Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley, July 1581.

 

BL Lansdowne 33/6, ff. 12-13 (bifolium, 238mm x 160mm), Oxford to Burghley; July 1581 (W223-4;F283-4).

[Click here formodernized spelling.] 

My lord, Robine Christmas dyd yester day, tell me, how honorably yow had delt withe her magestie as touchinge my Lybertye, and that as this day she had made promes to yowre lordship that it showld bee. vnles yowre Lordship shall make sume to put her magesty in mynd therof, I feare, in thes other causes of the too Lords, she will forget me. for she is nothinge of her owne disposition, as I find, so ready to deliuer, as spedie to commit. and every littell trifell, giues her matter for a longe delay. I willed E. Hamond to report vnto yowre Lordship, her magestys message vnto me by mr secretarie Walsingham whiche was to this effect, first that she wowld have hard the matter agayne touchinge Henry Howard, Southwell and Arundell. then that she vnderstood I ment to cut doune all my woods, especially abought my housse; whiche she dyd not so well leke of. as yf I showld sell sume land els other wheare. and last that she hard I had bene hardly vsed by sum of my servants, 

duringe this time of my committ. whearin she promised her ayd so far as she could withe iustice, to redres the loss I had susteyned therby. to whiche I made answear, as I willed Hamond to relat vnto yowre Lordship.  further my lord, whearof I am desirous sumthinge to write, I have vnderstood of certeyne of my men have resorted vnto yowre lordship, and sought by fals reportes of other of ther fellowes, bothe to abuse yowre lordship and me. but for that this bearer semes most herin to be touched, I have sent him vnto yowre lordship, as is his ernest desire, that yowre lordship myght so know him, as yowre evill opinion, beinge conceyved amis by thes lewd fellowes may be removed. and truly my lord, I heare of those thinges wherwithe he is charged, and I can assure yow wrongfully and slaunderously. but the world is so conninge, as of a shadow they can make a substance, and of a leklihode a trothe. and thes fellowes, yf they be those, whiche I suppos, I do not dought but so to decyfer them to the world, as easly yowre lordship shall loke into ther lewdnes and vnfaythfulnes. Whiche tyll my liberte I mean to defer, as more mindfull of that importinge me most at this time, then yet sekinge to revenge my self of suche peruers and impodent dealinge of servants. whiche I know have not wanted incoragment and settinge on. but lettinge thes thinges pas for a whyle, I must not forget to giue yowre lordship those thankes, whiche ar due to yow, 

for this yowre honorable dealinge to her magesty in my behalf. whiche I hope shall not be wythought effect. the whiche attendinge from the court, I will take my leaue of yowre lordship, and rest at yowre Commandment, at my howse this morning

 

Yowre lordships assured

(signed) Edward Oxenford

 

Addressed by Earl of Oxford: For my lord Thresorer [seal]

 

Endorsed by Baron Burghley: Iulij 1581 Erl of oxford thanks

Second endorsement: Thanks his lordship for obtaining ye promise of his Liberty of ye Queen: entreating him to remember ye Queen of him. The Quenes message to him to Walsingham.

  

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• A Model for Lady Macbeth.  July 12, 2020.  “In Macbeth, the Lady of the castle would also seem to be her Lord’s indomitable will.  She will see the deeds done that need be done in order for him to pass the daunting tests and wear the crown.”
• Gutenberg, proto-Hack Writers and Shakespeare. May 26, 2020. “A less well known effect of the Reformation was that many young Catholic men who had taken religious orders in order to receive an education began to lead lives at large from monastic discipline.  Like Erasmus and Rabelais they took up the pen.”
• The Battle Over Shakespeare's Early and Late Plays. September 24, 2018. “The answers to the post-Oxford dilemma, of course, are three.”
• Shakespeare's Apricocks.  February 21, 2017.  "While he may never have been a gardener, he does seem more than superficially knowledgeable about the gardens of his day.  One detail of such matters that he got wrong, however, is as much to the point as any."
• 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.