Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley; April 17, 1595.

Cecil Papers 31/93, Oxford to Burghley; 17 April 1595. [Click here for modernized spelling.]

My very good Lord, I have asked Mr Alderman Cacher whyther he deliuered any suche speache or no, to my Lord of Buchurst, as yat I showld show him a letter frome yowre Lordship wherin I was promised this swte of ye Tyne before him. he protestes the contrarie & I doo beleue him, for yat I assure yowre Lordship I neyther showed him or any other, any letter of yowres. Never the lesse the Lord of Buchurst he dothe feare, to become his hevie Lord, for yat he hathe charged him, how he showld be the man that gave me informatione fyrst of thys swte, wherby as he takes yt, yat he hathe ben greatly hyndered.

But as for Carmarden I do fynde yat he hathe not a lyttell dobled with me, by dyvers actiones of his, & manyfest dealinges. for wheras I sent him too yowre Lordship, to confirme yat which I hadd vndertaken, which was trwe, yett as I perceyve he performed not what he promised. Also wheras he towld yowre Lordship as I perceyved by yowre letter, yat he had talked wythe me, and the Alderman concerninge the quantite, bothe the Alderman and my self can assure yowre Lordship he spake not one woorde to vs therof. But excusinge himself yat he had not delt so lyberally wythe yowre Lordship as he was determined, after his departure from me he persuaded the Alderman to moue me to ioyne with my Lord of Buchurst, and diuers other speaches, which tended to his misleke that the Custommers & officers of her Maiestie showld be loked into, and for his part yf yt showlde goo forward yt was owt of his way a hundred poundes a yeare. Wherfore he wowld wishe yt rather to stand as yt dyd, then to procede. by thes dealinges and many other, I doo finde, that he hathe bene no smale hinderer.

Thus muche I thowght necessarie to informe yowre Lordship bothe in the Aldermans behalf and myne owne, for yowre satisfactione. As concerninge the swte that which I dyd was not my swte, but to further her Magesties seruice. wherin yf I fayled was not my fault of diligence, but the merchants who fyrst gave there promise, and then brake yt. And wheras I desyred that the swt showld pas in my name, was not therby to have gayned, but to have raysed the rent, the more to her maiestie. all whiche thinges sythe they have not succeded, hathe not ben any want of goodwill in me, but want of credite from her Magestie.

Wherfore as in the beginninge I had yowre Lordships promise to further me in my swte concerninge the transportatione of Tyne & Leade, imposinge there one a crowne or noble the hundred or foder, so styll doo I desyre yowre Lordship to perseuer yf yt may stand with yowre lekinge , & yat my Lord of Buchurst dealethe no farther, as he giuethe owt himself. this 17 of Aprill Anno 1595.

Yowre Lordships to Commande.

(signed) Edward Oxenford

Addressed (O): To the ryght honorable and his very good Lord the Lord Thresorer of Englande. [seal]

Endorsed (B): 17 Aprill 1595; Erl oxford; Tyn

 

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