My very good Lorde. yf I hade not
hade allredie sufficient knowledge of Carmardens honestie, I wowld have the
more wondred at thys impodent part of his to avoue before her Maiestie so
manifest & intolerable vntruthes. But when I remember how earnest he was
agaynst my Lord of Buchurst procedinges in thys matter, how he was the mane,
which sett me one to move her Maiestie, and yowre Lordship. for ye Impositione
of the Crowne vpon the hundred how he was the fyrst that assured me, that at
the least in hys knowlege ye quantetye of Tyne came to xv hundred thowsande how
he promised me to informe yowre Lordshipe faythfullye, and assure yow therofe:
& that sythence that tyme he hathe rune a doble cowrse, wythe her Maiestie
wythe yowre Lordship my self I doo the lesse regarde his trecherie and the more
trust vnto the trwithe of myne actions, whiche I will answer to her Maiestie by
yowre Lordship.
And for yat I goo about nowe to
lay open his evill and corrupt seruice I will not for my owne particuler
herafter move yowre Lordships furtherance, but yf I shall deferre any thinge in
this actione, I will leaue the whole consideratione therof to her Maiestie. But
as a principall councellor of hers and as one howledinge the place of her
Thresorer of Englande, whoo dothe especiallye loke into her profit, I shall
desyre yowre Lordshipe, that those matters which I alleage and bringe forthe to
be iugged by yowe, that they be so ponderede that reasone be not opressed, with
a vayne confidence in a lyght persone, nor truthe smothered vp rather by fals
apparance, then assisted by indyfferent herynge, nor that her Maiesties former
trustes, be now made the very instrumentes of her infenite losse.
It ys trwe I confes yat
Carmarden avoues in parte, that is therbe sume slabes of Tyne, (for in that he
cales them Blokes therin he speakethe ignorantlye,) which are but 50l
100l 150l 200l weyght.
But wheare as he sayethe her
Maiestie is not payde in respect of there small quantetye, he showld have sayd
for that, she hathe nothinge at all for suche slabes.
And herin ys the dectye, that
vnder the culler of sume to have a slabe of Tyne for there howshowld
provisione, or to send into france for wyne for there howses and suche leke
cullers, that they not forfet them they have the Lyone stamped one them and
suche slabes althowghe they mount to the number of a 100 or 200 thowsand
weyght, are not put into the Custommers Bokes, wherby the quantite of Tyne
cannot trwly appeare.
And wheras yt semes yowre
Lordship hard him avoue this the reasone that her Maiestie is not payde, yowre
Lordship I knowe can easly se that he dothe ere by the parte, to account the
whoole. & this is a fowle abuse.
But for the Bookes which I
affirme in Cornwale to be 13 hundred thowsand that they be commonly 300, 400,
and sumtyme 500l weyght an Loode, addinge that her Maiestie weyghtes are more
than the Marchantes, wherby I may well account one with an other 700l weyght I
appeale and flye to yowre Lordships iustice and care of her Maiestie revenue
that she be not abused by the so cunninge of suche a merchant, whoo dothe abuse
her trust.
And therfore as well for her
Maiestie as for my discharge I doo crave and exhort yowre lordship that yow
wilbe content, and procure her Maiestie to appyont sume she knowes will prefer
her profitt, before any respect ether to me or the other syde, to survey the Blokes
of Tyne which are to be sene now in towne, as well in Alderman Someses
warehouse, as in other places, and at thys present a shipfull nerly com in
Laden with Blokes of Alderman Taylers, and then yf yowre Lordship shall finde
more Blokes of 300l weyght and vpward then of slabes, I pray yow
herafter in her Maiestys behalfe that the rest of myne informationes be the
better harde.
for the sendinge downe of
Myddeltone alone, a man wholly disposede to that partie agaynst which I
informe, I doo not thinke my self indyfferently dealt withall, and thowghe not
forme, but for her Maiesties better and more certeyne informatione, yt showld
not be amis and not agaynst equite, that an other whome I wowld have named
myght have bene sent with him, that this deuise myght have nad no suspect of
corruptione.
But I shall desyre yowre
lordship for her Maiesties better seruice, that wheras by delayinge of Tyme her
Maiestye may chance to lease thys coygnage, and so in conclusione the benefite
of the wholle yeare. That yowre Lordship wowld procure a letter to be sent
downe, wherin order may be given that no Tyne be sowlde or bowght tyll Iulye
which is the fyrst coynage.
And this is agreable with there
owld custome, that no Tyne showld be bowght ore sowlde tyll all the Marchantes
were come together, and by the breache of thys custome, many abuses crepe in
whiche are neyther profitable to the Reame, nor to her Maiestye in especiall.
And for that I wowld procede to
the profe of the exact number of Tyne I shall desyre yowre Lordship that I may
appoynt the messanger and yat he may have frome her Maiestye equall authoritie
with Middeltone, in hys service, which shall take away all ambiguite which may
growe throwghe suspect of particall and vniust dealinge, hopinge that her
Maiestie will have an equall regard, in her countenancinge the cause as well to
them that studdie her profit as they which covet nothinge more then there owne
this vij of Iune 1595
Yowre Lordships to Commande
(signed) Edward Oxenford
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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