TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.* MY HONOURABle Lord, I understand that his majesty hath been pleased to refer a suit unto him by two of his servants, Robert Maxwell and John Hunt, for the making of sheriffs and escheators' patents, to your lordship's consideration. My desire unto your lordship on their behalf is, that you would show them thus much favour for my sake, as with as much expedition as may be, and your lordship's other occasions may permit, to certify your opinion thereof unto his majesty; which I will be ready to acknowledge, and ever rest Your lordship's faithful servant, Newmarket, the 4th day of February, 1617. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.* MY HONOURABLE Lord, Though I had resolved not to write to your lordship in any matter between party and party; yet, at the earnest request of my noble friend, the Lord Norris, to whom I account myself much beholden, I could not but recommend unto your lordship's favour a special friend of his, Sir Thomas Monk, who hath a suit before your lordship in the Chancery with Sir Robert Bassett; which, upon the report made unto me thereof, seemeth so reasonable, that I doubt not but the cause itself will move your lordship to favour him, if, upon the hearing thereof, it shall appear the same unto your lordship, as at the first sight it doth unto me. I therefore desire your lordship to show in this particular what favour you lawfully may, for my sake, who will account it as done unto myself; and will ever rest Your lordship's faithful servant, Newmarket, the 4th day of Feb. 1617. TO THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF IRELAND.* MY LORD CHief Justice, I thank you for your letter, and assure you, that you are not deceived, neither in the care I have of the public in that state, nor in my good wishes, and the effects thereof, when it shall lie in my power towards yourself. I am glad to receive your testimony of my lord deputy, both because I esteem your judgment, and because it concurreth with my own. The materials of that kingdom, which is trade and wealth, grow on apace. I hope the form, which giveth the best living of religion and justice, will not be behind, the rather by you, as a good instrument. I rest Your lordship's assured friend, York House, ** of April, 1618. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.. MY HONOURABLE LORD, Whereas it hath pleased his majesty to recommend unto your consideration a petition exhibited by Mr. Fowle, together with the grievances and request for the rectifying of the work of gold and silver thread; and now understandeth that your lordship hath called unto you the other commissioners in that case, and spent some time to hear what the opposers could object, and perceiveth by a relation of a good entrance you have made into the business; and is now informed, that there remaineth great store of gold and silver thread in the merchants' hands, brought from foreign parts, besides that which is brought in daily by stealth, and wrought here by underhand workers; so that the agents want vent, with which inconveniences it seemeth the ordinary course of law cannot so well meet; and yet they are enforced, for freeing of clamour, to set great numbers of people on work; so that the commodity lying dead in their hands, will in a very short time grow to a very great sum of money. To the end, therefore, that the undertakers may not be disheartened by these wrongs and losses, his majesty hath commanded me to write unto your lordship, to the end you might bestow more time this vacation in prosecuting the course you have so worthily begun, that all differences being reconciled, the defects of the commission may be also amended, for prevention of farther abuses therein; so as the agents may receive encouragement to go on quietly in the work without disturbance. And I rest Your lordship's faithful friend and servant, G. BUCKINGHAM. From Bewly, the 20th day of Aug., 1618. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.† MY HONOURABle Lord, I will not go about to excuse mine own fault, by making you believe his majesty was backward in your business; but upon the first motion he gave me directions for it, which it was my negligence, as I freely confess, that I have no sooner performed, having not been slack in moving his majesty, but in despatching your man. All is done which your lordship desired; and I will give order, according to his majesty's directions, so that your lordship shall not need to trouble yourself any farther, but only to expect the speedy performance of his majesty's gracious pleasure. I will take the first opportunity to acquaint his majesty with the other business, and will ever rest, Your lordship's faithful friend and servant, G. BUCKINGHAM. Theobalds, the 8th of May, [1618.] Sir William Jones, to whom, upon his being called to that post, the lord keeper made a speech, printed in his works. + Harl. MSS. vol. 7006. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. MOST HONOURABLE LORD, Herewithal, I presumed to send a note enclosed, both of my business in Chancery, and with my Lord Roos, which it pleased your lordship to demand of me, that so you might better do me good in utroque genere. It may please your lordship, after having perused it, to commend it over to the care of Mr. Meautys for better custody. At my parting last from your lordship, the grief I had to leave your lordship's presence, though but for a little time, was such, as that being accompanied with some small corporal indisposition that I was in, made me forgetful to say that, which now for his majesty's service I thought myself bound not to silence. I was credibly informed and assured, when the Spanish ambassador went away, that howsoever Ralegh and the prentices† should fall out to be proceeded withal, no more instances would be made here- I beseech Jesus to give continuance and increase to your lordship's happiness; and that, if it may stand with his will, myself may one day have the honour of casting some small mite into that rich treasury. So I humbly do your lordship reverence, and continue The most obliged of your lordship's