertised by you of your mind, how and in what manner, and of your whole mind anent the same, with the hastiest post that comes; and, amongst all other matters, that your grace will adver(tise) if I shall be welcome to come and visit your grace, which may be to my great comfort. Howbeit the said meeting be continued, for as you please so will I always do, to abide while the meeting an it hold, which I trust shall be, an you be content of the last response sent with the said Brown. And if your grace, on your part, thinks not the meeting convenient, as is last desired and affixed by your nephew, then that your grace will be so good as to 278 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND he content we do visit your grace, which we trust shall be to your honour and pleasure both ; and that it will please your grace to advertise me, your sister, of this point, like as my most special trust and confidence is in you above all earthly creature. Please your grace, your trusty and humble ser vant, my lord William, thinks right long for re sponse of you : he has been right diligent since his coming, as he might. Farther, in all matters I have given him information to write unto your grace, whom the eternal God preserve, as I would be myself. Written of Edinburgh, this 12th day of May instant, by Your loving sister, Margaret R. To the King's grace my dearest brother. LETTER CXIII. Queen Margaret to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [SCOTLAND ROYAL LETTERS, VOL. I. ART. 29, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Original.] *** The pecuniary distresses spoken of by queen Margaret in the following letter were occasioned partly by the ravages of the EngUsh upon some of her lands in the earldom of March,11 and partly by a recent arrangement which she had made with her creditors to assign a 1 Queen Margaret's articles. Cotton. MS. Calig. B. III. fol. 41. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 279 large share of her revenues to their use ; a and though Henry VIII. had just written her a cool reproving refusal of an appUcation for pecuniary aid,b she renews it with her wonted pertinacity. The voyage of James V. alluded to, was one he made early in 1536, intending to go to France to claim his bride, but was driven back by stress of weather. Margaret's assertion that he was pur posing to visit England was a mere feint to veU his real intentions. Right excellent, right high, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, We recommend us unto your grace in our most hearty manner. Signifying unto you, your nephew and our dearest son has been in great danger of seas by contrary winds, which against his mind, by extremely stormy, compelled to make course forth of this east sea northward, compassing the most part of this realm through the ocean seas, and by the grace of God arrived in the port of Saint Niniau's, called Whitehorn ; his ships and servants divided asunder except his own ship only. At the writing of this present was no perfect certification of them. Notwithstanding the same, your nephew and our dearest son was in good health in his passage, and is presently loving to God ; whereof we doubt not your grace is right joyous to know : wherefore we thought expedient to inform you. Advertising your grace, so far as we can perceive, his intent was to have visited you. Please your grace, we wrote lately to you by " Margaret to Henry VIII., July 18th, 1536. Scotland Royal Letters, vol. i. No. 26, State Paper Office. b Dated August 1536. Ibid. No. 27. 280 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Rosa Herrot, with our own hand, in our most affec tionate manner, concerning our self, our honour, and for eschewing of inconvenience to us, without your help and remedy were made, in manner as our said writing purported. We are in extreme point of dishonour and great trouble without the same, which we doubt not your grace will be right loath to suffer come unto us, since your grace may, with out inconvenience, help us out of the same, which most humbly, heartily, and sisterly we beseech your grace to do ; certifying your grace, will God, we intend never to be so cumbersome again unto your grace, but to guide us within bounds to your honour and ours, and to your pleasure and desire. Dearest brother, farther it will please your grace give credence to this bearer, our trusty servant, which he is in right, and one part to be rehearsed by him. Right excellent, right high, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, we pray eternal God have (you) in tuition and government. Your grace's loving sister, Margaret R. To the right exceUent, right high, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, the King of England, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 281 LETTER CXIV. Margaret Queen of Scotland to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [royal letters, vol. b. m. 7, fol. 38, rolls-house. Original.] *£* James V. again set out for France in the autumn of 1536, and Margaret, though left without nominal power during his absence, once more assumed, in the foUowing letter, her long-abandoned style of queen regent. Right excellent, right high, noble, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, We commend us unto you in our most hearty manner, praying you to grant, at this our requi sition, your safe conduct and sure passport in due form to our loved Andrew Bruss, with one ship or ships of the birth of one hundred tons, or under, charged with fish, salt, or any other lawful mer chandise and goods, with two factors or attorneys, one master-steersman, and mariners in the said ship or ships to sufficient number to ferry a the same, and with other eight persons in company with them, safely and surely to come within your realm of England, to any town, port, haven, bourn, or creek thereof, conjointly or severally, on horse or on foot, by sea, land, or fresh water, there to remain and do their merchandise and lawful errands, and to buy lawful merchandise and goods to be brought again within the realm of Scotland. And in such a Fure in the original. 282 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND wise to pass and repass as oft as they shall think expedient, with their horses, as well stoned as geldings, bulgettis," fardalis,b packets, money, gold, silver, coined and uncoined, letters, close and patent, and all other lawful merchandise and goods, without any search, arrest, or impediment at any town, port, or passage, of your realm. And if any person or persons, being in company with the said Andrew, his attorneys or factors, happens to trespass within your realm, that the person or persons trespassing be punished therefor in their own person and goods, after the quantity of their offences ; and your safe-conduct nevertheless to be observed to the remnant that behaves them honestly and commits no trespass. And for the space of one year next to come, after the day of the date of the same, without any revocation, to endure. Right excellent, right high, noble, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, we pray God have you in keeping. Subscribed with our hand, and under our signet, at Edinburgh, the 17th day of September, the year of God 1536 years. Your loving sister, Margaret R. To the right excellent, right high, noble, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, the King of England, &c. " From the French boulgette, budget. b From the French fardeau , or the ItaUan fardello — a burden. See Hamlet's solUoquy, act Ui. scene 1, " Who would fardels bear?" ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 283 LETTER CXV. Queen Margaret to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1536. [SCOTLAND ROYAL LETTERS, VOL. I. ART. 28, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Holograph.] *** The circumstances under which the present and the two succeeding letters were penned, form one of those episodes which are shghtly touched upon in general history, but which in their details often present us with much of the " romance of real Ufe." Lady Margaret Douglas, weU known in history as the mother of Henry Darnley, was the only daughter of queen Margaret, and her birth is quaintly commemorated by her mother in a letter previously given. During the quarrels between her parents, her father, the earl of Angus, stole her away, and conveyed her privately to an agent of Wolsey in England. a Of her situation at this time we find a detailed account in a curious inedited letter in the State Paper Office, from Thomas Strangeways, her protector, to Wolsey : — b Please it your grace to be advertised, so it is that Mr. CarUsle, the herald, hath declared to me, by credence from your grace, that I shaU keep stiU with me in my house my lady Margaret, daughter to the earl of Angus ; and farther, that I should take good heed and attendance to be sure of her, and yet that she might have as much Uberty and recreation, and rather more, than she hath had. Please it your grace, even according to the same your commandment now sent to me by the said herald, right so I have used her before the said commandment came to me ; for I was warned that, without I took good heed, and looked surely to her, she should be stolen and withdrawn into Scotland, which caused me to take the more labour for her sure keeping : and yet I know weU she was never merrier, nor better pleased and content, than she is now, as she ofttimes reports. My lord a Some time before the year 1525. See letter of Margaret to Dr. Magnus, Cotton. MS. CaUg. B. VIII. fol. 107. b Wolsey Correspondence, vol. ix. pt. i. fol. 193. 284 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND of Angus, at the first bringing of her to me, desired me that I would take her to my house, and he would content me both for her and her gentlewomen, with such folks as should await upon her daUy, or resort to her ; and I shewed again to my said lord that, forsomuch as I understood that your grace was godfather to her, and seeing that my said lord of Angus was not provided of a convenient place for her to be in, I was content to take her and to do her the best service might be in my power, to such time as I knew your grace's pleasure ; and since the coming to Berwick of the said herald, I have shewed my lord of Angus that your express commandment to me was, by the said herald, that I should retain and keep my said lady still, and entertain her as might Ue in me : which commandment I declared to my said lord of Angus, wherewith he was very glad and joyous that your grace had her in such remembrance. An it Uke -your grace I have had my said lady, and her gentlewoman, and a man servant, with other of their friends and servants at certain times, and for the most part my said lord of Angus, her father, now by the space of three months, without any manner of costs to my said lord of Angus, or any of them ; and what your grace shaU farther command me in this matter, or any other, I shaU be ready to accomplish the same with the grace of God : for, in good sooth, I neither have nor will have other master but only your grace, and by my good wUl I shall never be so long from your grace as I have been. And thus the Holy Ghost preserve your grace from aU manner of peril or danger. From Berwick, this 26th day of July, By your faithful and most humble servant, Thomas Stra>geways. To my Lord Legate's grace be this deUvered. In 1528 we find her again in Scotland, when, on the proscription of every one bearing the name of Douglas, her mother sent her for protection to the castle of Norham.a Soon afterwards, the young lady was taken to the court of her uncle Henry VIII., where she was brought up with aU the distinction due to her elevated rank. She was styled indiscrimately lady Margaret Angus or Douglas. b As she sprung up into graceful girlhood she " Northumberland to Wolsey, Oct. 9th, 152S. Cotton. MS. CaUg. B. VI. fol. 459. b Privy-purse Expenses of Henry VIII.: conf. pp. 98, 183. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 285 allowed her affections to be captivated by the young and handsome lord Thomas Howard, eighth son of the duke of Norfolk ; and the lovers are even said to have been clandestinely married. When the connex ion reached the ears of Henry VIII., his indignation was vehement. The whole famUy of the Howards were out of favour from the recent disgrace of their relative queen Anne Boleyn ; the king was always pecuUarly jealous of the aUiances of members of the blood royal, and he had recently made it high treason to marry any who stood, however remotely, in the Une of succession to the crown without the royal permission. " And this notwithstanding," says the parUamentary act which recites this affair, "it is lately, since the beginning of this par hament, come to the knowledge of the king's highness, that the lord Thomas Howard, brother to Thomas now duke of Norfolk, being led and seduced by the devU, not having God afore his eyes, nor re garding his duty of aUegiance that he oweth to have borne to the king, our and his most dread sovereign lord, hath now lately, within the king's own court and mansion place at Westminster, in the county of Middlesex, his majesty there being for the affairs of his parliament, without the knowledge or assent of our said most dread sovereign lord the king, contemptuously and traitorously contracted himself, by crafty, fair, and flattering words, to and with the lady Margaret Douglas, being natural daughter to the queen of Scotts, eldest sister to our said sovereign lord ; by the which it is vehemently to be sus pected that the said lord Thomas falsely, craftily, and traitorously hath imagined and compassed, that in case our said sovereign lord should die without heirs of his body, which God defend, that then the said lord Thomas, by reason of marriage in so high a blood, and to one such which pretendeth to be lawful daughter to the said queen of Scots, eldest sister of our said sovereign lord, should aspire by her to the dignity of the said imperial crown of this realm, or at the least making division for the same by aU UkeUhoods, having » firm hope and trust that the subjects of this realm would incline and bear af fection to the said lady Margaret, being born in this realm, and not to the king of Scots her brother, to whom this realm hath nor ever had any affection, but would resist his attempt to the crown of this realm to the uttermost of their powers ; and for more UkeUhoods and vehement suspicions of the said traitorous intent, the said queen of Scots her mother, as it hath lately been bruited and spoken, and come to the king's knowledge, hath coveted to come into this realm , and to be re stored and reconcUed to the earl Douglas, her late husband, and 286 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND father to the said lady Margaret, from whom she hath been long di vorced by the laws of the church, minding by the same, by aU ve hement presumptions and UkeUhoods, to advance the said lord Thomas and the said lady Margaret into the favour of the people of this realm, by reason whereof the traitorous intent of the said lord Thomas might the sooner be brought to pass. "a On these accusations the young couple were sentenced to imprison ment in the Tower, where the gallant Howard, after lingering fifteen months, feU a victim to passionate but hopeless love, and died in his prison, October 31st, 1537. b His nephew, the far-famed earl of Surrey, aUudes to his untimely fate in a poem to the fair Geraldine, in which his constancy in love is adduced as a proof of the nobleness and fideUty of the Howard race : — (( For you yourself doth know it is not long ago Sith for his love one of the race did end his Ufe in woe, In tower both strong and high, for his assured truth, Whereas in tears he spent his breath, alas ! the more the ruth."c The mental and physical sufferings of the lady Margaret, though less fatal in their results, yet told fearfuUy upon a frame unused to hardship, and she became seriously UI. In a book of royal payments at this time we find the foUowing entry : — " Item, paid to Thomas a Statutes of the Realm, vol. in. p. 680. b Hall's Chronicle, fol. 233, first edition. His death is thus mentioned in a note from the earl of Hertford to lord CromweU. Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. vu. fol. 223 .- — My lord, — I have shewed the king's highness of my lord Thomas' death, as master Wriothesley desired me, as also my lady his mother's request for the burying of him. His grace is content she hath him according to your advice, so that she bury him without pomp. Your lordship's loving friend, E. Hertford. To the right honourable my Lord Privy Seal. The complaint that took him off was an ague. Godwin, in his Annals, p. 65, gives Nov. 1st as the day of his death; but sir John Wallop, writing to lord Lisle on Nov. 3d, 1537, says he died " four days ago."— Lisle Papers, vol. viii.fol. 27. c Nott's edition of Surrey's poems, p. 57. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 287 Aske, poticary, for certain medicines by doctor Cromer and other physicians, and by the poticary employed for the relief and conserva tion of the health of the lady Margaret Douglas during the time of her being in the Tower of London, and also since the same, 14/. Os. 4. To the right noble and my very singular good lady my Lady Lisle be this deUvered. LETTER CXXVI. Mary Countess of Sussex to Lady Lisle, a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. vespasiax, f. xiu. art. 134, fol. 119. Holograph.] *#* Mary countess of Sussex was the daughter of sir John Arun del of Lanherne, ConiwaU, by Catherine daughter of sir Thomas ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 307 GrenvUle, and consequently sister of Honor viscountess Lisle.a The subject of the present letter is a petition for a menial situation in the royal service at Calais. Lord Lisle had immediately under him nineteen men who served for Od. and nineteen who served for Sd. per day, and who were paid by the king ; b and many more were employed on simUar terms in different departments of service. The rate of wages is smaU, even considering the value of money at the period, and the poor man's complaint of the insufficiency of 6o\ per day was not a groundless one.c Madam, After my most hearty recommendations, this should be to desire you to be good lady unto this bearer, Edward Scarlet, as I perceive you have always so been, whereby he obtained at my lord your husband's hand the preferment 6d. by the day in the king's retinue there, which living, as I understand by him, is very little honestly to main tain him, having wife and children ; so that he trusteth, by the aid of his friends here, to be ad vanced to some better living, making them to desire me to write to you to be so good lady to him at my a Arundel and GrenvUle pedigrees, CoUege of Arms. b Calais Correspondence, bundle 1, art. 34, State Paper Office. c Lady Sussex was afterwards married to Henry earl of Arundel. In the Heralds' CoUege, MS. I. 15, fol. 266 et seq. is a long account of " the interment and burial of the right noble and exceUent lady Mary, daughter to sir John Arundel, knight, of the west, wife to Henry earl of Arundel, lord steward of the queen's house, and afore that wife to Robert earl of Sussex, who departed this life on Wednesday, the 20th of October, 1557, anno 4 and 5 PhUip and Mary, between 11 and 12 of the clock at night, in the said earl of Arundel's place in St. Clement's parish called the Danes, without Temple Bar, in London. The Dominical letter C." See also Hari. MS. 897, fol. 79. 308 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND request as to speak to my lord, that he may make an exchange of his room to one of his own kinsmen there, whom, as I have been informed, has done the king good service. Wherefore, good madam, do this much for him, at my desire, toward my lord your husband, whom I trust will be the better con tented to do for him, at this my desire to him and you both ; and I should be glad to do you any like pleasure if it may lie in my power. And thereby you shall bind him continually to bear you his hearty service as he has always done ; as knoweth God, who send me good news of your deliverance, as with his help I hope I shall. Written in haste, By your loving niece, Mary Sussex. To my good Lady Lisle this be deUvered. LETTER CXXVII. Elinor Countess of Rutland to Lady Lisle. a. d. 1537. [lisle papers, vol. xiii. no. 85, state paper office. Original.] *** Lady Rutland was the daughter of sir WiUiam Paston, knight, of Norfolk, and the wife of Thomas Manners, first earl of Rutland, by whom she became the mother of six sons and six daugh ters, and the ancestress of the present dukes of that noble house. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 309 Husee, in a letter to lady Lisle,1 written on May 9th, 1537, men tions lady Rutland's thanks for a heart of gold, which furnishes the date of the present letter. Jesus. Madam, In my right hearty manner I recommend me unto you, and even so glad I am to hear that you be in good health, which I pray God long to con tinue. Madam, I do most heartily thank you for your cherries and peascods which you have sent unto me by this bearer, and for many other gifts that you have sent unto me heretofore ; and sorry I am that I can do you no pleasure, but, God willing, I shall deserve your kindness if I can. And where you send to know whether I did re ceive a heart of gold from you, truth is it came unto me but of late, which heart I do send unto you here inclosed by your said servant. And for news I have none, but that the king's highness and the queen's grace is in good health and merry, thanks be unto Almighty God. I pray you to have me recommended unto my lord your bedfellow. And thus I beseech Almighty God have you in his blessed tuition. Written at Hampton Court, the 10th day of June, By your loving friend, Elinor Rutland. To my very good lady my Lady Lisle be this deUvered. * Lisle Papers, vol. xu. fol. 29. 310 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CXXVIII. Catherine Duchess of Suffolk to Lady Lisle. [cotton, ms. Vespasian, f. xin. art. 104, fol. 91. Holograph.] *** The duchess of Suffolk, several specimens of whose later correspondence will be hereafter given, was the daughter and heiress of lord WUloughby d'Eresby by Mary de Salines, the Spanish friend of queen Catherine of Aragon. She received a superior education, pro bably under the surveiUance of Mary Tudor, the French queen, since she was a ward of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. Although very young, being only twenty-one years old in 1534, she became the fourth wife of her guardian the duke of Suffolk. The present letter seems from internal evidence to have been addressed to lady Lisle, although the superscription is not now to be seen. Madam, In my most hearty wise I heartily recommend me unto your ladyship, heartily thank you for your good wine you sent me, which I assure you was very good ; and also I heartily thank you for your little dog you sent me, wherein, I promise you, you have done me no little pleasure, which I promise you I shall be glad to acquit whenever it shall lie in me to do you any pleasure, to be as ready to it as any friend you have. Madam, my lord my husband has been heartily recommended to you, and to _my lord your husband, and thanks you both for your kind ness ; also I pray you to have me heartily recom mended to my lord your husband, as she which would be glad to be acquainted with him. No more ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 311 to you at this time, but I beseech Jesu have you in his keeping. Written at my lord of Shrewsbury's house in Yorkshire, the Saturday after our Lady's day the Assumption, By your assured friend to my power, Catherine Suffolk. LETTER CXXIX. Honor Viscountess Lisle to the Countess of Sussex. a.d. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, third SERIES, VOL. III. NO. Ill, state paper office. Original.] *%* The following letter was written in reference to a long and anxiously plotted scheme of lady Lisle to have her two daughters, Catherine and Anne, appointed as maids of honour to queen Anne Boleyn. To accomplish this object she tried every device that her ingenuity could suggest. She appUed to lady Salisbury, her son lord Montague, lady Rutland, lady Sussex, and all her friends whom she beUeved to possess influence at court, for the accompUshment of this object,1 but many difficulties arose, which she believed were occa sioned by the want of some earnest agent in the matter. By the advice of Husee she, therefore, adopted the plan of propitiating the queen herself by presents, especially of birds and dogs,b of which she was very fond. One of her correspondents c informed her, that a maid a Henry lord Montague to lord Lisle : Lisle Papers, vol. vi. art. 58. J. Husee to lady Lisle : ibid. vol. v. art. 4 ; and vol. xu. art. 64. " In one letter Husee records that the queen can scarce abide the sight of a monkey. Ibid. vol. xiii. art. 93. c Thomas Broke. Lisle Papers, vol. x. art. 53. 312 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND of honour had told him that ' ' the queen's grace setteth much store by a pretty dog, and her grace dehghted so much in Uttle Purboy,a that after he was dead of a fall there durst nobody teU her grace of it tiU it pleased the king's highness to teU her grace of it ; but her grace setteth more store by a dog than by a bitch, she saith." Lady Lisle accordingly sent over a present of birds, &c. ; of the reception of which she received the foUowing notices: "I have received your ladyship's token and letter, wherein I perceive the contents, and how the queen's grace Uked your present of dottieUs,b and also your linnet that hung in your chamber. Pleaseth you to understand that her grace Uked them both very weU, the one for being a special good dish, and the other for a pleasant singing-bird, which doth not cease at no time to give her grace rejoicing with her pleasant song, — that may be comfort to your ladyship. Moreover, I know her grace is good lady to you." c Another correspondent writes, — "The queen did appoint six of your dottrels for her supper, six for Monday dinner, and six for supper. My lord of Rocheford presented them himseU1, and shewed her how they were kiUed new at twelve of the clock in Dover ; of the which she was glad, and spake many good words toward your lady ship's good report, as I was informed by them that stood by ; and Harris hath made deUverance of your bird and your images, and aU weU."d These letters, being dated in May, cannot have been written later than 1535, since the disgrace of Anne Boleyn took place before the foUowing May. Gratitude, however, formed no prominent feature in that queen's character — Lady Lisle's daughters remained unnoticed till the same plans were tried, with more effect, on her successor, Jane Seymour. On July 17th, 1537, Husee thus writes, — e " Madam, — Upon Thursday last, the queen, being at dinner, my lady Rutland and my lady Sussex being waiters on her grace, her a This seems to have been the identical dog sent by lady Lisle to sir Frances Bryan, who said that it was so proper and weU Uked by the queen that it remained not above an hour in his hands, but that she took it from him. Ibid. vol. U. art. 54. b A kind of bird. c John Brown to lady Lisle. Ibid. vol. -v. art. 56. d J. Atkinson to lady Lisle. Ibid. art. 4. e Ibid. vol. xi. art. 51. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 313 grace chanced, eating of the quails (sent by lady Lisle), to commune of your ladyship and of your daughters, so that such communication was uttered by the said two ladies that her grace made grant to have one of your daughters ; and the matter is thus concluded that your ladyship shaU send them both over, for her grace wUl first see them, and know their manners, fashions, and conditions, and take which of them shall Uke her grace best ; and your ladyship shaU not be need to do much cost on them tiU time you know which of them her grace wUl have : but two honest changes they must have, the one of satin, the other of damask. And at their coming, the one shall be in my lady of Rutland's chamber, and the other in my lady Sussex' chamber, and, once known which the queen wUl have, the other to be with the duchess of Suffolk, and then to be appareUed according to their degrees : but, madam, the queen wUl be at no more cost with her but wages and Uvery, and so I am commanded to write unto your ladyship. And forasmuch as they shall now go upon making and marrying, it shaU please your ladyship to exhort them to be sober, sad, wise, and discreet, and lowly above all things, and to be obedient, and governed and ruled by my lady Rutland, and my lady Sussex, and Mrs. Margery, and such others as be your ladyship's friends here ; and to serve God and be virtuous, for that is much regarded here to serve God weU and to be sober of tongue. I trust your ladyship wiU not take this my meaning, that I should presume to learn your ladyship what is to be done, neither that I do see any UkeUhood of Ul-appear- ance in them, but I do it only of pure and sincere zeal that I bear to them for your ladyship's sake, to the end I would they should so use themselves that it may sound to your ladyship's honour and their worship time coming ; for your ladyship knoweth the court is fuU of pride, envy, indignation, mocking, scorning, and derision. There fore I would be sorry but they would use themselves according to the birth and state that God hath caUed them unto." Preparations were immediately made for sending over the young ladies. On the 7th of August,a and again on the 23d,b Husee wrote to say they might come whenever lady Lisle pleased, and on the 1st of September urged their immediate despatch, since the queen was about to take her chamber within three weeks, preparatory to the birth of her expected infant.0 Within Uttle more than a week they arrived, * Lisle Papers, vol. xi. art. 50. b Ibid. art. 54. " Ibid. art. 55. VOL. II. P 314 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND and on being introduced at court by their lady patronesses, Anne, the younger of the two, had the good fortune to be selected by the queen ; and she was accordingly sworn in on Saturday, Sept. 17th.a Her salary was only 101. a-year, and she was expected to provide her own wardrobe and keep her own maid.b The arrangement of her dress became matter of serious consideration, until the queen was pleased to express her pleasure that she should wear out her French apparel, excepting the hood, which was to be exchanged for a bonnet and front let — an attire which Husee thought " became her nothing so weU as the French hood:"0 but the queen's wUl was law; and soon afterwards the French apparel was altogether abandoned for that which was more in accordance with court costume. d Anne Basset took part as maid of honour in the ceremonial of the christening of prince Edward, and her dresses were ordered in preparation for the churching of the queen ;e but the sudden death of Jane Seymour clouded the prospects of the young maid of honour, and she was returned to her former patroness, the countess of Sussex, though her board was paid for by the king.f MeanwhUe, attempts having faUed to obtain preferment for Catherine, either with the queen, or the princess Mary,s or Elizabeth,11 and the duchess of Suffolk, who had originaUy agreed to receive and patronise her,' being absent in the country,* she was left on the hands of lady Rutland. Lady Sussex, upon whom, as being her niece, lady Lisle thought she had some claim, had declined the charge on plea of the multipUcity of claims made upon her by her own Devonshire relations.' This refusal produced the foUowing letter of courtesy blended with dignified reproof. Madam, After my hearty recommendations to my good lord and you, this is to advertise you I have a Lisle Papers, vol. xi. art. 110. b Ibid. art. 55. 