Sir.
Although my hap hath been so hard that it hath visited me of late with sickness yet thanks be to god through the looking to which I have had by your care had over me, I find my health restored and myself double beholding unto you both for that and many good turns which I have received before of your part. For the which although I have found you to not account of late of me as in time before yet not withstanding that strangeness you shall see at last in me that I will acknowledge and not be ungrateful unto you for them and not to deserve so ill a thought in you that they were ill bestowed in me. But at this present desiring you if I have done anything amiss that I have merited your offence impute [it] to my young years and lack of experience to know my friends. And at this time I am bold to desire your favor and friendship that you will suffer me to be employed by your means and help in this service that now is in hand whereby I shall think myself the most bound unto you of any man in this court and hereafter you shall command me as any of your own. Having no other means whereby to speak with you myself I am bold to impart my mind
in paper, earnestly desiring your Lordship that at this instant as heretofore you have given me your good word to have me see the wars and services in strange and foreign places since you could not then obtain me license of the Queen’s Majesty now you will do me so much honor as that by your purchase of my license I may be called to the service of my prince and country as at this troublous time a number are. Thus leaving to importune you with my earnest suit I commit you to the hands of the Almighty. By your assured friend this 24th of November
Edward Oxenford
Addressed: To the right honorable and his singular good friend Sir William Cecil Secretary and Master of the wards. Give this. [sealed]
Endorsed: 24 November 1569 The Earl of Oxford to my Master
Second endorsement: Desires him to procure leave from ye Queen for him to go & serve her Majesty's Country in the Wars.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Plague Dogs in 16th Century London. April 7, 2020. "In his account of the sources and effects of pestilences, from his enormously popular poem De Rerum Natura, the Roman author Titus Lucretius Carus noted that dogs caught pestilences as well."
- What About Edward de Vere’s Twelfth Night of 1600/01? January 28, 2020. “Leslie Hotson, who brought the Orsino-Orsino coincidence to the attention of the Nevillians seems to have made one particular mistake that is all to our point.”
- Who Saved Southampton from the Ax? September 2, 2019. “One of the popular mysteries of the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I is why the Queen executed her favorite, the Earl of Essex, for treason, and left his accomplice, the Earl of Southampton, to languish as a prisoner in The Tower until King James I ascended the throne.”
- A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603. April 28, 2019. “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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