My lorde after my harty commendacions theyse shalbe to declare to you that accordyng to your accoustomed gentilnes I have receyved six warrants from you by your seruant thys berer, for the whiche I do gyve you my harty thanks; by whom also I have receyved your lettre, wherin (as me thynketh) I parceyv strange newes concernyng a sewte you have in hande to the Quene for maryage; for the soner obtayneng wherof you seme to thynke that my lettres myghte do you pleasure. My lorde in thys case, I truste, your wysdome doth consyder, that, if it weer for my nereste kynsman & dereste frend on lyve, of all other creatures in the worlde, it standeth lest wt my poore honoure to be a medler in thys matter, consyderyng whose wyef her grace was of late; and besyds that, if she be mynded to grawnt your sewte, my lettres shall do you but small pleasure. On the other syde, if the remembrance of the Kyngs mayestye my father (whose soule God pardon) wyll not suffre her to grawnt your sewte, I am nothyng able to perswade her to forget the losse of hyme, who is as yet very rype in myn owne remembrance. Wherfore I shall moste earnestlye requyre you (the premysses consydered) to thynke non vnkyndnes in me, thoughe I refuse to be a medler any wayes in thys matter, assuryng you, that (woweng matters set aparte, wherin I beeng a mayde am nothyng connyng) if otherwayes it shall lye in my litle power to do you playser, I

shalbe as gladde to do it, as you to requyre it, both for hys blodds sake that you be of, and also for the gentylnes whiche I have alwayes fownde in you. As knoweth almyghty God, to whose tuicyon I commytte you. From Wansted a thys Saterday at nyghte beeng the iiijth of June.

Your assured frend

to my power,

MARYE.

LETTER CLXIV.

The Queen Dowager to the Lord Admiral Seymour.

[MS. IN MUS. ASHMOL. OXON. Orig.]

MY LORD

As I gether by your Letter delyvered to my brother Harbert, ye ar in sum fere how to frame my lord your brother to speke in your favour; the denyall of yowr request schall make hys foly more manyfest to the world, wyche wyll more greve me than the want of hys spekyng. I wold not wyssche yow importune for hys good wyll, yf yt cum nott frankely at the fyrst, yt schalbe suffycyent ones to have requyre yt, and

After the attainder of Sir Giles Heron, in the time of Henry VIIIth, the manorial residence at Wansted seems to have been occasionally used by the royal family. It was granted in 1549 to Robert Lord Rich.

after to cesse. I wold desyre ye myght obtayne the Kynge's Letters in yowre favour, and also the ayde and furtherans of the moost notable of the Counsell, suche as ye schall thynke convenyent, wyche thynge obtayned schalbe no small schame to yowr brother and lovyng syster, in case they do not the lyke. My Lord where as ye charge me wt apromys wryttin wt myne one hand, to chaunge the two yeres into two monethes, I thynke ye have no suche playne sentence wrytten wt my hand; I knowe not wether ye be aparaphryser or not, yf ye be lerned in that syence yt ys possyble ye may of one worde make ahole sentence, and yett nott at all tymes after the true meanyng of the wryter; as yt aperyth by thys your exposycyon apon my wryttyng. Whan yt schalbe yowr pleasur hether ye must take sum payne to come erly in the mornyng, that ye may be gone agayne by seven aclocke and so I suppose ye may come without suspect. I pray yow lett me have knowlege vera nyght at what hower ye wyll come, that yowr porteresse may wayte at the gate to the feldes for yow. And thus wyth my most humble and harty comendatyons I take my leve of yow for thys tyme gyvyng yow lyke thankes for yowr comyng to the court whan I was there. From Chelseyb.

to repayre

I wyll kepe in store tyll I speke w' yow my lordes

over.

The manor of Chelscy was a part of the jointure of Queen Catherine Parr.

large offer for Fausterne, at wyche tyme I schalbe glad to knowe your further pleasur therein.

By her yt ys and schalbe yowr humble true and lovyng wyffe duryng her lyf

KATERYN THE QUENE. K. P.

LETTER CLXV.

The Princess Elizabeth to the Protector Somerset.

[MS. LANSD. 1236. fol. 35. Orig.]

Much will be found in illustration of the following Letter in Haynes's Collection of the Burleigh Papers. It relates to the Investigation which took place in 1548, when the Lord Admiral Seymour, after the Queen dowager's death, made his Addresses to the Princess Elizabeth.

KATHERINE ASHLEY, in favor of whom it is written, was the governess to the Princess.

The reader who wishes to know more of this affair, will find, in Haynes, the Confessions both of the Lady Elizabeth and Katherine Ashley; with the Letter which the Lords of the Council sent to the Princess upon the dismissal of the latter a.

At the beginning of Edward the Sixth's reign, the Princess had resided at Chelsey under the care of the Queen dowager; and even at that time, the Lord Admiral's behaviour to her was most unusually familiar.

My Lorde I have a requeste to make unto your Grace wiche feare has made me omitte til this time for two causes, the one bicause I sawe that my request for the rumors wiche were sprede abrode of me toke so litel place, wiche thinge whan I considered I thogth I shulde litel profit in any other sute, howbeit now I

Haynes's State Papers, fol. Lond. 1740. p. 98-107.

b thought.

understande that ther is a Proclamacion for them (for the wiche I give your Grace and the rest of the counsel most humble thankes) I am the bolder to speake for a nother thinge; and the other was bicause paraventure your Lordeship and the rest of the Counsel wil thinke that I favor her ivel doinge for whome I shal speake for, wiche is for Kateryn Aschiley, that it wolde please your grace and the rest of the Counsel to be good unto her. Wiche thinge I do not to favor her in any ivel, (for that I wolde be sorye to do,) but for thes consideracions wiche folowe, the wiche hope dothe teache me in sainge that I ougth not to doute but that your Grace and the rest of the Counsel wil thinke that I do it for thre other consideracions. First, bicause that she hathe bene with me a longe time, and manye years, and hathe taken great labor, and paine in brinkinge of me up in lerninge and honestie, and therfore I ougth of very dewtye speke for her, for Saint Gregorie sayeth that we ar more bounde to them that bringeth us up wel than to our parents, for our parents do that wiche is natural for them, that is bringeth us into this Worlde; but our brinkers up ar a cause to make us live wel in it. The seconde is bicause I thinke that whatsoever she hathe done in my Lorde Admirals matter as concerninge the marijnge of me, she dide it bicause knowinge him to be one of the Counsel, she thogth he wolde not go about any suche thinge without he had the Counsels consent