0 Ibid. art. 110. H Ibid. vol. xu. art. 88. e Ibid. vol. xn. art. 110. ' Ibid. vol. xi. art. 113. s Ibid. vol. v. art. 9. b Ibid. vol. xiv. art. 72. The king thought that she had " too much youth about her." ' Ibid. vol. xi. art. 103. k Ibid. vol. xi. art. 110. ' Ibid. art. 26, 36. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 315 received your letter, perceiving thereby your sorrow for the death of the queen's grace, whose soul God pardon ; ensuring you the same is as much to me and other. Yet her grace was fortunate to live the day to bring forth such a prince ; for the which we and all the king's true liege people may rejoice and give thanks to God, praying daily for his grace's increase and prosperity. And farther, by the same I perceive my good lord and you have taken my daughter Anne unto you, until such time as chance may come to have place again ; the which, God willing, may, when time shall be, through your good suit : if not, I would be sorry I sent my daughters so soon. Nevertheless, madam, if by your suit at the time she cannot obtain, upon know ledge thereof, incontinent I shall not fail to send for her, and to recompense your charges; for I did not send them for that I would put you or any of my kin or friends to charge, but only to have them with the queen. And where you write, as you have done often, were not for your great charge of kin and other gentlewomen which you have promised and is like to have, you would have had Catherine (but for speech of other,1 although my lord would, you will not), madam, it was never my mind nor intent, I being of your kin, to put you to any charge, whereby any other should speak thereof: yet if I were in England, in case you sent any to me, if they were a As others report. 316 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND three or four, I would have been as glad to accept them and to do for them as mine own. And who soever have mine shall be at no charge with them : heartily praying you to prefer Anne if you may, when God shall send time, because she was sworn to the late queen. If that were not, I would desire you to prefer the one as well as the other. And where it hath pleased my lord of Rutland and my good lady to take Catherine for a time, the rather at your good suit, I thank them and you thereof, trusting they shall be no loser therein. And for that your ladyship hath been at charges with them both, as well by gifts as otherwise, I trust shortly to recompense part thereof, with my most hearty thanks. Very glad to hear of your great belly, beseeching God to make you a joyous mother; and as shortly as I can I will send you your own." I tarry but to have some good wine for my lord and you, which I trust you shall have three weeks before Christmas at the farthest. And thus I rest for this time, praying our Lord God to send my lord and you long lives, with increase of honour. From Calais, the 14th day of November, by her that is now heavy it is my chance to put you or other to trouble with mine, Honor Lisle. a This refers to an ermine arras and other apparatus for the christening of a chUd, which lady Lisle had this year borrowed from lady Sussex in hopes to have occasion for its use. — Lisle Papers, vol. xi. art. 36. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 317 Madam, if my niece Stayning will take the pain to come over hither, she shall be as welcome as heart can think, and her woman with her. To the right honourable and my very good Lady of Sussex. LETTER CXXX. Elizabeth Countess of Kildare to Lord Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, first SERIES, VOL. IX. NO. 67, state paper office. Holograph.] *%* We have had in a former letter a proof of the tenderness with which the countess of KUdare watched over the interests of her children, and they needed aU her maternal vigilance. The enemies of her husband had at length succeeded in impeaching him, and he died in the Tower while a prisoner of state. His son by his first wife, and his five brothers, breaking out in self-defence into open rebelUon, all feU on the scaffold. So dark was the gloom that overshadowed the house of Fitzgerald, and so deep the disgrace in which it was involved, that the mother dared not venture to protect her young idiot boy, who, probably by some exercise of maternal ingenuity, had been conveyed to her in England without soUciting permission from the ministers of Henry VIII. Please it your good lordship to be advertised that, at my coming to Beaumanoir the 14th day of this present month, I found there my son Edward Fitz-Gerald, of the age of eight years, whose bringers thither be of none acquaintance, nor no 318 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND knowledge to none of mine, nor brought word who sent him, nor left token nor letter how he should be used. Wherefore I beseech your good lordship that I may know the pleasure of the king's highness, by your good lordship's advice, how he should be ordered ; and if I durst be so bold I would desire the custody of him, because he is an innocent, to see him brought up in virtue ; and let it please your good lordship to send me word by your writing, by this hearer, how you will have him ordered : your pleasure known it shall be done with all the dili gence that I may. As knoweth God, who preserve you in long life with great increase in honour. Written at Beaumanoir, the 16th day of July, By your oratrice, Elizabeth Kildare. To the honourable lord my Lord Privy Seal this be given. LETTER CXXXI. Elizabeth Countess of llrorcester to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlix. no. 474, state paper office. Holograph.] *%* The countess of Worcester was an intimate associate of queen Anne Boleyn, and a contemporary newsmonger mentions her as ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 319 having been one of the queen's principal accusers, though she does not stand invested with that odious character by our historians. a Mine own good lord, I heartily commend me to you. And whereas I do perceive, by a letter sent to me from my brother, that you are special good lord unto me as touching the sum of one hundred pounds which I did borrow of queen Anne, deceased ; in which thing I doubt it not but she would have been good to me : for your goodness to me in that matter I most heartily thank you, desiring you of continuance, and I, with all my friends, to the uttermost of our poor powers, shall be glad to deserve it. For I am very loath it should come to my lord my husband's knowledge, which is and hath been utterly ignorant both of the borrowing and using of the said hundred pounds. And if he should now have knowledge thereof, I am in doubt how he will take it. Wherefore I beseech you continue your good mind, and be good lord to me in this matter. Thus Almighty God preserve you. At Tintern, the 8th day of March. Yours to her power, Elizabeth Worcester. To my especial good lord my Lord Privy Seal be this deUvered. * John Husee to lady Lisle, May 24th, 1536 : Lisle Papers, vol. xii. fol. 51. Same to the same, May 25th: Ibid. fol. 35. 320 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CXXXII. Princess Mary to Lord Cromwell, a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. vespasian, f. xin. art. 223, fol. 207. Holograph.] *** This letter seems to have been written in the year 1537, when Mary's long-entertained desire having been accomplished, she was spending some time at court. It evinces the clinging attachment to the memory of her mother, which was a prominent trait in Mary's character. My very good lord, Because my trust is your goodness will not be weary though I do daily molest you with my con tinual suits, I shall most heartily desire the same to have in remembrance mine earnest suit made unto you for mistress Coke, my mother's old servant, touching the farm of Rysbridge, belonging to the new college in Oxford, the warden whereof hath neither used you nor me (as I think) gently therein. And, therefore, as my sheet-anchor next the king's majesty, I recommend it wholly unto you. And even so beseech our Lord to send you no worse to fare than I would myself. At the court, the 15th of April. Your loving, assured friend during my life, Mary. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 321 LETTER CXXXIII. Queen Margaret to Lord Cromwell, a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. caligula, b. i. fol. 249. Holograph.] *%* Queen Margaret, ever anxious to maintain in Scotland an opinion that she was held in great esteem by her brother of England, was vehemently indignant with Cromwell for divulging to a Scotchman the reluctance of Henry VIII. to permit her to come to England. On this occasion she wrote him the foUowing letter It has no date, but was evidently written at the same time as the foUowing of 1537, in which the same affair is aUuded to and the present letter men tioned. In both Margaret commits the blunder of styUng Cromwell " lord secretary," although he had been raised to the dignity of privy My lord secretary, I commend me heartily to you, and wit you that I have received the king's grace my dearest brother's writings, which are very hearty and honourable, and his credence with this gentleman ; whom I have been very plain to in all sorts concerning to the king's grace's commandment. And, my lord, touching any (thing) that I said .belonging you, upon my honour I said no other thing but that I prayed the king's grace to bid you let no Scotchman wit of nothing that belonged to my matters betwixt the king's grace my brother and me ; and for this cause. You shall understand that master Adam Otter- a On the 2d of July, 1536.— Patent roll, 28 Hen. VIII. pt. He was created baron CromweU on July 9th. — Ibid. p2 322 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND bourn said to me, when he came out of England, that you bade him say to me that where I desired to come in England, without the king my son were content, I should not come there ; which I thought very heavy that any Scotchman should know but that I should be welcome ever in that realm. Praying you heartily, my lord secretary, that for my request you will pardon this Musgrave, and be not displeased at him, for in good faith he was so sharply dealt with, and I had such great haste, that he took it not all as I said. For I assure you, my lord secretary, I had no other thing in my mind toward you, in any sort, but as the king's true servant, praying you to think no other, and that I may trust surely that you will be my good friend, and do for me in such matters as I have ado with the king's grace, as at more length this gentleman will shew you in my name ; and that you will let me know the king's pleasure, as my special trust is in you. And God have you in his keeping. Written with my hand. Your friend, Margaret R. To our weU-beloved and special friend my Lord Secretary. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 323 LETTER CXXXIV. Margaret Queen of Scotland to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. caligula, b. i. fol. 160 b. Holograph.] *i* At the time when the foUowing letters were written, the young king James V. was away from Scotland, wooing and wedding his fair young bride, Magdalen of France. The return of the queen- consort was looked forward to with apprehension by Margaret, who feared a total ecUpse from the influence and splendour of her daughter- in-law. She was also dissatisfied, both with her husband, lord Methven, for interfering with her lands, and with her son for not interposing for her. There were so many contradictions, however, in the statements of the agents whom Henry VIII. sent to Scotland to learn the state of her affairs, and so much inconsistency in her own conduct, that Henry professed himseU' at a loss what to believe.3 Right excellent, high, and mighty prince, and my dearest brother the king, I recommend me in my most humble and hearty manner to your grace, whom pleaseth to wit I have received your hearty and loving writing, with credence sent to me with your grace's secret servant, Ralph Sadler, the which is greatly to my comfort that your grace standeth in so good mind toward me, your sister, as I may perceive by your grace's said writing and credence to me; praying God 1 Henry VIII. to queen Margaret, Jan. 7th, 1537. Scotland Eoyal Letters, vol. i. art. 30, State Paper Office. 324 LETTETtS OF ROYAL AND that I may deserve the same, which at my utter power I shall do. Dearest brother, as touching the marriage of your nephew the king, my son, in so far as your grace makes rehearsal in your said writing that your mind and counsel were not had to the same, which would have been both to his honour and profit : as to that, dearest brother, I assure your grace that, when he departed from me, that he said he would have your advice and counsel principally in all his matters that he had to do ; and to my part I am very evil content that he did not the same, which of reason and kindness he should have done. Also, dearest brother, pleaseth your grace, where that you write and maketh mention of my said writing to you of the coming of the queen, my son's wife, that I, seeing and considering the great honour that she will be at, that towards myself I would think that I might be in such sort that I might do honour to your grace and myself, I being your only sister, trust your grace will think the more honour I have the more honour is yours. And this cause being considered, I beseech your grace, of your special help and counsel in all sorts, how I shall order me ; referring all things to your pleasure, and what you will do to me : for your grace has shown you ofttimes so nobly to me, and kindly in divers remembrance, that I may not be charging to your grace, but at your pleasure. And were not the ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 325 instant time of your grace's honour and mine, I would have been very loath to have been charging to your grace in my desires. And in another part, dearest brother, where that I did take the lord of Methven, and did him that honour to take him as my husband, as I understand, at that time, and gave him as much credence as I could do : he hath spent my lands and profits upon his own kin and friends, in such sort that he hath made them hope and put me into great debts, which will be to the sum of 8000 marks Scotch money ; and as yet cannot know how nor in what sort, for he would never let me understand how my lands was ruled, but said he would answer for the same. Herefore I desire the lords of my son's council to cause him to make them account, as at more length I have shewn my mind in this matter and in all others; whomto I have been very plain, because your grace bade me in your said writing that I should give him firm credence as to yourself. I have shewn my mind the more plainly, whomto I trust your grace will give credence to, and that you will show you a kind prince and brother toward me, as my special trust and hope is in your grace, if so were that the king my son would not do to me in all sorts as he ought to do, both to the pleasure of God and to his own honour, as I trust not but that he will do, without it be through evil counsel ; and while I know the contrary by himself, I will not trust the same. And that, dearest brother, 326 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND being known, that he fail to me his mother in dis obeying me of my conjunct feoffment, or in any thing that may be to my hurt or dishonour, I trust, then, that your grace will look upon the same for your honour, with your help, and supply a refuge to me, if need asks the same. For, an I be troubled, I have no other to seek help at but your grace ; and in that I beseech your grace that I may surely know your mind and pleasure, for now is the time, con sidering the queen that is coming here will have help at the king her father. And, dearest brother, if that the king my son will be a kind