Letters: Earl of Oxford to Sir Robert Cecil; May 7, 1603. [Spelling modernized.]

Cecil Papers 99/161, Earl of Oxford to Sir Robert Cecil; 7 May [1603]. [Click here for original spelling.]

My very good Lord I understand by Mr. Attorney that he hath reported the state of my Title to the keepership of Waltham Forest, and of the house and park of Havering, whereby it appears to his Majesty what right and equity is therein. Till the 12th of Henry the 8th my Ancestors have possessed the same, almost since the time of William Conqueror, and at that time which was the 12th year of Henry the 8th the king took it for term of his life from my grandfather, since which time, what by the alterations of princes, and wardships, I have bene kept from my rightful possession, yet from time to time, both my father and myself, we have as opportunities fell out not neglected our claim, twice in my time it had passage by law, and judgment was to have passed one my side, whereof her Majesty, the late Queen, being advertised with assured promises and words of a Prince to restore it herself unto me 

caused me to let fall the suit. But so it was, she was not so ready to perform her word as I was to ready to believe it. Whereupon pressing my title farther it was by her Majesty’s pleasure put to Arbitrement and although it was an unequal course, yet not to contradict her will, the Lord Chancellor Sir Christopher Hatton was sole Arbiter, who after all the delays, devised by Sir Thomas Heneage, and the Queen’s counsel in law then being, having heard the cause was ready to make his report for me, but her Majesty refused the same and by no means would hear it, So that by this and the former means, I have been thus long dispossessed. but I hope, truth is subject to no prescription, for truth is truth though never so old, and time cannot make that false which was once true. And though this threescore years both my father and myself have bene dispossessed thereof, yet hath there been claims made thereto many times within those threescore years, which I take sufficient by law to avoid prescription in this case. Now therefore his Majesty having heard the report I hope he will in his justice and favour do me that right which is to be expected from so gracious and virtuous a Sovereign. But for that I know, among so many matters of importance, unless his Majesty be put in remembrance, he may forget a private cause, therefore I shall most earnestly desire your friendship in this that yow will join with my Lord Admiral my very good Lord and friend to help me to his Majesty’s resolution. my Lord Admiral is Lord Chief Justice of Oyer and Terminer, and to whose office indeed as I understand it appertains to have heard my cause, but I know not why or with what advise it was referred to Mr. Attorney 

and his Majesty’s counsel in law. But now howsoever, his Majesty has the report made unto him, which if it be forgotten shall little prevail me. But I hope in his Justice, and in your two Lordships friendships which the cause being so just and honorable, I do fully rely upon. His Majesty departs with nothing but a keepership, and a keeper he must have. Wherefore it is much more princely for him to restore it to me his lawful keeper, then contrary to bestow it upon an intruder. Nothing adorns a king more than Justice, nor in anything, does a king more resemble god than ^in^ justice, which is the Head of all virtue, and he that is endued therewith, has all the rest. So long as it was in the custody of mine Ancestors the woods were preserved, the game cherished, and the forest maintained in her full state. But, since it was otherwise disposed, all these things have impaired as experience does Manifest. Thus therefore most earnestly craving your Lordship’s friendly and honorable furtherances I most heartily recommend myself unto your good Lordship’s from Hackney this 7th of May.

 

(sideways in left margin)

 

Your Lordship’s most assured friend and brother-in-law to Commande.

 

(signed) E. Oxenforde

 

Addressed (in the hand of Oxford): To the right honorable my very good Lord the Lord of Essendone, one of his Majety’s Privy Council. [excellent seal (paper)]

 

Endorsed: 7 May 1603 Earl of Oxford to my Lord

 

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• 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?”
• 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.”
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