many faithful servants, TOBIE MATTHEW. Nottingham, this 21st of August, 1618. TO MR. (AFTERWARDS SIR) ISAAC WAKE, HIS thread business; as also of the profit that shall any way accrue unto him thereby. Wherefore his pleasure is, that you shall, with all convenient speed, call unto you the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, the attorney-general,† and the solicitor, and consider with them of every of the said particulars, and return them to his majesty, that thereupon he may resolve what present course to take for the advancement of the execution thereof. And so I rest Your lordship's faithful servant, Theobalds, the 4th of Oct., 1618. G. BUCKINGHAM. TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM. I send the commission for making Lincoln's We have had my Lord of Ormondes before us. We could not yet get him to answer directly, whether he would obey the king's award or no. After we had endured his importunity and impertinences, and yet let him down to this, that his majesty's award was not only just and within his submission, but in his favour; we concluded in few words, that the award must be obeyed, and if he did refuse or impugn the execution of it in MR. WAKE,—I have received some letters from Ireland, he was to be punished by the justice of you; and hearing from my Lord Cavendish Ireland: if he did murmur or scandalize it here, how well he affects you, and taking notice also or trouble his majesty any more, he was to be of your good abilities and services in his majesty's punished in England. Then he asked, whether affairs, and not forgetting the knowledge I had, he might be gone. For that, we told him, his when young, of your good father, I thought my-majesty's pleasure was to be known. self in some measure tied not to keep from you my good opinion of you, and my desire to give you any furtherance in your fortunes and occasions, whereof you may take knowledge and liberty to use me for your good. Fare you well. Your very loving friend, FR. VERULAM, Canc. York House, this 1st of Sept., 1618. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. MY HONOURABLE Lord, His majesty is desirous to be satisfied of the fitness and conveniency of the gold and silver the Spanish ambassador, on account of a boy's being hurt by him as he was riding. [Camdeni Annales Regis Jacobi I., p. 33] They were proceeded against by commissioners, at Guildhall, on Wednesday, the 12th of August following; seven being found guilty, and adjudged to six months' imprisonment, and to pay five hundred pounds apiece. Two others were acquitted. MS. letter of Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton, London, August 15, 1618. *William Cavendish, son and heir of William, created Baron Cavendish Hardwicke in Derbyshire, in May, 1605, and Earl of Devonshire, July 12, 1618. + Arthur Wake, rector of Billing in Northamptonshire, master of the hospital of St. John in Northampton, and canon of Christ Church, Oxford. He had been created Lord Verulam on the 12th of July, 1618. Sir Robert Mansell hath promised to bring his summer account this day sevennight. God preserve and prosper you. Your lordship's most obliged * Sir Henry Montagu. + Sir Henry Yelverton. Sir Thomas Coventry. Walter, Earl of Ormonde, grandfather of James, the first This earl, upon the death of Thomas, Duke of Ormonde. Earl of Ormonde and Ossory, succeeding to those honours, should have inherited likewise the greatest part of the estate: but his right was contested by Sir Richard Preston, Lord Dingwell, supported by the favour of King James I., who made an award, which Walter, Earl of Ormonde, conceiving to be unjust, refused to submit to, and was, by the king's order, committed to the Fleet, where he remained eight years before the death of that king; but in 1625 recovered his liberty. || Harl. MSS. vol. 7006. TO THE LADY CLIFFORD. MY VERY GOCD LADY AND COUSIN, I shall not be wanting in any thing, that may express my good affection and wishes towards your ladyship, being so near unto me, and the daughter of a father, to whom I was in the passages of my fortune much obliged. So, with my loving commendations, in the midst of business, I rest Your affectionate kinsman and assured friend, FR. VERULAM, Canc. York House, this 25th of January, 1618. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.* MY HONOURABLE Lord, Lest my often writing may make your lordship conceive that this letter hath been drawn from you by importunity, I have thought fit, for preventing of any such conceit, to let your lordship know, that Sir John Wentworth, whose business I now recommend, is a gentleman whom I esteem in more than an ordinary degree. And therefore I desire your lordship to show him what favour you can, for my sake, in his suit, which his majesty hath referred to your lordship: which I will acknowledge as a courtesy unto me, and rest Your lordship's faithful friend and servant, G. BUCKINGHAM. Newmarket, January 26, 1618. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.* MY HONOURAble Lord, I being desired by a special friend of mine, to recommend unto your lordship's favour, the case of this petitioner, have thought fit to desire you, for my sake, to show him all the favour you may in this his desire, as you shall find it in reason to deserve; which I shall take as a courtesy from your lordship, and ever rest Your lordship's faithful friend and servant, G. BUCKINGHAM. I thank your lordship for your favour to Sir John Wentworth, in the despatch of his business. Newmarket, March 15, 1616. gone into England. He tells me, that Galileo had answered your discourse concerning the flux and reflux of the sea, and was sending it unto me; but that Mr. White hindered him, because his answer was grounded upon a false supposition, namely, that there was in the ocean a full sea but once in twenty-four hours. But now I will call upon Galileo again. This Mr. White is a discreet and understanding gentleman, though he seem a little soft, if not slow; and he hath in his hands all the works, as I take it, of Galileo, some printed, and some unprinted. He hath his discourse of the flux and reflux of the sea, which was never