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Sunday, August 16, 2020

Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley, before June 25, 1586.

BL Lansdowne 50/22, ff. 49-50 (bifolium?, 305mm x 190mm, 150mm x 190mm), Oxford to Burghley; before June 25, 1586. (W251;F342). [Click here for modernized spelling.]

My very good lord as I have bene behowldinge vnto yow diuers tymes & of late, by my brother R. Cecill, wherby I have bene the better able to follow my sute, wherin I have sume comfort at this tyme from Mr Secretarie Wallsingham, so am I now bowld, to crave yowre lordships help at this present. for beinge now almost at a point to tast that good whiche her Magestie shall determine yet am[?] I on[e] that hathe longe besieged a fort and not able to compas the end or reap the frut of his travel, beinge forst to leuie his sige for want of munition. Beinge therfore thus disfurnished and vnprouided to follow her Magestie as I perceyve she will loke for, I most ernestly desyre yowre lordship yat yow will lend me 200 pounds tyll her Magestie performethe her promes. out of which I shall make my payment yf it pleas yow with the rest yat yowre lordship hathe at sundrie tymes to my great furtherance and help in my causes sent me by yowre seruant and stuard Billet. I wowld be lothe to have trobled yowre lordship with so muche yf I were not kept here bake with this tedious sut, from London, where I wowld have found means to have taken vp so muche to have serued my turne tyll her magestie had dispached me, but for that I dare not, hauinge bene here so longe, and the matter growinge to sume conclusion, be absent. I pray yowre lordship beare with me, yat at this time wherin I am to set my self in order I doo become so troblesume from the Court this morninge

Yowre Lordships ever bounden

(signed) Edward Oxenford

Addressed by Oxford: To the ryght honorable and my very good Lord my Lord Thresorer of England giue thes [seal]

Endorsed by Burghley: 25 Iunij 1586 Erl of oxford to borrow ijCli wherof I loa hym jCli

 

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. 



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