Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley; April 9, 1595.

Cecil Papers 31/79, Oxford to Burghley; 9 April 1595. [Click here for modernized spelling.]

My very good Lord. I have labored so muche as I cowld possiblie to aduance her Magesties Customes of Tyne, and had performed yt yf myne vndertakers hadd kept promise with me, one munday last to have sette to there names with ther owne handes to the Bargayne. But throwghe the cunninge dealinge of sume, they are dissuaded, and I cannot bringe them bake agayne to there former purpos. wherfore yf yowre Lordship thynke, my Lord of Bukhurst have vndertakers, I thinke yt best for her maiestie to take that course which is best for her seruice. But I dowt owre merchantes were all one, & that he will fynde them as bakward now to hyme. for I see, and I beleue yowre Lordship shall fynde yt trwe, that the Turchie compagnie have so packed, that her Magesties intentione will fynd no yssue. Never the lesse when yowre Lordship hathe made tryall of all, yf yt shall pleas her Magestie to imploy my service I will vse all diligence, to further her profite:

And yf yt so happen that my Lord of Bukhurst be able to bringe forthe vndertakers, whiche I do not beleue, yet wheras I was the fyrst yat offered 3000l to her maiestie when as there was but a 1000 markes proferd by others, and therby was an occasione, to cause her Magestie to stay vntyll she was better aduertised I desyre yowre Lordship yet to further my swte for ye transportatione, wherby I shall aduance her Magestie a 1000l by yeare more then she hathe.

The great matter I have followed ever with a mynd to bringe all the profitt therof to her Magestie And browght yt one so fare, as the vndertakers as I have sayd were redie to sett downe ther handes, yet so dissuaded by certeyne persones which they have named vnto me, that they have leke merchantes gone frome ther worde and promise.

Yowre Lordships to Commande

(signed) Edward Oxenford

Addressed (in Oxford’s hand): To the ryght honorable and his very good Lord the Lord Thresorer of England. [seal]

Endorsed (in Burghley’s hand): 9 April 1595; Erle of Oxford; his Merchantes have gon back

 

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 Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.