Letters: Earl of Oxford to Sir Robert Cecil, [May 1601].[Spelling Modernized.]

Cecil Papers 181/80, Oxford to Cecil; [May 1601?]. [Click here for original spelling.]

My very good Brother, I have received by Henry Loke your most kind message, which I so effectually embrace, that what for the old love I have borne you, which I assure you was very great, what for the alliance which is between us, which is tied so fast by my children of your own sister, what for my own disposition to yourself, which has been rooted by long and many familiarities of a more youthful time there could have been nothing so dearly welcome unto me. Wherefore not as a stranger but in the old style, I do assure you that you shall have no faster friend & well-wisher unto you than myself either in kindness, which I find beyond my expectation in you; 

or in kindred, whereby none is nearer allied than myself, since of your sister, of my wife only yow have received Nieces. A sister I say not by any venter, but born of the same father, and the same mother of yourself. I will say no more, for words in faithful minds are tedious. Only this I protest, you shall do me wrong, and yourself greater, if either through fables which are mischievous, or conceit, which is dangerous, you think otherwise of me than humanity, & consanguinity requires. I desired Henry Loke to speak unto you, for that I cannot so well, urge my own business to her Majesty, that you would do me the favor, when these troublesome times give opportunity to her Majesty to think of the disposition of the President of Wales that I may understand it by you, lest neglecting through ignorance the time, by mishap I may lose the suite. For as I have understood, and by good reason conceived I am not to you any friend to move it, so myself having moved it, and received good hope, I fear nothing but through ignorance when to prosecute it lest I should lose the benefit of her good disposition on which I only depend.

(sideways in left margin)

Your most assured & loving Brother, as ever in my own affection, in all kindness and kindred.

(signed) Edward Oxenford

Addressed (by Oxford): To my very good brother & honorable Sir Robert Cecil one of her Majesty’s Privy Council & principal Secretary. [seal]

Endorsed: Earl of oxenford to my master.

 

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• More on Edward Webbe’s troublesome trauailes and Edward de Vere. November 23, 2020. ‘In the present instance a polymath, polyglot officer in the British Royal Artillery, at the turn of the previous century, named Lieut.- Col. Henry William Lovett Hime wrote a short letter to The Westminster Chronicle of July 1916, regarding “The Travels of Edward Webbe”.’
• What About Edward de Vere’s Twelfth Night of 1600/01? January 28, 2020. “Leslie Hotson, who brought the Orsino-Orsino coincidence to the attention of the Nevillians seems to have made one particular mistake that is all to our point.”
• Who Saved Southampton from the Ax? September 2, 2019.  “One of the popular mysteries of the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I is why the Queen executed her favorite, the Earl of Essex, for treason, and left his accomplice, the Earl of Southampton, to languish as a prisoner in The Tower until King James I ascended the throne.”
• A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603.  April 28, 2019.  “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
• 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 Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.