Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley; April 13, 1595.

Cecil Papers 31/83, Oxford to Burghley; 13 April 1595. [Click here for modernized spelling.]

My very good Lord. I doo not knowe, how my Lord of Buchurst dothe proceed, wythe her Magestie for yat which she expects to be made of her Tynne. But yt may be, that yt fallethe owt, as I have thowght, that he wowld as hardly bringe in his vndertakers as my self. which yf yt be soo, & her Magestie, and yowre Lordship will leke of y^is whiche I doo here wright, I will neglect no diligence yat may doo her maiestie seruice.

The vndertakers are to be eyther those which have all redie the trade in there handes, or suche strangers as vpon good consideratione wilbe sone willinge to farme so good a commodite.

When they whiche are nowe the present ingrossers dyd veryly thynke that her maiestie wowld have nominated me to the farme of thys commodite then least I sowlde agree with other strangers, I found determined to agree with me. Sayinge they rather wowld command then be commanded. But when they fownd yat her Magestie stood in suspence, and yat my Lord of Bukhurst was to have yt att a lower ratte then my self, then they hunge ofe, frome bothe. for they sayd yf we agree with any of them before yt be graunted, they must accept conditiones suche as we shall giue them. yf we stand owt tyll yt be graunted, then for yat they must pay so great a rent to her Magestie they must of necescite seeke vs, wherby we shalbe able to make owre bargayne as we lyst.

An other occasione which is an especiall lett to her Magesties purpose ys, that there is a swte which hathe bene of longe tyme motioned, for the pevterers, that they myght have a second meltinge and castinge of the Tyne into Bares. This swte by reasone so many ryvers rune owt of yt hathe many friendes, and all thes, are enemyes to the great matter, for say they yt swallowes thys vp.

But this sut yf her Magestie dothe gravnt, yt ys called a lyttell swte, but so lyttell yt ys as whosoever shall vndertake the great, leaseth 3 or 4 thowsand poundes a yere therby. Then how ys yt possible that they can giue so muche, to her Maiestie as she lokes for.

fyrst seinge they must laye owt 40 thowsand l stoke, and then pay to her Magestie fowre thowsand pounde, moreover then her Custome, further to him who shall obteyne the farme sume 2 or 3 thowsande. This they cannot performe, yf her Magestie shall pas before or except herafter the swte of the Pevterers.

But yf yt will pleas her Magestie to nominate me, for ye Preemptione and transportatione, And be content to giue me tyme, to make my Bargayne, that they shall not se yat I am constreyned by necescite to depend vpon them, and to make a hastie bargayne, I doo not dowt only to get her Magestie the 4 thowsand pounde which is offred, but to gett for my self 2 or 3 thowsand pound more, which to compas in her Magesties name, I find by no means they wilbe browght, and as yt semes they aleage great reasone therfore.

And yf they giue me assurance, afterward when the same shalbe turnd over to her Magestie, they beinge alredye bound cannot refuse yt.

And further yt ys to be thowght yf in the littell swte of Bares they can prouide for them selues so well, they may be as good husbandes to her Magestie in the great.

Also sythe the Marchantes have delt so frowardly to crose her Magestie, yf yt shall please her vpon the graunt to me to deale sumwhat rufly wythe them, in ye matter of transportatione, for yat they cannot and oft not to transport but to Calis, and now in this monthe and next when they have laded ther tyne, to make a stey, as a thynge forfyted, yt will make them the more gredie to come to Compositione. this 13th of Aprill 1595.

Yowre Lordships to Command

(signed) Edward Oxenford

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

Endorsed: 13. Aprill 1595; Erl of oxford

 

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• Oxburgh Hall, Rats’ Nests and Hamlet’s Book. January 31, 2021. “Among the little things that could be done was to scavenge for the centuries of dreck that had found its way between the floorboards.”
• 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.”
• 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.