Cecil Papers 31/45, Oxford to Burghley; 25 March 1595. [Click here for modernized spelling.]
My very good Lord to sett downe
that which showlde be fytt for yowre satisfactione, wowld requyre a longe
wrightinge, which showld be to combersome, at this present. and moreover I
wowld gladly deliuer my knowlege of the quantety of Tynne by mowthe, for yat I
thinke yt not convenient by letter. wherfore when yowr Lordship shall have best
tyme and leysure yf I may know yt I will attend yowre Lordship as well as a
lame man may at yowre house.
Those articles of my Lord of
Buckhursts offer I have allredie answered in my last letter. yet for more
assurance I have sent myne answer agayne, vnto every poynt.
And wheras yt hathe bene sayd
as I vnderstand that he was the fyrst yat moved thys swte, I confes that he was
the fyrst that delt in yt to cosine her Magestie but not to
profite her, as at my comminge to yowre Lordship I will fully satisfis yow.
for the 40 hundred thowsande l
weyght of Tyne, yf he had put in 60 hundred and 70 hundred thowsand yet I was
the fyrst as I cane prove by good testemonie that gave her Magestie warninge to
loke well therto before she made any gravnt, and gave inclinge of those sumes.
And at what tymes he made his
offer of 10 thowsand poundes ^custome^ and now the 40 hundred thowsand l
weyght, when I shall have speache with yowre Lordship yow will iuge therof a
great deale better.
Wherfore least I troble yowre Lordship
I most hartely thanke yow for yowre most honorable delinge towards me, and
ernestly crave that yowre Lordship will not suffer this matter so swyftly and
hastely to pase, tyll I have fully aduertised yowre Lordship of my knowlege of
the 40 hundred thowsand pound weyght. And what other meanes I know necessarie
for her Magestie to compas her intent, and withowt which beinge knowne, yt
wilbe overthrowne, and prove nothinge to that which her Magestie expectes and I
doo wishe.
Yowre Lordships to Command.
(signed) Edward Oxenford
Addressed (in Oxford’s hand):
To the ryght honorable & his very good Lord the Lord Thresorer of England.
Endorsed: 25 Mart. 1595; Erl
oxford Tyn workes
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.
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