son to me, and cause me to be obeyed as I should be in all sorts, then I may do your grace in this realm both honour and pleasure, which shall be ever my utter mind and will, and to do your commandment in all that I may. Now, dearest brother, it will please your grace I have shewn to this gentleman, your secret servant, how and what sort it standeth betwixt me and the said lord of Methven, and in what point I am standing in presently, and the manner of the lords as they stand toward me and my matters : praying your grace to consider the same, and with the grace of God and with your help I shall over come this trouble that I am in ; so being that your grace will stand my good prince and brother, and let me not be wronged in my rights. And other- ways I shall not be charging to your grace, but as you will command me to do ; and that I shall fulfil as I may. Dearest brother, an it shall please your ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 327 grace, I need not to write all things at length, because of this gentleman, your secret servant, that will inform your grace at length in such things as I have shown to him to be shown to your grace ; beseeching your grace to pardon me of my charges at this time, and not be displeased at me for the same, considering as all matters stands now pre sently to me, both to my help and honour ; and that it will please your grace that I may be advertised of your pleasure with great diligence, for the time is short. Advertising your grace that, as soon as I get the king my son's answer in such matters as I have written at length to him, your grace shall be adver tised of the same with diligence, that you may know the good mind of the king my son toward me, and that I may know your pleasure thereafter, so that I may follow the same. Dearest brother, pleaseth your grace touching the credence that I did send to you with Richard of Musgrave, it was in this manner and sort, as I assure your grace upon my honour ; saying in this sort, that I prayed your grace that you would bid my lord secretary that he did not let no Scotchman wit of any matters concerning me ; and for this cause : your grace shall wit that master Adam Otterborn said to me, that my lord secretary bade him say to me, that where I desired to come in the realm of England, that without good will and consent of the king my son that I should not come there. And herefore, dearest brother, I thought it 328 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND right strange that any Scotchman should know but that I were welcome when I desired to come. And in any thing that your grace would that I did, rather to send it to me with an Englishman ; and that I pray your grace to do to me. And as to my lord secretary, he is your good true servant, and that all men says ; and I trust, with the pleasure of your grace, he will be my good friend in such matters as I have to do with your grace, and that it will please your grace to command him to be my good friend and adviser : * for, next your grace, I will send to no other to labour at your hand in my matters, so that your grace will give me leave to do so. Beseeching your grace, for this my request, that you will not be displeased at Musgrave, because he was so sharp dealt with, and I was so hasty to put him away, that he took it in other sort than I said it ; but in times coming, an it be with any Englishman, I shall write my credence, so that none shall have no reproof for me and herefor. Beseeching your grace humbly to be his good prince, and nought displeased at him for this. And I do write pre sently to rny lord secretary for this same, with my own hand, and that for my special request that he will not be displeased at the gentleman Musgrave for such causes as is above written : as further at length this gentleman, your servant, will shew your grace, both in that and in all other matters, as I a Vylar in original. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 329 beseech your grace to give him credence in my behalf. And Jesus preserve your grace. Written with my own hand, the 10th day of February. Your loving sister, Margaret R. To the right exceUent, right high, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, the King of England. LETTER CXXXV. Queen Margaret to the Duke of Norfolk, a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. caligula, b. ii. fol. 5. Holograph.] My lord and cousin, I commend me heartily to you, and desire greatly to hear from the king's grace my dearest brother, and believed firmly ere now to have had final response of my said writing, sent to his grace with his servant master Sadler ; the which answer I have not gotten as yet, whereof I marvel greatly, considering it stands upon the point of the coming of the king my son and his queen : but methinks his grace holds me not in his remembrance, nor yet I have no friends that put me in his grace's remem brance, and especially now when it stands me upon my honour, for the more honour I have the more 330 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND is the king my brother's honour. Praying you heartily, my lord, that I may be advertised of his grace's mind, what is his pleasure, and when you send in this realm that I may have word from you ; and farther, that you will give credence to the bearer. And God have you in his keeping. Written with my own hand. Your cousin, Margaret R. To my Lord of Norfolk, my cousin. LETTER CXXXVI. Queen Margaret to King Henry VIII. [SCOTLAND ROYAL LETTERS, VOL. 1. ART. 32, STATE PAPER OFFICE. Holograph.] *** In March 1537. Henry VIII. having understood that the dis tresses of which his sister complained were, in some degree at least, real, sent sir Ralph Sadler to James V., then in France, to re monstrate with him.a His instructions were to say to James that, though doubtless the injuries complained of were principaUy per petrated without his knowledge or consent, yet that the queen his mother was thereby reduced to " such misery, as, considering her estate, if she were not his highness' sister, his majesty could not but pity her." The result of this appUcation was, that James wrote his mother an affectionate letter, and commanded his lords to do her justice. b The other point aUuded to in the foUowing letter is the a Scotland Correspondence, vol. i. art. 59. Henry VIII.'s in structions to Sadler, State Paper Office. b Margaret to Henry VIII. 24th AprU, 1537. Scotland Royal Letters, vol. i. art. 31. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 331 divorce which the fickle queen, weary of her once idolised favourite, was trying to procure between herself and her third husband, lord Methven. Dearest brother the king, In my most humble manner I recommend me to your grace, whom pleaseth to wit I have received your hearty writing to me your sister, sent by your secret servant master Sadler, and thanks your grace in my most hearty manner of the two hundred pound sterling you have sent to me with this master Sadler, praying your grace not to be displeased that I am charging to you in any sort, the which I shall not be. And, also, I thank your grace right humbly of the sending into France to the king my son for me, trusting to be much the better, and to find the more kindness, for your grace's sake ; and as I find I shall advertise you of the same. Praying you, dearest brother, then, when you send word in this realm that I be not forgot, but that I may be adver tised of your mind and pleasure, so that I may do that may be pleasing and acceptable to your grace ; which is my mind and will to do, as at more length this bearer your servant will show your grace. Also, dearest brother, your grace shall under stand that I have spoken at length with the king my son, whereby, as I understand, his mind and will standeth in very good sort toward your grace and your said realm, and would fain understand of your grace's good mind in that sort. And, as I trust, he 332 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND sends the abbot of Arbroath'4 to you, to advertise your grace of his mind, and desiring the same of you. Praying your grace, that in any manner of sort that you would have matters addressed in this realm to your pleasure, that I may be advertised of the same; and I trust to do such diligence that your grace shall be content with the same, for I am most tender to you both to dress all matters. Praying your grace also to take kindly with the abbot, so that of reason he have no cause to make evil report, but that he be well entreated, for he is great with the king my son, your nephew ; and that it will please your grace to let him understand that it is your pleasure and will that I be honourably en treated and obeyed of my living, seeing I am your sister ; and, that being done, your grace will be the more kinder to this realm for my sake. These good words may do me much good and your grace no hurt, but to your honour. And with the help of God I shall deserve the same at my power. Pleaseth your grace also to know that my divorce and partition is at the giving of the sentence, and proved by many famous folk, to the number of four- and-twenty provers.b And with the grace of God I shall not have never such a trouble again, and your grace shall be very sure I shall never do no thing (but) by your counsel and commandment ; for I may do your grace both honour and pleasure better now as a David Beatoun. b Pryvos in orig. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 333 I am, beseeching your grace, if I have need, that I lack not your help and supply, the which I trust I shall not fail to have, if I be wronged in any thing that I have right to. And on my part I shall be very diligent to hold love and amity betwixt your grace and my son, your nephew, and to advertise your "race as I can find in all behalfs, if there cometh any out of your realm ; otherwise I will not write at length, for such causes as I have shewn master Sadler, whomto I pray your grace give firm cre dence, and assure your grace he guides himself so that the king myself is very well content with him. As God knows, whom preserve your grace. Written the 7th day of June. Your loving sister, Margaret R. To the right exceUent, right high, and mighty prince, and our dearest brother, the King of England. LETTER CXXXVII. Queen Margaret to the Duke of Norfolk, a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. caligula, b. i. fol. 191. Holograph.] My lord and cousin, I commend me heartily to you, and wit you that I think great unkindness, when you do send in this 334 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND realm, that you will not write nor send to speak with me, that I may hear from you, and you to hear how I am entreated ; for since the departing of master Sadler I have gotten no word, neither from the king's grace my brother nor yet from you, which was greatly to (my) comfort to hear. And, dearest cousin, I must make my complaint to you, how I am heavily done to in this realm ; for I have obtained my cause of divorce betwixt me and the lord of Methven, and it is so far past that the judge has concluded and written my sentence, ready to be pro nounced these twelve weeks bypast, and the king my son has stopped the same, and will not let it be given, the which is contrary justice and reason; and he promised me, when I gave him my manor8 of Dunbar for a certain money, that I should have the same sentence pronounced. Thus, my lord, I trust it be the king's grace my brother's will that I have reason done to me, and obeyed of my living, suppose I may not daily write to his grace; and seeing that you are so near to these parts, your good writing and words would do me most good to the king my son, so that he may understand that the king's grace my brother will not suffer me to be wronged, for I am daily holden in great trouble for lack of my sentence. Herefore I pray you, my lord and cousin, that you will make some errand to the king my son, not a Maynnes. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 335 letting wit that I did advertise you, but that every body speaks of it that I should lack justice, that is mother to him, which is to his dishonour greatly ; and that you will pray him to cause my sentence to be pronounced when your said servant is present here with his grace, or else I will not get it. For they cause my son the king to believe that, an the lord of Methven be my husband, that he may give the king my lands and living, as long as he is my husband ; and through this way thinks to hold me daily in trouble, and to make him master of my lands. Thus, my lord and cousin, you may help me out of my trouble through your good writing ; for an they may trust that the king's grace my brother will be displeased at this, they will remedy the same. And for me, I am holden in such suspicion for Eng land, that I dare not send no Scotchman. Herefore I desire to have some special servant of yours that I may speak with ; praying you, my lord, to do this for my request, as you will that I fare well, and as my special trust is in you : for the sooner that you send it is the better for me. And I pray you, my lord, that you will give credence to Harry Ree. And God have you in his keeping. Yours, Margaret R. To my lord and cousin the Duke of Norfolk. 336 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CXXXVIII. Queen Margaret to Lord Cromwell, a.d. 1537. [SCOTLAND CORRESPONDENCE, VOL. II. ART. 61, STATE PAPER office. Holograph.] *%* The date of the present letter, October 14th, is written very clearly ; but if it be correct, the news of the birth of prince Edward must have travelled very quickly to Scotland, since it took place only on Friday, October 12th. Trusty and well-beloved friend, I commend me heartily to you, and has re ceived your hearty writing from the king my bro ther's servant, whereof I thank you heartily, and of your joyful tidings that you have written to me, that God hath sent that grace to send a prince to the king's grace my brother, the which I assure you, next the welfare of the king's grace my brother, it is thing most in this world to my joy and comfort; pray ing God to preserve him in health and long life, as I shall pray daily therefor: for, be the king my dearest brother in good prosperity, I trust I cannot be evil. But you shall understand I have been and is yet as heavily troubled as any gentlewoman may be, and I trust no princess in that sort intreated, as I have written at length to the king's grace my brother ; for I have no other to complain to but his grace, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 337 and if he help me not I will get none, and he hath but me his only sister. Wherefore, my lord and friend, I pray you to look well upon my said writing to the king's grace, and consider the same with your good help and counsel for me ; and that the time be not put off, as my special trust next the king's grace is in you, that I may be helped out of great trouble. For it will be greatly to the king my brother's honour that I be favourably entreated and obeyed of my lands and houses, seeing, on the one side, I am sister to his grace and mother to the king here, and that I made no evil cause to be evil entreated, but that my evil-willers doth make false report of me, as I have written at length in the king's grace my brother's writing. Wherefore I will not write no more at length, because I know you will see the same; praying you, in my most hearty manner, to shew you a special friend for me, and that I may find the same with diligence ; and that such writings as I do write to the king's grace and you, that they be kept right secret, for they desire no better than to have a fault to me to trouble me for. Where fore I pray you, my lord, as my great trust is in you, let such as I write be kept secret ; for all the mistrust they have is (with) me for England's sake, trusting I will shew any thing that I know that may be to the pleasure of the king's grace my bro