Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley, September 8, 1590.

BL Lansdowne 63/76, ff. 191-2 (bifolium, 317mm x 205mm), Oxford to Burghley; 8 September 1590 (W304;F378-9). [Click here for modernized spelling.]

I wowld haue bene wythe yowre Lordship before this, but yat I have not had my helthe, Neuerthe lesse Hamptone beinge returned from the Contrie, I have sent him to yowre Lordship, that he may aduertis yow of his procedinges there. At Otlandes I thinke yowre Lordship remembers a complaynte, of [blank] Bellingiame sune, of his mothers puttinge forthe of the castell, whiche was before any thinge done, whervpon yowre Lordship directed a letter vnto [illegible] sherife, [illegible] wherofe, as yt semes, Thomas Hamptone, hade delt wythe more fauoure towards her, then the letters vnto the Sherife imported. Notwythstandinge I vnderstand Bellinggiame is gone to the Court, incoraged I know not by what friendes, to complayne, as he dyd report here in towne not to yowre Lordship, but to her Magesties self. My lord yt was ever ment that he showld have consideratione, as reason and conscience myght afford him. But sythence he taketh a violent course, and refusethe

resonable offers, I have sent Hamptone to informe yowre Lordship, the state of the man, whoo hathe receyved hertofore a pardone for thre burglaries, and standes bownde to the good behavioure. whiche behavioure for sundrie and manyfest breches therof, whiche I cane prove, he hathe lost the benyfite of his pardone, wherby as Lord of the manner by eschete, I am to dele wythe him, as he hathe giuen me occasione, and herin I hope her Magestie will have consideratione, sythe the same case hathe bene sene once in Henry the seventhes tyme, and on[e] example in this her Magesties. for those thinges whiche fales to me by eschet I do not dowt that her magestie will agaynst her lawe giue any eare, or harken to suche wrongfull complaynt.

Skinner hathe bene often wythe me, for a compositione: vpon what poynte of law Hampton is to informe yowre Lordshipe, referringe my self wholly to yowre [illegible] who In all my causes I find myn honorable good Lord, and to dele more fatherly then friendly wythe me. for the whiche I doo acknowlege and ever will my self in most especiall wyse bownde. And wheras ther is a lease in Arthure Myles hande of the manner and Landes of Lauenhame, I desyre yowre Lordship to cause him to make ouer his truste vnto my seruant Minn,

to whome the other lease is made. Yf therbe complayntes made vnto yowre Lordship as I dout not but that ther will, agaynst the procedinges of myne officers; I most ernestly desyre, that there may be sume resonable tyme appoynted for the answeringe of them, because my cowncel is not in towne, but shalbe before, or at the beginninge of the terme, to satisfies yowre lordship and answer there particuler complayntes. London this 8th of September.

Yowre lordships to Command

(signed) Edward Oxenford

Addressed (by Earl of Oxford): To the ryght honorable an his ve[illegible] the Lord Thresorer of England giue thes at the Court [seal]

Endorsed: 8 September 1590; Erle of Oxford to my Lord; [illegible]; Touching a contest between him & one Bellingiam, who had be pardoned for burglary, & bound to ye good behauiour. The for[illegible] of whose pardon hee was mind to prosecute.

 

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