Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley, January 3, 1576.

Cecil Papers 8/12 (small bifolium, 280mm x 195mm), Oxford to Burghley; 3 January 1576 (W110-11;F203-4). [Click here for modernized spelling.]

My lord I am sorie too here how hard my fortune is in England as I perceiue by yowre Lordshipes letters, but knowinge how vaine a thinge it is to linger a necessarie mischief, (to know the worst of my self & to let yowre Lordship vnderstand wherin I wowld vse yowre honorable friendship) in short I haue thus determined, that whearas I vnderstand, the greatnes of my dett; and gredines of my crediters, growes soo dishonorable to me, and troblesume vnto yowre Lordshipe, that that land of mine which in Cornwale I haue appointed too bee sould accordinge too that first order for myn expences in this trauell be goone throught withall. And to stope my crediters exclamationes or rather defamations I may call them I shall desire yowre Lordship by the vertue of this letter which dothe not err as I take it from any former purpose which was that allwayes 

vpon my letter to authorise yowre Lordship to sell any portion of my land / that yow will sell on hundreth pound a yere more of my land where yowr Lordship shall thinke fittest, to disburden me of mye dets to her Magestie my sister or els where I am exclaimed vpon. lekwise most ernestly I shall desire yowre Lordship to loke into the lands of my fathers will, whiche my sister beinge payd and the time expired I take is to come into my hands. and if yowre Lordship will for not troblinge of yowre self to much with my causes command, Lewine, Kelton, and myne auditor to make a vew into the same, I think it wilbe the soner dispached as for Hulbert I pray yowre Lordship to displace him of his office whiche I restored vnto him before myne auditor on condition he showld rendre it vp at all times that I showld command. my reason is whi I doo the same for that he bargend withe me in Coulne, and trustinge him, therin he hathe takene more then I ment and as his owne letter whiche I haue sent to my seruant Keltone dothe showe more then him self did mean, a fit excuse for soo coseninge a part and yet thowght it was more then he ment wheras it is conditioned that all times he showld surrender the same when his monie showldbe offred to him againe in compas of certeine yeres, yet in myne absence he hathe refused the same as I vnderstand. whervpon my thinkethe he diserueth verie euill at my hands. and he that in so small a matter dothe misvse the trust I haue reposed in him, I am to dought his seruice in greater causes. wherfore I doo againe desire yowre Lordship to discharge him from all dealinges of myne, vpon his accountes too the rest of my fornamed seruants.

In doinge thes thinges yowre lordshipe shall greatly plesure me. in not doinge them yow shall as muche hinder me. for allthough to depart withe land yowre Lordship hathe aduised the contrarie and that yowre Lordship for the good affection yow beare vnto me could wishe it otherwise, yet yow see, I haue non other remedie I haue no help but of myne owne, and mine is made to serue me, and myself not mine. whervpon till all suche incombrances be passed ouer and till I can better settell my self at home I haue determined to continue my trauell the whiche thinge in no wise I desire yowre Lordship to hinder. vnles yow wowld haue it thus Vt nulla sit inter nos amicitia. for hauinge made an end of all hope to help my self by her Magesties seruice consideringe that my yowthe is obiected vnto me, and for eury step of myne, a bloke is found to be layd in my way, I see it is but vayne, calcitrare contra li buoi. and the worst of thinges beinge knowne, they are the more easier to be prouided for, to beare and support them withe patiencie. wherfore for thinge passed amis to repent them it is to late, to help them, (whiche I cannot but ease them that I am determined to hop for any thinge I doo not, but if any thinge doo happen preter spem. I thinke before that time I must be so ould as my sunes, whoo shall enioi them, must giue the thankes and I am to content my self accordinge to this englishe prouerd that it is my hap to sterue leke the horse, whilst the gress dothe growe.

thus my good lord I doo bouldly write that yow showld not be ignorant of any thinge that I doo, for if I haue reason I make yow the iuge, and lay my self more open vnto yow, then perhapes yf I write fewer lines ore penned les store of wordes otherwise I could doo. But for that it is not so easie a matter at all times to conuey letters from thes parties in to England I am therfore the more desirous to vse larglie this oportunite. and to supplie in writinge the want of speaking, wiche the longe distance betwien vs hathe taken away. thus I leaue yowre Lordshipe to the protection of almightie god. whoome I beseche to send yow longe and happie lyfe. and better fortune to define yowre felicite, in thes yowre aged yeres, then yt hathe pleased hime to graunt in my yowthe. but of a hard beginninge we may hope a good and easie endinge. Yowre Lordshipes to commande duringe lyfe. the 3o of Ianuarie. from Siena

(signed) Edward Oxenford

Addressed by Oxford: <…>ght honorable and his singular good lord, my lord Burley, lord Thresorer of England giue this [seal]

Endorsed by Burghley: 3 Ianuary 1575 The Erle of oxford by M spinolas packett. Received ye 17 of february.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• Portia’s Quality of Mercy.  June 2, 2020. “Likely a line from Sonnenschein’s 1905 follow-up essay “Shakspere and Stoicism” is to the point: ‘I hope, by the way, that no "Baconian" will find in this article grist for his mill.’”
• Shakespeare and Painter’s Palace of Pleasure. May 19, 2020. “…there is no richer source for clues to who was Shakespeare.”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• Stratford Shakespeare’s Undersized Grave.  July 22, 2018.  “Mr. Coll’s considers this evidence to support an old rumor that Shakspere’s head had been stolen in 1794.  But I submit that he is merely making his observation based upon a coincidence.”
• 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.