ther and his realm : as reason would that 1 did, for all my hope is in his grace. And since that little VOL. II. Q 338 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND thing may help me, and not be charging to his grace, I trust I shall not lack that, with your good help. I stood never in such a sort as I am now. As God knoweth, whom keep you at your heart's desire. Written the 14th day of October. Your friend, Margaret R. To my trusty and weU-beloved friend my Lord Privy Seal. Endorsed, " 1537, Oct. 14th." LETTER CXXXIX. Queen Margaret to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1537. [SCOTLAND ROYAL LETTERS, VOL. I. ART. 33, STATE PAPER office. Holograph.] Dearest brother the king, In my most humble manner I recommend me to your grace : whom please to wit, that since the de parting of master Sadler I have been greatly into trouble, and is so yet, and I could get none to write with (by) while now, the which is very heavy to me, standing in the case that I am in. For your grace shall understand, that the sentence of divorce betwixt me and the lord of Methven should have been given and pronounced within fifteen days after the departing of master Sadler; notwithstanding, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 339 the king my son has staid the same, and will not let it be pronounced, and four-and-forty famous provers hath proved* before the judge. And for no labour nor soliciting that is possible to me my son will not do it, and for these causes, as he alleges, that I would pass in England, and marry him that was earl of Angus; and this Harry Stewart, lord of Methven, causes him to believe this of me. Also, dearest brother, I have given to the king my son my vyttalsb off Dunbar, which is four and fifty chaders" of vettals,b and I get little profit for the same, which is but five hundred marks Scotch money, notwithstanding I trusted to have had the king my son the more kind to me, as he promised me to have been ; but I find the contrary daily, for I am daily holden in great trouble, and not an swered nor obeyed of my houses and lands, but every day there cometh new charges. In good faith, dearest brother, I had liever be dead, ere I were entreated as I am, for I am holden in great suspicion that none dare do for me. Beseeching your grace to have consideration of me your only sister, and that this realm may understand, as long as I have your grace, that you will not suffer me to be wronged, for it is your grace's honour. And consider, also, that I have made no fault nor cause to be troubled, but all only through my evil-willers, the lord of Methven and his brother, and there can a Provedyd in orig. b So in orig. — Victuals ? c Chaldrons ? 340 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND no fault be found to me, but ever England casting upon me ; the which I think my best, and ever shall. I assure your grace, dearest brother, an the king my son and this realm know that you would be displeased that I were evil entreated, it would be remedied hastily. Wherefore I beseech your grace to let them know, and that it comes not of my shewing to you, but that it is known openly, or otherwise I may not live at pleasure. Also, dearest brother, I beseech your grace that you will cause the king my son to let my sentence be pronounced, the which is both concluded and written five months bypast ; and you doing this for me to put me out of daily trouble, your grace shall be sure that I shall never have a husband while I live, but live honourably to your honour and mine. And without I get remedy, I will pass to some religious place, and bide with them ere I be entreated as I am. And for my great comfort I beseech your (grace) that you will make some errand in this realm with some special servant of yours, with all diligence that may be, for without that I will get no remedy ; for my lord of Methven causes the king my son to believe, as long as he is unparted and the sentence ungiven, that he shall take up my lands, and will give them over to the king for some pleasure to him. Your grace shall understand I have not a place to dwell in, but into a town, which is greatly to your dishonour that I your sister should be so entreated. I cannot write ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 341 as I have cause, but I refer me to your grace, and that this my said writing be secretly kept for (fear of) my destruction ; and when you send in this realm, that your grace will please to send to me, for it may do me great pleasure and profit ; and, have I not your help and supply, I shall not set by this world, as it will be seen on me. No more at this time, but God preserve you, Written at Dundee, the 16th day of October. Your loving sister, Margaret R. To the King's grace my dearest brother. LETTER CXL. Margaret Dowager-Marchioness of Dorset to King Henry VIII. a.d. 1537. [letters to king and COUNCIL, VOL. I. NO. 80, STATE PAPER office. Original.] *** When preparations were made for the expected birth of the infant of queen Jane Seymour, the marchioness of Dorset was selected by Henry VIII. to perform the distinguished part of sponsor to the royal child. The very day of the birth of the prince, however (Friday, October 12th, 1537), two of the officers of the royal household wrote to lord CromweU, informing bim that lord Maltravers, who with his wife was then staying with his mother-in-law, the marchioness of Dorset, at the residence of the archbishop of Canterbury, Croydon, had sent to inform them that the plague had broken out in the village, that three or four persons were dying daUy, and that in her ladyship's • 342 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND house two persons were sick, though the nature of their disease was not yet ascertained. The king, on hearing this, forbade the dowager- marchioness, lord and lady Maltravers, and also the young marquis of Dorset and his wife, to attend the christening of the prince.3 The marquis remonstrated, on the ground that neither he nor his wife had been at the village of Croydon, but only at the archbishop's iouse.b The mandate of the timid monarch, who trembled at the possibUity of danger for his infant heir, remained, however, unaltered, and he persisted in his wish that their attendance should be spared.0 The present letter expresses the disappointment of the marchioness Margaret on the occasion. It may please your highness to be advertised, that I have received the queen's grace's letters, of the most joyful news and glad tidings that came to England these many years ; for the which we all, your grace's poor subjects, are most bounden to give thanks to Almighty God, that it hath pleased Him of his great mercy so to remember your grace with a prince, and us all, your poor subjects, to the great comfort, universal weal, and quietness of this your whole realm ; beseeching Almighty God to send his grace good life and long, to his plea sure and comfort of your most noble grace, with as many humble thanks to your highness, as my poor heart can think, that it pleased your grace to ap point me, so poor a woman, to so high a room to a Sir WiUiam FitzwUUam, treasurer, and sir WUliam Poulet, comp troUer, to lord CromweU, dated " this Friday, 10 o'clock." Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xi. fol. 104, State Paper Office. b Dorset to CromweU. Howard Letters, p. 310. 0 FitzwUUam and Poulet to CromweU, dated " Friday night." Ibid. fol. 106. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 343 have borne my lord prince to his christening : which service, or any other that it should have pleased your grace to have commanded me to do, I should have been as glad to have done as any poor woman living. And much it grieveth me that my fortune is so evil, by reason of the sickness here in Croydon, to be banished your grace's presence this time, at which I would most gladly have done service ; and since my chance is such that I may not be there, I shall, according to my bounden duty, daily pray for the preservation of your most noble grace, by whom it hath pleased Almighty God to have this your whole realm in his remembrance. As knoweth our Lord, who send your highness good life and long, to his pleasure. Written at Croydon, the 14th day of October, By your grace's most humble servant, Margaret Dorset. To the King's highness. LETTER CXLI. Margaret Dowager-Marchioness of Dorset to Lord Cromwell, a. d. vers. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, second SERIES, VOL. IX. NO. 28, STATE paper office. Original.] *** By the will of Thomas marquis Dorset, dated June 2d, 1530, and proved November 18th of the same year," he assigned very * Nicolas' Testamenta Vettista, vol. ii. p. 683. 344 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND moderate portions to each of his younger sons. Thomas, the son named in this letter, had only the revenues of a single manor for his support. His mother acted, therefore, both a kind and a judi cious part in trying to obtain for him a situation at court, and, mean while, recommending those habits of economy rendered necessary by bis circumstances. My very good lord, In my heartiest manner I have me recommended to you, with as many humble thanks as my poor heart can think, for the continual goodness that I find at your lordship's hands, not only in my pursuits and causes, hut also that of late it pleased you to take to your service my son Thomas, and a servant of mine, Oates Nicolas, whom I ensure you, my lord, I did like as well for his good service and conditions as any man that ever came in my house ; and especial suit he made to me to be pre ferred to your lordship, to whom I require you, my lord, be no otherwise good than as he shall do acceptable service. And as for my son Thomas (whom at this time I do send to your lordship), I reckon myself much bounden to you that it pleased you to accept him ; praying you, my good lord, in the honour of God, and for my lord my husband's sake (whose soul Jesu pardon), to be a very father to my said son, who of his part shall not have my favour but as he, with his diligent attendance and duty to you, may deserve yours ; according as I have to him declared at his departing from me. Concerning his finding and charges, I would be glad, my lord, he should in his youth learn to live ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 345 according to the portion limited and assigned to him by my lord his father's will. Howbeit, if that at any time do not suffice, I will from time to time, as by you shall be thought meet for causes reasonable, aid him farther, and depart to him of mine own. I have appointed to wait upon him one Clement Chaird, an old servant of my lord my husband's, because my son is young, and had need to have one honest sad man to be with him : to whom I pray you, my lord, it may please you to be good lord unto. I doubt not but you will like him well. Beseeching you, my good lord, to continue your goodness towards me as you have always done hitherto, and bounden me thereby to be your daily beadswoman. Farther it may please you to give credence to this bearer ; beseeching Almighty God to send you, my very good lord, good life and long, to his pleasure. Written at sir Richard Clement's moat, in Kent, the 24th day of January. Yours assured to my little power, Margaret Dorset. To my singular good lord my Lord of the Privy Seal. q2 346 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CXLII. Lady Catherine Fitz-Alan to Lord Cromwell, a.d. vers. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, second SERIES, VOL. I. NO. 107, state paper office. Original.] *#* The writer of the two foUowing letters was the daughter of WiUiam earl of Arundel, who had in early life been contracted to the young Henry marquis of Dorset, and she is usuaUy stated in the peerage books to have been married to bim and then repudiated ;a but from the letters of his mother, the dowager-marchioness, already given, it is evident that, from some early dislike, he rejected her and plighted his troth to the young Frances Brandon, daughter of the duke of Suffolk. The marchioness was compeUed, however, to pay the sum of four thousand marks, by yearly instalments of three hundred, to purchase her son's immunity from the match, and it is in reference to these payments that the disputes arose which form the subject of the present letters. The earl of Arundel appealed to lord CromweU to obtain a writ to compel the officers of the marchioness to reUnquish the lands, from the rents of which this money was to be paid, into the hands of his daughter's officers j but having obtained that point, the marquis of Dorset interfered to prevent her enjoying her fuU rights, and rendered another appeal to CromweU necessary .b It is singular that the lady Catherine assumes in her signature her father's title instead of his surname. Right honourable and my especial good lord, After most lowly recommendations unto your a Tiemey's Arundel, p. 192. b Earl of Arundel to lord CromweU, Donnelly, 12th August. MisceUaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. i. fol. 133, State Paper Office. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 347 good lordship, with like thanks for your most approved kindness towards me, please it the same to be advertised that my lord my brother1 hath certified me, from your lordship, that if I would remit unto my lord marquis b five hundred marks of my duty, that then your lordship would shortly set an order therein : which were a great thing for me to remit, considering as well that it is the whole thing that I must trust unto, and the long and continual suit that I have had therein to my great cost and charges, as also the promise that your lordship made to me that I should be no loser therein; trusting, therefore, that your lordship would not that I should remit so great a sum to so much my hinderances, and almost my utter undoing. For more than that only I think I shall never have, neither of my lord my father nor of any other of my kin . Therefore I beseech your good lordship to be so good lord to me therein (considering that my lady Maltravers0 hath her full bargain and promise), that I take not so much lost ; but that I may find you so good lord unto me in the end of my suit, as your good lordship promised me at my last " Henry lord Maltravers, afterwards earl of Arundel. A letter from him to lord Cromwell, signed Henry Maltravers, is in Miscel laneous Correspondence, 2d series, vol. xxvUi. fol. 97, State Paper Office. b Of Dorset, her former fiance'. c Catherine, sister to the young marquis of Dorset, married to her brother Henry Fitz-Alan. She died May 1st, 1542.— Hari. MS. 897, fol. 16. 348 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND departure from you, as my very trust is in your lordship only. As knoweth onr Lord, who preserve your good lordship in health, with increase of much honour. From Donnelly, the 8th day of July. Your poor beadwoman, C. Arundel. To the right honourable and my most especial good lord my Lord Privy Seal. LETTER CXLIII. Lady Catherine Fitz-Alan to Lord Cromwell. a.d. vers. 1537. [cotton, ms. vespasian, f. xin. art. 107, fol. 94. Original.] *%* In the catalogue of Cottonian MSS. the foUowing letter is said to be written by the wife of Henry Fitz-Alan, earl of Arundel, who was the daughter of the marquis of Dorset ; but this is contradicted by the internal evidence both of the present and preceding letter, in the aUusions made to the Dorset famuy, and also by the fact that that lady bore the title of lady Maltravers only, since she died before 1543, when her husband became earl of Arundel ; and both the letters being addressed to lord CromweU, must be dated between 1536 and 1540. Right honourable and my most singular good lord, My duty remembered, I lowly commend me unto your good lordship, even so thank you for the great ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 349 goodness and comfortable words that you spoke unto me at my being with your lordship, concerning the matter I moved you of, depending between my old lady marchioness Dorset* and me, in the which your good lordship — God reward you — gave me more comfort than any other hitherto hath done, for the which I knowledge myself greatly bounden unto you ; therefore, my good lord, 1 have more con fidence and trust in your goodness towards me than I have in any other of my friends, for I know per fectly well if you help me not in my right I shall lose the same : wherefore I meekly beseech your good lordship to be my good lord, and continue your goodness towards me, as my especial trust is in you. And that it may please you to give farther credence unto my loving friend this bearer, in my behalf. And for your goodness that you shall bear unto me concerning my suit, I shall daily pray to God for your good lordship's prosperity long to endure. At Donnelly, the 8th day of October. Your poor daily beadwoman during my life, Catherine Arundel. a Margaret, dowager-marchioness. 