I will slowly be entering letters to (rare) and about (surprisingly
many) Edward de Vere to the “English Renaissance Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford”.[3]
Those that merely mention him will be entered in the “English Renaissance Page: Letters”[4]
as well. These and various other indexes are intended to gather transcripts of
original source materials together for easy hyperlinked reference from my books,
monographs, articles and essays.
The letters are entered in chronological order and can be
read sequentially as a biography of sorts. Wherever possible, both original and
modernized spelling versions are provided. The present letter will only be available
in modernized spelling for the present.
My Lord, My silence and forebearing of speech to your Lordship (now a good time) in a cause of that weight to me as concerneth so nearly my dearest beloved daughter, your Lordship's wife, hath hitherto proceeded, partly in hope that after some space of months some change to the better might follow, partly to avoid the offending of you in whom I have seen some change from your old wonted countenance. But considering with myself, and that seriously, how long both I as a father to your afflicted wife (and be it spoken without offence of comparison) for my part as loving and as well deserving a friend towards you, since I first knew you, as any whosoever of any degree; and also (how long) your loving, faithful, and dutiful wife hath suffered the lack of your love, conversation and company: though in several respects desired, yea, in some sort due by several deserts to us.
I cannot, my Lord, see this old year passed with such disgraces,
and a new entered meet to record a concourse of graces, nor feel the burden of
the griefs to grow as they daily do without appearance of amendment, but assay
by reasonable means to seek relief; specially for my daughter, whose grief is
the greater and shall always be inasmuch as her love is most fervent and
addicted to you, and because she cannot,
or may not, without offence be suffered to come to your presence, as she
desireth, to offer the sacrifice of her heart, nor can I find opportunity in open places where we sometimes meet to
reveal my griefs, both for myself, but especially to relieve them for my
daughter. I do heartily by this my instant letter beseech your Lordship (and by
contestation of your honour do require you) to assent that I may have some time
convenient to speak with your Lordship in your owne chamber or in some other meete
place; meaning not to move anything to your Lordship but that shall proceed
from a ground of mere love towards you, and that shall be agreeable to your honour
and calling, to your profit and comfort, and not unmeet for either of us both.
And if your Lordship shall for any respect though unknown to me like to have
any person of noble or other degree present, I shall not refuse of any such to
be named by your Lordship's self. And to this my request, my Lord, I pray you
give me answer by this bearer as it shall please you by speech or by writing, having
made nobody privy with this my letter.
Your Lordship's truly affected,
W. BURG.
Ward immediately follows this letter with an excerpt from
another about the Earl:
The Earl’s answer is not recorded; indeed, it is doubtful
if he deigned a reply, for in July his whole attention seems to have been
devoted to a suit he was trying to persuade the Queen to grant him.
It may further please your Lordship to be advertised [writes John Stanhope to Burghley on July 25th] that my Lord of Oxford giveth his diligent attention on Her Majesty, and earnestly laboureth his suit, the which he was once persuaded and had yielded to leave; but now renewing it with intent to proceed therein for his own good, some unkindness and strangeness proceed therein between my Lord of Surrey,2 my Lord Harry, and his Lordship. It is It may further please your Lordship to be advertised [writes John Stanhope to Burghley on July 25th] that my Lord of Oxford giveth his diligent attention on Her Majesty, and earnestly laboureth his suit, the which he was once persuaded and had yielded to leave ; but now renewing it with intent to proceed therein for his own good, some unkindness and strangeness proceed therein between my Lord of Surrey, my Lord Harry, and his Lordship. It is said Her Majesty hath promised to give him the fee simple of Rysing, and as much more of those lands in fee farm as shall make up the sum of £250.[5]
[1] Nelson,
Alan H. Monstrous Adversary. The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
463, n7. “BL MS Lansdowne 238, ff. 129-29v (whole collection ff. 80-161):
registered transcript, year assigned by conjecture: ‘A Letter to my Lord of
Oxford from the Lord Burghley Lord Treasurer of England.’ Signed (in the hand
of the copyist): ‘Your Lordships truly affected, W. Burg[hley]’.”
[2] Ward,
B. M. The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, 1550-1604 (1928). 148, n1. “Lansdowne
MSS., 238. 129.”
[3] English
Renaissance Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Virtual Grub
Street. Gilbert Wesley Purdy Online Bibliography. https://gwponlinebibliography.blogspot.com/2020/12/english-renaissance-letters-index.html
[4] English
Renaissance Page: Letters. Virtual Grub Street. Gilbert Wesley Purdy Online
Bibliography. https://gwponlinebibliography.blogspot.com/2020/06/english-renaissance-page-letters.html
[5]
Ward, 148-9.
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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