printed; as also a discourse of the mixture of metals. Those which are printed, in his hand, are these: the Nuncius sidereus; Macchie solari, and a third Delle Cose, che stanno su l'acqua, by occasion of a disputation, that was amongst learned men in Florence, about that which Archimedes wrote, de insidentibus humido. I have conceived that your lordship would not be sorry to see these discourses, of that man; and therefore I have thought it belonging to my service to your lordship, to give him a letter of this date, though it will not be there so soon as this. The gentleman hath no pretence or business before your lordship, but is willing to do your lordship all humble service; and, therefore, both for this reason, as also upon my humble request, I beseech your lordship to bestow a countenance of grace upon him. I am beholden to this gentleman; and, if your lord ship shall vouchsafe to ask him of me, I shall receive honour by it. And I most humbly do your lordship's reverence. Your lordship's most obliged servant, TOBIE MATTHEW. Brussels, from my bed, the 14th of April, 1619. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR.* MY HONOURAble Lord, His majesty hath commanded me to signify unto your lordship, that it is his pleasure you put off the hearing of the cause between Sir Arthur Manwaring and Gabriel Dennis, till toward the end of the term; because his majesty is graciously pleased to be at the hearing thereof himself. And so I rest Your lordship's faithful friend and servant, G. BUCKINGHAM. Royston, April 13, 1619. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. MOST HONOURable Lord, It may please your lordship, there was with me this day, one Mr. Richard White, who hath TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR, AND SIR LIONEL TANFIELD, LORD CHIEF BARON OF THE EXCHEQUER.* MY LORDS,-His majesty having been moved spent some little time at Florence, and is now by the Duke of Savoy's ambassador, in the Harl. MSS. vol. 7006. * Harl. MSS. vol. 7006. from your lordship upon my last letter, where- | upon the reason you allege, whereof his majesty unto I desire your lordship to add this one favour will speak farther with you at his return. more, (which is the same that I understand your lordship granted him at Christmas last,) to give him liberty for the space of a fortnight, to follow his business in his own person; whereby he may bring it to the more speedy end, putting in security according to the ordinary course, to render himself prisoner again as soon as that time is expired: which is all that I desire for him, and in which I will acknowledge your lordship's favour towards him; and ever rest We have appointed Monday morning for these mint businesses, referred by his majesty to certain commissioners, and we will carry it sine strepitu. The patent touching Guinea and Bynny for the trade of gold, stayed first by myself, and after by his majesty's commandment, we have now settled by consent of all parties. Mr. Attorney, by my direction, hath made, upon his information exhibited into the Star Chamber, a thundering motion against the transportation of gold by the Dutch; which all the town is glad of; and I have granted divers writs of ne exeat regnum, according to his majesty's warrant. Sir Edward Coke keeps in still, and we have miss of him; but I supply it as I may by my farther diligence. God ever bless you and keep The letter, which you sent me about my Lord of Ormonde's son, is not according to his majesty's meaning; but I would have you frame another to my lord deputy to this purpose: “That his majesty having seen a letter of his to Sir Francis Blundell, advertising, that the Earl of Ormonde's son, and some other of his kindred, did victual and fortify their houses; his majesty hath thereupon commanded you to write unto him, that if the ground of information be true, (which he may best know,) that then he send for the said earl's son, and the principal of his kindred to appear before him: and if they appear, and give him satisfaction, it is well; but if they refuse to appear, or give him not satisfaction, though they appear; that then he assemble what forces he can, be they never so few, and go against them, that he may crush the rebellion in the egg." I have remembered his majesty, as I promised your lordship, about the naming you for a commissioner to treat with the Hollanders: but, besides that you have so many businesses, both of the Star Chamber, and others in the term time, when this must be attended as well as in the vacation, whereby this would be either too great a toil to you, or a hindrance to his majesty's service; he thinketh it could not stand with the honour of your place to be balanced with those that are sent from the state, so far unequal to his majesty, and being themselves none of the greatest of the state. Therefore, his majesty holdeth it not fit or worthy of you to put you into such an employment, in which none of your predecessors, or any of the chief counsellors, have been ever used in this kind, but only in a treaty of marriage or conclusion of a peace; as when the Constable of Castile was here, when the commissioners on both sides had their authority under the great seal of either kingdom, with direct relation to their sovereigns, far differing from this commission, which is now given to these men, and whereunto his majesty is to frame the course of his. As for the part which concerneth Scotland, the choice hath not been made of the chancellor or Archbishop of St. Andrew's, but of men nearer the rank of those that come hither to treat. As yet his majesty delayeth to give any commission at all, because he would first be informed from the lords, both of the points and form of their commission, which his majesty hitherto understandeth to be, with authority to overrule and direct their merchants in what they shall think fit; which, if it be so, then his majesty holdeth it fit for his part, to appoint the whole body of the council with like power over his merchants. As for me, I shall be ever ready upon any occasion to show myself Your lordship's faithful friend and servant, Newmarket, the 14th of December, 1618. |