350 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND LETTER CXLIV. Dousabella Lady Darcy lo Lord Darcy. a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. vespasian, f. xin. art. 179, fol. 164. Original.] *** Lady Darcy was the daughter and heir of sir Richard Tem pest, bart., and second wife to Thomas lord Darcy,a a brave soldier and general during the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. In 1536, howevei , in the Yorkshire rebeUion, he failed to defend the castle of Pontefract, and was attainted of high treason for deUvering it up to the rebels, and beheaded on Tower HiU, June 20, 1537. b The present letter is undated, but it seems to refer to the Yorkshire rebeUion. If so, it must have been written in 1537. Sir, After the humblest manner I can I commend me unto you, ever desiring to hear from you, and that you be in good health, which is to me the greatest comfort in the world. Sir, I thought never so long a His first wife, who is unnamed in any peerage book, was Edith NevUle, sister to WiUiain lord Sands. A memorandum of her death and burial, in 1529, is in the MS. 1. 3, fol. 71 b, Heralds' CoUege, and in Hari. MS. 897, fol. 79. In the privy-purse expenses of EUzabeth of York, p. 62, there is a mention of lady NevUle, wife to sir Thomas Darcy, from which sir Harris Nicolas conjectures that Dousabella had previously married a. NevUle ; but the allusion is satisfactorily explained by this first marriage of lord Darcy. b As early as February 1536 he had fallen into suspicion, for on the 7th of that month, Norfolk, writing to the king in reference to a request of sir George Darcy to be appointed joint keeper with his father of Pontefract castle, uses the foUowing remarkable expression : " I pray God the father be as good in heart as the son, which by the ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 351 for you as I do now, seeing the great danger I, your children and goods are in, for all the country is so fervently set of wilfulness ; and, as I am credibly informed by your friends, if they rise again they say you shall take that part that" they take, or you shall do worse : wherefore, sir, at the instance of God, make the haste home you may conveniently, and that you may help to stay the country and see some means to set me and your children in some more safety than we be in ; for the country has you in so much jealousy, that I wot not what I should think or say. Sir, as for news, there be many cur rent, but these following be of truth. There was certain ships came to Hull with wine, and lentine proof only I shaU beUeve." — Letters to King and Council, vol. iv. art. 14. The general beUef was, that from the position of the castle he might have resisted the rebels had they been ten times as many. — R. Sadler to Lord Cromwell, Miscel. Letters, 2d series, vol. xxxvii. fol. 21. But he himseU', in a letter to Henry VIII., datedfrom Pon tefract castle, October 13th, says, that though he had gone to the castle for the sake of affording a raUying point to his friends, yet he had neither money, ordnance, nor artUlery ; and was unable to defend himseU' in the expected approaching attack of the rebels. — Letters to King and Council, vol. i. art. 27. On the 19th of the same month Henry VIII. wrote to him a letter fuU of grateful confidence. — Miscel. Letters, 3d series, vol. vii. fol. 19 b. Soon after this the castle was resigned. Lord Husee wrote to Darcy on the 7th of November, speaking of the suspicions excited by his conduct, but assuring him that could he contrive to deUver up Aske, the leader of the rebeUion, to the king, quick or dead, all would be overlooked and he be honourably received. — Miscel. Letters, 3d series, vol. iv. fol. 158. The greater part of the Darcy correspondence at this important crisis is in the third volume of the third series of the MisceUaneous Letters, State Paper Office. It is lengthy and fuU of interest. a At in MS. 352 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND store,3 and corn ; and it was reported in the country that they were laden with guns and other ordnance, and for rescuing the town of Hull. All Holderness and Hayham b of the wold was up with many of the wold, and went to Beverley, and so thought to have gone to Hull, but when they knew the truth they were stayed ; and this country, as soon as they heard that they were up of the wold, they had been up here, but that the vicar of Boston and other of your friends and servants stayed them ; and towards Leeds and at Leeds, and in many places thereabouts, they have set up letters upon the church-doors, giving in commandment there should no man depart neither with horse nor harness, and that they should he at my lord's commandment, but to bein readiness of an hour's warning. Sir, in Kirkbyshirec they have made in every town one captain, and to be ready at all times when they are called on. Sir, at the making hereof I and all your children were in good health, and ever desiring of your daily blessing. Sir, all your other friends be in health, thanks be to Almighty God, who ever have you in his blessed keeping. From Gaitforth, the 13th day of January, By your humble true wife, D. Darcy. a Lentyn stor in orig. b Hayllom in original, but from the topographical connexion it seems to be meant for Hayham in the wolds. c Chyrkby-shyar in original, probably meant for Kirkby East in Lincolnshire. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 353 LETTER CXLV. Elizabeth Lady Ughtred to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 139, state paper office. Original.] *** The writer of the foUowing letters, obscure as her name may sound, was the sister of queen Jane Seymour and the celebrated protector Somerset, and, of course, the aunt of king Edward VI. In early Ufe, before the gUttering threads of royalty had been woven into the web of the Seymour fortunes, she was married to sir Anthony Ughtred, a brave knight and captain, long employed in active service on the Scottish borders. The following letter to CromweU was writ ten when the death of her husband had left her a widow and compara tively unprotected. Mine especial good lord, After most hearty recommendation, please it you to be so good unto me as through your means T might be holpen to obtain of the king's grace to be farmer of one of these abbeys, if they fortune to go. down ; the names whereof I do send unto your lord ship herein inclosed. And, as for payment for the same, I trust to discharge as well and surely as any living personage. My lord, insomuch as rny husband, whose soul God pardon, did bear ever unto your lordship both his heart and service, next under the king's grace, I am therefore the more bolder to write and sue unto you for your good help 354 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND and furtherance herein ; besides that, I do put mine only trust in your lordship for the good expedition hereof, and intend not to sue to none other but only to your lordship. Farther, at my last being at the court I desired your lordship that I might be so bold as to be a suitor to you, at which time your lordship gave unto me a very good answer ; praying you so to continue my good lord. I was, in master Ughtred's days, in a poor house of mine own, and ever since have been driven to be a sojourner, because my liv ing is not able to welcome my friends, which for my husband's sake and mine own would sometime come and see me. Wherefore, if it please your lordship now to help me, so that I might be able to keep some poor port, after my degree, in mine own house, now being a poor woman alone, I were the most bound unto you that any living woman might be ; and more with a little help now, than if you advised me to be bound to thing of a thousand marks a-year. And for the same eftsoons I heartily desire your good lordship ; desiring you farther to give credence to master Darcy concerning such causes as he shall move unto you. And thus Almighty Jesu ever preserve your good lordship. At York, the 18th day of March, by your most bounden Elizabeth Ughtred. To the right honourable and mine especial good lord my Lord Privy Seal. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 355 LETTER CXLVI. Elizabeth Lady Ughtred to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xlv. no. 141, state paper office. Holograph.] *£* The near connexion of lady Ughtred with the royal famUy rendered a match with her a desirable object. Sir Arthur Darcy wrote to her about 1536, begging her influence with the king to obtain for hiTn some parsonage lands, which he says she can have, as though for herseU', if she speak but one word to the king, and promising her 100Z. and a fair velvet bed for her services. He adds, coolly and comicaUy enough, " If I do tarry here in this country I would have been glad to have had you likewise ,- but sure it is, as I said, that some southern lord shall make you forget the north." a The "southern lord" who was destined to supplant lady Ughtred's laconic lover was no less a person than Gregory, only son of lord Cromwell. From the sub scription and signature of the following letter, it is evident that it was written when the match was projected, but before it had actuaUy taken place. In most humble wise, as your assured poor bead- woman, I cannot render unto your lordship the manifold thanks that I have cause, not only for your great pain taken to devise for my surety and health, but also for your liberal token to me, sent by your servant master Worsley ; b and farther, which doth comfort me most in the world, that I * MisceUaneous Letters, 3d series, vol. iii. fol. 7. b Probably Wriothesley. 356 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND find your lordship is contented with me, and that you will be my good lord and father : the which, I trust, never to deserve other, but rather to give cause for the continuance of the same. Pleaseth it your lordship, because I would make unto you some direct answer, I have been so bold to be thus long ere I have written unto you. And where it hath pleased your lordship as well to put me in choice of your own houses as others, I most humbly thank you ; and, to eschew all sayings, I am very loth to change the place where I now am, and where my lord my brother's house shall remove, the which, if such need be, shall be at one Ambrose Wellose, a quarter of a mile from your lordship's place, as mas ter Worsley can inform your lordship more plainly thereof. And where it hath pleased your lordship to give me leave, and also commandeth me, if I want, to send to you, and that I may be bold to open my heart, I ensure your lordship my heart hath been a great time in such trust ; and now this letter from you, with that I find in it, doth me more pleasure than any earthly good, for my trust is now only in you, and if I have need I shall obey your lordship's commandment herein. And thus I shall daily pray unto God for the preservation of your lordship most prosperously in health to continue. Amen. Prayeth your humble daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Ughtred. To the right honourable and my singular good lord the Lord Privy Seal. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 357 The marriage of young Cromwell and lady Ughtred took place on the 3d of August, 1537 ;a the bride having resided for some time pre viously at Leeds castle in Kent, which had been provided for her by lord CromweU, and where she was supported at his expense.b The foUowing spring they took up their abode at Lewes in Sussex, whence young CromweU wrote to his father,c telUng him how well contented he and his wife were with the place, which " is unto her so com modious that she thinketh herself right weU settled." He goes on to record the visits they had received, the courtesies paid to them, &c. Lady CromweU soon, however, returned to Leeds castle, and in the course of the present and foUowing year gave birth to two sons.d In December 1539, her husband, then absent in Calais, whither he had gone to meet and welcome queen Anne of Cleves, wrote her the foUowing letter : — e BedfeUow, The day before the making hereof we received the just news of my lady Anne's repair hither, the same being appointed upon Thursday next coming ; which thing, although it be now news, yet I fear that lack of expedition in the conveyance of these my letters shaU be occa sion the same to be old before they shaU be of you received, forasmuch as such news are more swiftly set abroad by tongues than writing. It is determined that she shaU remain here Friday and Saturday all day, and upon Sunday, wind and weather serving, take her passage into England. After she once entereth the EngUsh pale both she and her whole train shaU be at the king's charge. Hitherto she hath been at her own. There are in her company three hundred horses, whereof * Lisle Papers, vol. v. fol. 79. John Husee to lady Lisle, date Aug. 3d. He speaks of lady Ughtred as " the queen's sister;" and Jane Seymour died October 1537. b John WiUiamson to lord CromweU, date Aug. 2d, 1537. Mis cellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. 1. fol. 661. c Miscellaneous Letters, 2d series, vol. vii. fol. 172, date April llth. The CromweU Correspondence contains, as might naturaUy be expected, many letters from young Cromwell when a child ; also several curious and interesting ones from his tutors and governors, detailing the plans of his education and amusements, &c. d Thomas, who died young, and Henry, afterwards lord Cromwell. —Hari. MS. 1233,/oZ. 109 b. e Miscellaneous Letters, 3d series, vol. u. fol. 141. 358 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND one hundred rideth before for provision, and two hundred await upon her. My lord deputy, with all the spears and officers of the town, shall receive her at the English pale ; my lord admiral, with aU us accompanying him, a Uttle without the town ; my lady Lisle, with aU the other ladies and gentlewomen, at the town gates. I am, thanks be to God, in good health, trusting shortly to hear from you Uke news, as weU of yourself as also my Uttle boys, of whose increase and toward- ness be you assured I am not a Uttle desirous to be advertised. And thus, not having any other news to write, I bid you most heartily weU to fare. At Calais, the 9th of December. Your loving bedfeUow, ' Gregory Cromwell. To my right loving bedfeUow, at Ledes castle in Kent. Farther notices of lady CromweU will be found in a subsequent volume. LETTER CXLVII. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1537. [miscellaneous letters, first SERIES, VOL. VIII. NO. 156, state paper office. Original.] My very good lord, In my most loving wise I heartily commend me unto you, and I thank you heartily for your great kindness shewed to me at all times ; I found you always so good lord unto me, it makes me the more bolder to write to your lordship. It is so I hear say you have been good lord to all my lord of Rich- illustrious ladies. 