My very good Broother, I have receyved by Henry Loke yowre moste kynde message, whiche I so effectuallye imbrace, that whatt for the owlde loue I have borne yow, whiche I assure yow was very greate, what for the alliance which ys betwene vs, whiche ys tyed so fast by my chyldren of yowre owne syster, what for myne owne dispositione to yowre selfe, whiche hathe bene rootede by longe and many familiarites of a moore yowthefull tyme there cowld have beene nothinge soo deerly welcome vnto me. wherfore not as a stranger but in the owld style, I doo assure yow
that yow shall have no faster freende & wellwisher vnto yow then my self eyther in kyndnes, which I finde beyond myne expectatione in yow; or in kyndred, wherby none ys nerer allyed then my selfe, sythe of yowre systers, of my wyfe only yow have receyved Nieces. A syster I say not by any venter, but borne of the same father, and the same moother of yowre selfe. I will say no moore, for woordes in faythefull myndes are tedious. only thys I protest, yow shall doo me wronge, and yowre selfe greater, yf eyther throwghe fables whiche are mischeuous, or conceyt, whiche ys dangerous, yow thinke otherwis of me then humanite, & consanguinite requyrethe. I desyred Henry Loke to speake vnto yow, for that I cannot so well, vrge myne owne busines to her Magestye, that yow wowld doo me the fauour, when thes troblesume tymes giue oportunite to her Magesty to thinke of the dispositione of the Praesident of Waales that I may vnderstand yt by yowe, least neglectinge throwgh ignorance the tyme, by mishap I may lease the sute. for as I have vnderstood, and by good reason conceyved I am not to yowse any friend to moue yt,
so my self hauing movd yt, and receyved good hoop, I feare
nothinge but throwgh ignorance when to prosecut yt least I showld leas the
benifite of her good dispositione one whiche I only depende.
(sideways in left margin)
Yowre most assured & lovinge
Broother, as ever in myne owne affectione, in all kyndnes and kyndred.
(signed) Edward Oxenford
Addressed (by Oxford): To my very
good brother & honorable Sir Robert Cecil one of her Magestyes Pruie
Councel & principall Secretarie. [seal]
Endorsed: Erl of oxenford to my
master.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years. Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
- 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.”
- Shakespeare’s Funeral Meats. May 13, 2020. “Famous as this has been since its discovery, it has been willfully misread more often than not. No mainstream scholar had any use for a reference to Hamlet years before it was supposed to have been written.”
- Shakespeare Scholarship in the Internet Age. August 12, 2018. “I love to be presented with a legitimate challenge to any of my work. This does not change the fact that such challenges are followed by an unpleasant sinking feeling. Had I missed something?”
- 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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