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wyche shall not aftyr be long undon. And wher your Grace shewed your plesyr for the Bastard of Kyng Edwards, Syr, there is neither that, or any other thyng I may do to your Commandment, but y shall be glad to fullfill my lyttyll power, with God's Grace. And, my swete Kyng, Feldyng this berer hath preyed me to beseche you to be his good Lord yn a matter he seweth for to the Bishop of Ely, now, as we here, electe', for a lyttyll Offiyse nyghe to Lond: Verily, my Kynge, he ys a geud and a wyse well rewled Gentylman, and full truely hathe served you well accompanyed, as well at your fyrst, as all odyr occasions; and that cawsethe us to be the more bold and gladder also to speke for hyme; how be yt, my Lord Marquis hath ben very low to hym yn Tymes past, by cause he wuld not be reteyned with him; and trewly, my good Kynge, he helpythe me ryght well yn seche Matters as y have besynes wythyn thys partyes. And, my der hert, y now beseche you of pardon of my long and tedyous Wryting, and pray almighty God gyve you as long, good and prosperous Lyfe as ever had Prynce, and as herty Blessyngs as y can axe of God.

At Calais Town, thys day of Seint Annes, that did bryng yn to thys World my good and gracyous Prynce, Kynge, and only beloved Son. By

Your humble Servant, Bede-woman, and Modyer, To the Kyngs Grace. Margaret R

1

Arthur, by Lady Elizabeth Lucy. See Sandford's Genealog. Hist. p. 421.

2

Probably Richard Redman, Bp. in 1501, which points out the Date of the Letter.

A letter from Lady Margaret, to Thomas Boteler Earl of Ormond, Chamberlain to the Queen;

probably during his embassy to France 1495 or the following year.

[Printed in the Excerpta Historica, London 1831, from the original in the Tower.]

My lord Chambyrlayn, y thanke yow hertyly that ye lyste soo sone remembyr me with my glovys, the whyche wer ryght good, save they wer to myche for my hand. y thynke the ladyes yn that partyes be gret ladyes all, and accordyng to ther gret astate they have gret personages. As for newes her, y ame seure ye shall have more seurte then y can send yow; blessed be god, the kyng, the quene, and all owre suet chyldryn be yn good hele. The quen hathe be a lytyll crased, but now she ys well, god be thankyd; her sykenes ys soo good as y wuld but y truste hastyly yt shall, with godds grasse; whom y pray gyve yow good sped yn your gret maters, and bryng yow well and soone home. wretyn at Shene the xxv. day of aprell.

To my lord

The quenys chambyrlayn.

M. Rychemond

A letter from Lady Margaret to the Mayor of Co

ventry.

[Ex. Archivis Civ. Coventr.]

By the Kinges Moder

Trusty and welbeloved, we grete you wel. And

wher we of late, upon the compleint of oon Owen,

Burchis of the Cite ther, addressed of other lettres unto you, and willed you by the same and in o2 name, to call afor you the parties comprised in the same compleint. And therfore to order the Variaunce depending betwixt them according to good conscience. Albeit as it is said, the said Owen can or may have no reasonable aunswer of you in that behalve to o2 mervall. Wherfor We wol and in the Kinges name commaunde you efsoones to call befor you the said parties, and roundely texamyn them. And therupon to order and determyne the premisses, as may stande wt good reson, and thequytie of the Kinges laws. So as no compleint be made unto us hereafter in that behalve. Indevoyring you thus to do, as ye tendre the kings pleas and oTM, and the due ministracon of Justice. Yeven under or signett at our Manoir of Colyweston, the last day of September. To oure trusty and welbeloued, the Maior of the Citie of Coventr, and his brethern of the same, and to eny of theim.

Grant of the wardship of Margaret, daughter and heiress of John Beaufort Duke of Somerset to William de la Pole Earl of Suffolk, in the 22nd Hen. VI. 1443.

[Printed in the Excerpta Historica, London 1831, from Miscellaneous Records in the Tower.]

By the King.

Right Reverend fader in God, Right trusty and Right welbeloved, we grete you wel. And for as

moche as oure Cousin the Duc of Somerset is nowe late passed to God's mercy, the whiche hath a doughter and heir to succede after hym of ful tender age, called Margarete. We, considering the notable services that oure 'Cousin therl of Suffolk hath doon unto us, and tendering hym therfore the more specially as reson wol, have of oure grace and especialle propre mocion and mere deliberacion graunted unto hym to have the warde and mariage of the said Margarete, withouten eny thing therfore unto us or oure heires yelding. Wherfore we wol and charge you that unto oure said Cousin of Suffolk ye do make, upon this oure graunte, lettres patents souffisant in lawe and in deue forme; and that ye faille not hereof, As we specially truste you, and as ye desire to do unto us singuleir plesir, and that ye sende unto us oure said lettres patents seeled by the berer of thees. Lating you wite that ye shal hereafter, at suche tyme as ye come unto oure presence, have suche warrant for youre discharge in this behalve As shall be souffisant unto you, and as the cas requireth. Yeven under oure signet, at oure Castel of Berkhampstede, the laste day of May.

To the Right Reverend fader in God, oure Right trusty and Right welbeloved th' archebisshop of Caunterbury, oure Chancellour of Englande.

1 He was created the next year Marquis, and soon afterwards Duke of Suffolk; but eventually, after having been Chancellor of England, and Lord High Admiral, was lawlessly beheaded in a boat near Dover in 1450. See Fenn's Original letters.

No. II.

An account of those 'maters of Devocyon which, for her exercise, and for the profyte of others, the Lady Margaret did translate out of the Frensh into Englysh.'

The first is—“ The Myrroure of golde, Imprynted at london in fletestrete at the sygne of the Sone by Wynkyn de Worde. In the .xxix. day of Marche the year of oure Lorde a M.D. and XXII, Quarto;" from an imperfect copy of which, in the Library of St. John's College, the specimen given below, of Lady Margaret's composition, is reprinted.

There is also, in the University Library, a copy of an Edition printed the same year as the above, at London by John Skott. Another edition by Wink. de Worde, an. 1526, is described in the Typog. Antiq.; as also an earlier edition than any of these,

- Emprynted at London in Fletestrete at the signe of Saint George by Richard Pynson', 4to, without date, but prior to 1509, the year of the death of Henry the seventh, as appears by the Preface.

The original is a small tract in Latin, of which there is a Copy in the University Library at Cambridge, without name or date, and entitled- Opusculum quod speculum aureum anime peccatricis inscribitur."' The proëm to the translation states that- This presente boke is called the Mirroure of golde to the sinfull soule, the whiche hath ben translated at Parice oute of Laten into Frenche, and after the trans

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