359 mond's servants, and hath taken many of them to your service. One Arnold hath sent his wife to me, which is my lord of Richmond's servant and brewer when he kept house, desired me to write to your lordsbip to help to get him a living, as his wife shewed me that you promised Arnold the brewer, when he was afore your lordship, when my lord of Richmond was dead, if he could see a thing that was meet for him. I am the more bold to write to your lordship for him, because I know well he is a very honest man. I have known him many years, when I was with my lord my husband in Ireland ; then he was brewer to my lord my husband. I pray you, my lord, to be good to him for my sake, (and) to be good lord to me as you have been in times past. I pray you be in hand with (the) king's grace when you see a convenient time, and with my lord my husband, that I may have a better living, for I lie here in Hertfordshire, which is a very hard country, for I could be better cheap at London ; for I have hut a bare living of 300 marks, 50/. a quarter. I have been from him four years come Easter. I am full determined never to come in his company while I live. No more to you at this time, but our Lord send you as well to do as I would wish myself. Written this the 28th day of September, By yours most bounden during my life, E. Norfolk. To my special good lord and friend my Lord Privy Seal this be deUvered. 360 letters of royal an© LETTER CXLVIII. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. titus, a. i. fol. 383 c. Original.] My special good lord, In my most loving wise that my heart can think I recommend me unto you. I thank you heartily for the goodness that you shewed the brewer's wife and for the reward you gave her, which she shewed me was a rial ; and it was great comfort to me that your lordship asked heartily how I did of the woman. I beseech you, my lord, to be good to this man Arnold, now in his old days, for the true service that he hath done to my lord my husband and to my lord of Richmond. You have been so good lord to all my lord of Richmond's servants, that it makes me the more bold to write to your good lordship for this honest man, to be good lord to him for my sake. You have bound me always to do you pleasure, if it lie in me. I pray you, my lord, help this honest man as your lordship thinks best ; for if I were able I would help him to a living for the kindness that I have found with him, and with his wife in times past ; and if your lordship do not now put him to some honest living, to lend him illustrious ladies. 361 some stock of money whereby he may live in country like a honest man, and he shall be bound to pray for vou during his life. I pray you, my lord, now my lord my husband is come home, that you will be in hand with him for a better living, seeing he has away all my jewels and my apparel, and had with me two thousand marks, with the more betimes, when he had but little to take to when he married me first but his lands, and lie was always a great player. Seeing my lord my father made me sure of five hundred marks a-year, and seeing that my lord my husband chose me himself — for my lord my father had bought my lord of Westmoreland for me; he and I had loved to gether two years — an my lord my husband had not sent immediately word after my lady and my lord's first wife was dead, he made suit to my lord my father, or else I had been married before Christ mas to my lord of Westmoreland ; and it was my lord my husband's suit to my lord my father, and never came of me nor none of my friends : and when he came thither at Shrovetide, he would have none of my sisters, but only me. My lord, seeing I have been his wife twenty-five years, and have borne him five children, and (he) can lay nothing to my charge, but for because I would not be content to suffer the bawd and the harlots that bound me to be still in the house. They bound me, and pinnacled me, and sat on my breast till I spit blood, which I have been worse for ever since, and all for speaking VOL. II. R 362 letters of royal and against the woman in the court, Bessy Holland; therefore he put me out at the doors, and keeps the' bawd and the harlots still in his house. Surely, my lord, I am fully determined that I will never make suit to him to come in his company whilst I live, seeing that the king's grace and you can make no end. I will never make suit to none creature more, nor I myself to my lord my husband, nor I will never come at him during my life. It is four years come the Tuesday in the Passion-week that he came riding all night, and locked me up in a chamber, and took away all my jewels and all my apparel, and never gave me but fifty pounds a-quarter, which is three hundred marks a-year, and therewith I keep twenty persons, and I lie in a hard county. My lord, if it would please you to be so good lord to me to move the king's grace to speak to my lord my husband, that I might have my whole jointure and to dwell on it, I were greatly bounden to your lordship. I hear say my daughter Richmond hath not her jointure yet ; an it would please you, my lord, to move the king's grace that he should not grant my daughter of Richmond her jointure till I be sure of mine jointure. By the means of you, a word of the king's mouth my lord my husband dare not say nay ; for I have lived very poorly these three years and more, and not after my bringing up ; and I have had much sickness this year, and have cost me much money in physic, and ever since the bawd and the drabs bound me I am sick at the fall illustrious ladies. 363 of the leaf and at the spring of the year ; ever since they bound me, and pinnacled me, and made me spit blood. My lord, I would be glad to live quietly the rest of my life, for I am forty years of age ; and, my lord, if you can bring me to a better living, I am bound to pray for you during life. I think by the law I should have my jointure, as well as my daughter of Richmond, for the king's grace had never a penny for my lord of Richmond ; for queen Anne got the marriage clear for my lord my husband, when she did favour my lord my hus band. I heard queen Anne say, that if my lord of Richmond did die, that my daughter should have above a thousand pounds a-year to her jointure; and as for me, I have had five children by my lord my husband, and my marriage-money truly paid, and as for my daughter (she) had never none child by him. My lord, I beseech you take no displeasure that I write so plainly to you, for 1 have no friend but you only that can do me any good. My lord, I thank you of all the kindness that you have shewed me in times past. I pray you continue still my good lord, as my trust is in you next God. No more to you at this time, but our Lord send you as much ho nour and length (of) life as I would have mine own ¦self. Written at Redburn, the 24th day of October, by yours that is bounden to you during my life, E. Norfolk. 364 letters of royal and My lord, — I thank you heartily for your kind letter which you sent me by this bearer, which was greatly to my comfort. I pray you, my lord, send me an answer by this bearer. To my special good lord my Lord Privy Seal this be deUvered. The practice aUuded to in this letter of the purchase of husbands for the daughters of the wealthy noblemen was common at this period. It wUl be observed that it was esteemed a great favour that, by the personal influence of queen Anne Boleyn, the lady Mary Howard was permitted to marry the duke of Richmond without having first pur chased him. The cruel treatment of which the duchess complains, and of which she aUeges such strange instances, was, probably, greatly exaggerated in her representations. She, at another time, preferred other charges equaUy extraordinary, which caUed forth the foUowing protestation from her husband : — My very good lord, It is come to my knowledge that my wilful wife is come to Lon don, and hath been with you, intending to come to me to London. My lord, I assure you as long as I Uve I wiU never come in her com pany, unto (until) the time she hath first written to me that she hath untruly slandered me in writing and saying that, when she had been in chUdbed of my daughter of Richmond two nights and a day, I should draw her out of bed by the hair of the head about the house, and with my dagger give her a wound in the head. My good lord, if I prove not by witness, and that with many honest persons, that she had the scar in her head fifteen months before she was delivered of my said daughter, and that the same was cut by a surgeon of London for a swelling she had in her head of drawing two teeth, never trust my word after; reporting to your good lordship whether I shall play the fool or no to put me in her danger, that so falsely will slander me, and so wilfuUy stick thereby. Surely I think there is no man on Ufe that would handle a woman in childbed of that sort, nor for my part would not so have done for all I am worth. Finally, my lord, I requu-e you to send to her in no wise to come where I am, for the same shaU not only put me to more trouble than ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 365 I have (whereof I have no need), but might give me occasion to handle her otherwise than I have done yet. If she first write to me, confessing her false slander, and thereupon sue to the king's highness to make an end, I wUl never refuse to do that his majesty shall command me to do, but perforce assuredly never. And thus heartily fare you well. From Bontyngfere, this Friday before day. Your own assuredly, T. Norfolk. To my very good lord my Lord Privy Seal.a There can be no doubt, however, that the duchess was subjected to hardships and unkindness ; and her husband's matrimonial infideUties would be the more poignantly felt by her since he was in the decbne of life, being twenty years older than herseU'. LETTER CXLIX. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1537. [cotton, ms. titus, B. I. fol. 383 b. Original.] My special good lord, In my most loving wise I heartily commend me unto you. Here I send you a poor present of part ridges, of twelve cocks and one hen. I pray your lordship take it in worth. If I were able it should have been better. I trust one day I shall deserve your kindness, sith I was in my trouble, which I shall never forget. My lord, I pray your lordship to be in hand * Cbttonian MS. Titus, B. I. fol. 386. Holograph. 366 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND with the king's grace and with my lord my hus band, that I may have a better living, as I did write to your lordship of all my mind by the brewer's wife. I know well, if it be not by your means to move the king's grace, I know well I shall never have better living. I have so many enemies. Bessy Holland in the court for chief, and the bawd and the harlots at Kenynygar ; and the men, as South well one, and Rouse another, Hussey another, which was akin and nephew to my lord Hussey, that last was buried. They rule, my lord, as they lust. My lord, Arnold and his wife came to me and shewed me how special good lord you have been to them, and what comfortable words you gave them. They reckon to fare the better for my sake. My lord, you have bound me during my life. I pray God I may once do you some pleasure for your kindness shewed to me at all times, which I shall never forget. My lord, at the 10th day of November, Mrs. Abraham, your niece, was in good health : I sent one of my servants to her. My godson and yours (is) a very goodly child, and a toward, like to live by the grace of God ; and he was a very weak child when he was born, as I heard say. My lord, I pray you take no displeasure that I wrote so plainly unto you, for I did not know that you had so great business in hand : I would not have troubled you with so long a letter as I sent you afore. My lord, I am so shamefully handled, ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 367 and have so poor a living, that no gentleman nor gentlewoman dare not come at me, but such as my lord appoints to know my mind, and to counsel me after his fashion ; which I purpose shall not know none of my mind, nor I will not follow none of their counsel, for it shall not be for my profit, nor yet for my honour : but they would make me (be)lieve the contrary. I have been from my lord four years come Easter, as I have written to you in all my letters. I am fully determined never to come at him during my life ; seeing the king's grace and you can make no end, I will never sue farther during my life. My lord my husband makes every man to believe he does it to blind the people withal, only to make me yield to his purpose, which he shall never do, neither for less living nor for imprison ment ; for I have been used to both that I care not for them. I have written to my lord my husband, I will do more by gentleness than by all their ex treme handling, seeing (I) was of his own choosing, and he not of mine. Yet after he had put me away he sent his two chaplains, master Burley and sir Thomas Seymour, if I would be divorced he would give me all my jewels, and all my apparel, and a great part of his plate, and of his stuff of household ; and I rebuked his priests ; and then he wrote it with his own hand on the next day, and I had coun sel enough if I would have followed it : but, though my children be unkind to me, I have always love unto them, for I know well my lord my husband did 368 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND (it) but to [provoke] me to put me to shame. I know over that, my lord my husband sent to me, for he had Uever (rather) than a 1000Z. he could have brought me to have been divorced. And as for my lord my husband ,for his live day (as long as he lives) I will never trust (him), he has deceived me so many times ; he can speak fair, as well to his enemy ¦ as to his fricid ; and that I perceive by them that be dead and them that be alive. My lord, I pray you remember the last letter I wrote to you as touching my daughter of Richmond's jointure, that the king's grace may be in hand with my lord my husband for my jointure afore her jointure be granted, by your good means. You have bound me and all my friends during my life. No more to you at this time ; but our Lord send you as much ho nour and long life as I would have mine own self. Written at Redburn, the 10th day of November, By yours most bounden during my life, E. Norfolk. To my especial good lord and friend my Lord Privy Seal this be deUvered. » Envy in original. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 369 LETTER CL. Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1538. [cotton. MS. titus, B. I. fol, 383 a. . Original.] _VTy very good lord, In my most loving wise that my heart can think I commend me unto you. The cause of my writing to you is, that I may know whether I shall have a better living or not; for an the king's grace and you would be so good to me to speak to my lord my husband that I might have a better living, by your good means, that I might live on my jointure, which is but five hundred marks and threescore pounds, by changing with Mr. Gorstweck, as he knoweth well I might, at the desire of my lord my husband : an I were once settled in my jointure, I trust, my lord, every year once to do you some pleasure ; though I be not able to recompense your good lord ship the kindness that I have found in you, before I was in my great trouble and since, which I will never forget your kindness during my life, you have so bound me, as my trust is in you next God. Fore that the king's grace granteth my daughter of Richmond her jointure (which he had never a penny for at her marriage), I know well, if the king command my lord my husband, that I shall have my whole jointure. If my daughter's jointure be granted before, he will not let me have the re- r 2 370 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ^ainder of my jointure by the king's commandment, nor at your good lordship's desire neither ; though my lord my father paid two thousand marks with me, with other great charges, as I have written to you before ; which my lord my husband hath forgotten now he hath so much wealth and honour, and is so far in doting love with that quean that he neither regardeth God nor his honour. He knoweth it is spoken of far and near, to his great dishonour and shame : and he chose me for love, and I am younger than he by twenty years, ,and he hath put me away four years and a quarter at this Midsummer ; and have lived always like a good woman, as it is not unknown to him. I was daily waiter in the court sixteen years together, when he hath been from me more than a year in the king's wars. The king's grace shall be my record how I used myself, without any ill name or fame ; and the best in the court that were there that time, both men and women, (know) how I used myself in my young days ; and here is a poor reward I have in my latter days for my well doing ! And it is the best I shall have without your good help, my lord. He hath taken away all my jewels and my apparel, and kept me four years and more like a prisoner, as I have written you before, and none comes at me but such as he appointeth. I have made suit to him three times with three gentle letters. One of them was by the king's commandment, when I was with his grace at Dun- ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 371 stable ; and I have sent you the copies of them all three. I never sent to him since, nor never will during my life. I am full determined, since I was with the king's grace and you, that I would never make more suit to nobody during my life. I know, my lord, my husband's crafty ways of old, that he hath made me many times promises under a colour which he never performed. I will never make more suit to him, neither for prisonment nor for less living, during my life. And besides that, my daughter of Richmond, and Bessy Holland is coming up with her — that harlot which hath put me to all this trouble ; and it is eleven years since my lord my husband first fell in love with her, and yet she is but a churl's daughter and of no gentle blood, but that my lord my husband hath set him up for her sake, because he was so nigh akin to my Lord Hussey, that was late made, and died last, and was beheaded, and was the head of that drab Bessy Holland's blood : and keeps her still in his house, and his children maintain the matter, therefore I will never come at him during my life. Another time he set his women to bind me till blood came out at my fingers' ends, and pinnacled me, and sat on my breast till I spit blood, and he never punished them. All this was done for Bessy Holland's sake, and he sent me word by Master Conysby that he would serve me so two years before he put me away. I know well, if I should come home again my life should be but short. 372 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND My lord, whether I have a good living or not, I thank you for it. I have such a trust in you, for I hear say how good you were to my lady Mary the king's daughter, in her great trouble, and many more which were too long to rehearse. If you, my lord, do me no good in this matter for my living, which I have sued for to you so long, I think no fault in you. You are called so steadfast in your friends, and so true without dissimulation, I reckon it is (the) pleasure of God I should have this ill- fortune, that no friend should do me good, and I have sued to nobody but to you, my lord, to amend my living, nor never will do. I lie in Hertford shire, and have but three hundred marks, fifty pounds, a-quarter, and keep twenty persons daily, besides other great charges, which I have rehearsed before. I could lie better cheap in London than I do here. It may well be called Har -forth- shire* And here have I lived four years and a quarter at this Midsummer. My lord, I can say no more to you, but I put my trust in yon next God. I pray you, my lord, write to me an answer by this bearer whereto I shall trust, and to have a better living or not. And no more to you, my lord, at this time ; but our Lord send you, my lord, long life, and as much honour as I would wish myself. Written at Redbourne, the 26th of June, By your most bounden during my life, E. Norfolk. * The pun seems to be upon the word hard. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 373 LETTER CLI. Mary Duchess of Richmond to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1538. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. XXXVI. NO. 231, state paper office. Holograph.] *%* Mary duchess of Richmond has gained a prominent and un enviable celebrity amongst the noble ladies of the court of Henry VIII. She was the only daughter of Thomas duke of Norfolk, the first peer of the realm, by his duchess EUzabeth, who is already weU known to the reader. She was first plighted to the son and heir of the earl of Oxford, but that match was broken off by the king, who selected her, through the influence of queen Anne Boleyn, as the bride of his natural son Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond. The early death of this youth, on July 22d, 1536, left Mary a widow, in aU the bloom and beauty of early womanhood. Her situation excited peculiar anxiety in her father's mind, both because Henry VIII. made some demur about giving her the jointure which had been assigned her, doubting whether the widow of a boy, who died when he was scarcely 17 years of age, could claim her fuU privUeges, and because he knew not how she was farther to be disposed of in marriage. In a letter dated from Tow cester, written about October 1536,a he thus addresses Cromwell on the subject : — My very good lord, After my most hearty recommendations, these shall be to desire you to be good lord to me in my daughter's cause, so that by your good means the opinion of the judges and the king's learned counsel may be notified to his majesty before the judging of this term. Good my lord, help that his highness may be content to minister justice unto her without displeasure. The marriage was made by his commandment, without that ever I made suit therefor, or yet thought thereon^ being folly concluded then with my lord of Oxford, which marriage would to a MisceUaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. vn. fol. 90. He alludes to his visit to the north, which was paid about that time, to suppress the Yorkshire rebeUion. 374 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND Christ had taken effect ; for at this time there is neither lord nor lord's son, nor other good inheritor of this realm, that I can remember, of convenient age to marry her : so that in manner I reckon herself undone ; for if she should marry, and her chUdren not to inherit some good portion, they were undone. And what displeasure the same shall be to me I report me to your wisdom, and pity it were she should not be married t and so what hard case she is in your good lordship can well judge, referring the sole matter to your accustomed friendly ad vancement. Good my lord, help, that the matter may soon take effect ; for I would not be a Uttle sorry to depart to dweU in the north, and to leave her behind me, for I am somewhat jealous of her that, being out of my company, she might bestow herself otherwise than I would she should ; notwithstanding that, unto this time, it is not possible for a young woman to handle herseU7 more discreetly than she hath done since her husband's death." Notwithstanding the paternal tenderness which breathes in this epistle, the duchess, who seems to have inherited something of her mother's warmth of temper, reproached her father with lukewarm- ness in her cause. Part of a letter from her to CromweU has been printed by sir Henry Ellis. She apologises for thus frequently trou bling him ; but asserts, somewhat strenuously, that, might she be per mitted to plead her own cause, she could obtain her desires from the king, since he alone arranged the marriage.* This letter was written on Wednesday the 19th of December, 1537 ; and on January 8th, 1538, b the duke of Norfolk thus addressed CromweU : — " With my hearty recommendations these shaU be to advertise you that, at my coming to Stoke hitherwards, I received a letter from my daughter, which you shall receive with these. And since my coming hither I have asked of her why she sent not you the letter ac cording as the copy was, and by her words I do weU perceive she hath been put in such comfort by learned men that her right is clearly good, and that she hath been delayed so long (as she thinketh) for lack of good suit made to the king's highness by me ; so that on my faith I weU perceive she doth think I care Uttle for her cause, and doth not doubt but that by her own suit, her matter being so good as * Ellis' Letters, 2d series, vol. n. p. 83, from Cotton. MS. Vesp. F. XIII. fol. 75. b Miscellaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. vii. fol. 81. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 375 it is, she should soon obtain it at his majesty's hand. My lord, in all my life I never communed with her in any serious cause ere now, and would not have thought she had been such as I find her, which, as I think, is but too wise for a woman .'" The impression of abiUty which the duchess made upon her father's mind, rendered him unwUling to allow her to visit court, lest her talents, combined with a fair share of wilfulness, should lead her into mischief. Indignant at his refusal, she addressed the following letter to Cromwell on the subject. My singular good lord, In mine humble manner I commend me to your good lordship. And where it hath pleased Almighty God to call to his mercy my late lord and husband one year and a half past, to my most sorrow and discomfort ; and my lord my father, under whose tuition I am, hath many times promised me to be a suitor to the king's majesty for obtaining of my dower, whereof as yet there hath no good effect come to me, nor, I fear me, by his means of long time shall not : most humbly and heartily I beseech your good lordship to help me, a desolate widow, that by your good means I may obtain my right, and to be a suitor to his highness for me for the same. Of truth, about a fortnight past I wrote a letter to my lord my father, beseeching him to give me license to come up to sue to his majesty for mine own cause ; whereunto he made me so short an answer, that I am more than half in despair to obtain by his suit. Alas ! good my lord, you that do many deeds, help me, the poorest widow of the realm, and deliver mine humble supplication, which 376 LETTERS OF ROYAL AND you shall receive with this, to his highness ; and if it may stand with his highness' pleasure to remit my said cause to the judges and his learned counsel, I am in no doubt they will inform his majesty that my right is perfect good. There is but one thing, as my counsel say unto me, that doth delay, nor can, my matter, which is, that I cannot have out the writs ; wherein, hy your good mediation, I trust his highness will not deny me, which never, unto this time, was denied to any lady or gentlewoman in this realm. Finally, my good lord, most humbly I beseech you to be my good lord concerning the pre mises, and I shall daily pray to Almighty God for your long prosperity. Written at Kenninghall, the 2d day of January, by the ill hand of her that is Yours to my little power, Mary Richmond. To the right honourable and mine especial good lord my Lord Privy Seal give this. The importunity of the duchess at length so far prevailed with her father, that on the 6th of AprU he thus wrote to CromweU : — » " My daughter of Richmond doth continuaUy, with weeping and wailing, cry out on me to have me give her Ucense to ride to London to sue for her cause, thinking that I have not effectuaUy followed the same. My lord, I am so afraid that the king's highness should not be content with me to bring her up that, unto this time, for aU her pitiful lamenting, I would not grant to her desire. Wherefore, good my lord, most heartily I require you (as you shaU think best by some means) to feel his grace's mind, whether I should displease his majesty ¦ MisceUaneous Letters, 1st series, vol. vn. fol. 88. ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES. 377 in bringing her up, or not. And ii your advice shaU be that I shall follow her mind, then will I bring with her about eighty persons, and he at London unto Whitsuntide." Cromwell's reply seems to have been favourable to the wishes of the duchess, for she afterwards arrived at court, where she remained some time ; and the validity of her marriage and her right to her dower were soon afterwards fuUy recognised." Her father, who was still revolving schemes for her second marriage, proposed to the king to unite her to sir Thomas Seymour, observing, that " no good came by the conjunction of high bloods together (a lesson which he had been painfuUy taught by his own matrimonial infeUcities), and that there fore he sought not high degree for her. ' ' The monarch declared himself " right wuling and agreeable," and some steps were taken with sir Thomas about it;b but the scheme fell through, probably from the disgrace in which the Howard family were soon afterwards involved on account of their association with queen Catherine Howard. LETTER CLII. Mary Duchess of Richmond to Lord Cromwell. a.d. 1538. [miscellaneous letters, second series, vol. xxxvi. no. 235, state paper office. Holograph.] My good lord, By my lord my father I do perceive how pain fully you daily use you in labouring to the king's majesty for my matter, for the which I give unto your good lordship as hearty thanks as my poor ' In the Chapter -house, Westminster, under the head Norfolk, art. 13, is a long Ust of the manors assigned by Henry VIII. to the duchess during her Ufe. The patent roUs ofthe close of Henry VIII. 's reign contain many entries of grants of manors, &c, to her ; and a few also occur in the time of Edward VI. D Sadler to CromweU, July 14, 1538. State Papers, vol. i. fol. 578. 378 LETTERS OF ROYAL LADIES, ETC. heart can think. And where also I perceive by my said lord and father that he said unto you yesterday, that he doubted not I would most humbly and thank fully accept such sum of money as it shall please his highness to give unto me for the arrears, surely, my good lord, he said truth ; for, as your good lordship doth well know, before his majesty went forwards this last summer on his progress, 1 sub mitted all my pretence of title unto his most gracious pleasure and order; and as I did then so I do now, without naming or claiming any thing but that it shall please his majesty to give me, with his most gracious love and favour. And so most humbly I beseech your lordship to shew unto his highness, and by your good means shortly to bring my said suit to an end, and assured you may be to have me your continual poor beadwoman. With the hand of the poor widow, Mary Richmond." To my very good lord my Lord Privy Seal this be deUvered. Endorsed, " A", xxx0. the Duchess of Richmond." 1 Another holograph letter of thanks from her to lord CromweU, dated KenninghaU, 12th of August, is in fol. 233 of the same MS. as the present. END OF VOL. II. LONDON : GEORGE BARCLAT, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. INTERESTING NEW WORKS, JUST PUBLISHED BY ME, COLBUKN. I. MEMOIRS OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE. Second Edition. 3 vols, with Portrait, and other Illustrations. 31*. 6d. bound. " These volumes are such as no one who takes them up can easily lay down." — Quarterly Review. II. A THIRD EDITION OF SYBIL ; OR, THE TWO NATIONS. By B. DISRAELI, Esq. M.P. Author of " Coningsby." 3 vols. " SybU is an improvement upon Coningsby." — Spectator. " In his sketches of the knaves and dupes of party Mr. Disraeli is without a rival." — Examiner. III. THE QUEEN OF DENMARK. AN HISTORICAL NOVEL. Edited by MRS. GORE. 3 vols. IV. THE NEW TIMON. 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