Letters: Earl of Oxford to Baron Burghley; August 7, 1595.

PRO SP12/253/60,  ff. 100-1, Oxford to Burghley; 7 August 1595. [Click here for modernized spelling.]

My very good Lord I have receyved yowre letters towchinge Middeltones returne, and also of the Lord of Buckhurst renewinge of his sute.

for Middeltones report, he hathe not differd muche from that I have allredie informed her Magesty: only this I consider that this yeare ys more plentifull for the Tyne then hathe bene this fortye yeares before, & yat yt semes, contrarie to former obiectiones that the Mynes rather increas then diminishe there portione, & Myddelton hathe not yett informed nor shalbe able tyll the next coignage, the full quantite.

for my Lord of Buchurst, he dothe nott yett arryve to the profer which I have made to her Magesty: whiche she shall better perceyve by pervsinge my notes of informatione, sythe by the Agentie, dealinge for the halfe, my vndertakers are to pay fyve thowsand pound yearly & certeyne. And yf the Lord of Buchurst wythe his Agentes will ioyne for the other halfe, he nor they by my offer are excluded, so yat the whoole to her Magesty oʒt to be made tene thowsand pounds by yeare, wherfore his offer is nott so profitable for her Magesty as myne.

Besydes the Lord of Buchurst persistethe styll in a course wherby her Magesty is muche hyndred. that ys he practisethe styll myne Agentes, by deuises, and by open benifites, to cause them to giue me ovein he drawes them not from me, but frome her Magesty.

yt ys but synce tusday at […] nyght last at [...]e of the cloke, he sent to speake wythe Allderman Cacher, whoo came vnto him the next morninge, wheare ye Lord of Buchurst towld him that in his sute of ye Tyne he hadd muche crossed him wishinge he had giuen him a 1000l he had not dealt with mee, and further yf ye wowld drawe away his freendes, he was assured I cowld not but fayle in vndertakers, which thinge yf he wowld vndertake for recompence he offred him a 1000l worthe of Tyne, for 20l the thowsand.

By thys dealinge I find that I have alle thys whyle mistaken ye Lord of Buchurst whome I thowght yat he had delt only for her Magesty profit, as before he sent me worde by one Bullman, incoraginge me to proceede, in this seruice & he wowld the leke for his part indeuour the same.

But this dealinge conferred with the leke, when he practised Carmarthen from me and by one Haales, the rest of ye vndertakers, whose names I sent yowre Lordship the contrarie doothe appeare.

Also so longe as yt shalbe howlden a firme opinione, that the Lord of Buchurst shall have the sute vpon easier conditiones then my self yt ys hard for me to make yt soo commodious as indede otherwayes I may. for whoo in reasone, will giue ten, when they knowe her Magesty wilbe satisfisde with a muche inferior sume.

Theare is great difference betwyne myne offer & ye Lord of Buchurst bothe in certeynte and vncerteynte for in the certeynte myne is ten thowsand pound a yeare, and in vncerteynte as the quantite of Tyne rysethe as yt dothe this yeare, and as the marchantes shall finde yt prosperous to them selues, so her Magesty partinge half wythe them of there gaynes to increas her proportione, which as my nootes playnle sett downe may happen to be 20ty thowsand pound sume yeare, from which good hap, by sydes the surplus in the 10 thowsand pound by yeare her Magesty dothe barre her self, by grauntinge yt absolutly to ye Lord of Buchurst for seven thowsand syx hundred pound a yeare.

myne absence frome the Cytte takes away the commodite which els I mygh have in more spedie answeringe of yowre Lordship but I doo not dowt, yf I may have her Magesty indifferent countenance in the matter but to make all good that I have informed her, Althowghe by suche dealinges as I have afore sett downe, and others which I reserue to a fitter tyme, I say not I, but her Magesty hathe bene greatly hyndred.

I beseche yowre Lordship that in this her Magesty seruice, wherin I have labored so longe, that yow will stand indifferent betwiene the Lord of Buchurst and me, and so muche the rather to yeld me yowre fauour, by how muche yow shall see yt ys more for her Magestyes profitt.

I most hartely thanke yowre Lordship for yowre desyre to knowe of my helthe which is not so good, yet as I wishe yt, I find comfort in thys ayre, but no fortune at the Cowrt.

I hope yowre Lordship hathe yowre helthe and I shalbe glade to heare therofe, and thys one thinge I have to informe yowre Lordship before I make an ende, and that ys at my comminge hether frome Charinge Roo, the Earle of Darbye, was ver<.y.> ernest that he myght assure a thowsand pound a yeare for my daughte<.rs.> [...]^findinge ^ addinge farther that he merveled that Sir Robert Cecill her vncl<.e.> & I her father weare so slake to call vpon yt. wherfore I shall desyre y<.o.>wre Lordship as yow shall chuse best tyme, that sumthinge may be done therin, my daughter, hathe put her trust in me, bothe to remember yowre Lordship and her husband wherfore I wowld be gladd, that sume certeynte were effected to her mynde. Byfleet. this 7 of August, 1595.

Yowre Lordships ever to Commande

(signed) Edward Oxenford

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

Endorsed (in Burghley's hand): 7 August 1595; The Erle of oxford. answer to Mideltons certificat for ye tyn workes

 

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