take it that I should thus dally troble yow wythe my besy letres, yet I trust yowr Graces will consider how

thes mater towcheth me most of

any other, & myne es the part boothe to speeke & sue if I had not siche a good intercesser to the Kynges Mageste en my behalfe as yowr Graces es, where of as yet prosedeth no effect bwt wordes, wyches maketh me thenke the Kynges Hyegthn' is not assartayned of my holl wudouefwll & rygth thereen, for ef he were he is so just a Prynce, so gracyous & of sych eqyte, that I am sure he wolde newer suffer the justyce of his laws to be denyed to me the wnwoorthe desolat widow of his late Son that newer yet was denyed to the poorest gentylwoman in thes realme. And if it wolld pleas ye as oftymes I have humble desyred yowr Grace to gywe me lewe to com & sue myne owne cawes beyng nowhis to good to be in parson an humble suter to his Maygeste, I do not dowt bowt uppon the sygthe ther of hes hyegthn' shuld be mowed to hawe compasyon on me, consyderenge that he hemselfe alone mayd the maryage, & to thenke that it shalbe myche hys Majestys honor to grante me that his laws gywe me to mayntayn me wthe, the desolat wydowe of his late Son, in the degre that his Mayjeste hathe kalled me to, yet newer the lesse puttynge my hole mater en to yowr Grases handes & my lorde Prewe Seals, who as ye wryet hathe promesed to be good lord theryn, most humble desyereng yowr

up

certain matters relating to Gardiner bishop of Winchester, and Morris his receiver. A. D. 1536.

[MS. COTTON. VESPASIAN F. XIII. fol. 71 b. Orig.] .

HENRY R.

RYGHT trustie and intierly belovyd we grete you well, advertysyng you that we havyng hard what the Bysshop off Wynchester hath doone in the hous of Syon, althoughe he wold so set the same forth unto us as we myght have occasyon to thynke he hath doone truly as becummyth hym towardys us, yet havyng thys forenone spokyn with Morres the Resceyvor ther, we may well perceyve hym to have ostentyd and bostyd hym to have doone more then in deede he

hath, and a coloryd dowblenes ether to be in hym or in Morres, or in bothe. Mores not answeryng dyrectly to dyverse introgates by us to hym mynystryd. We havyng therfore shewyd hym that intendyng to trye hys truthe to us, wyll not go abought to grope hym, but wyll se yf accordyng to hys dutie he wyll of hys awne mynde confesse the mere trawthe, we alredy knowing mych mo then he wenyth; wherfore we requyre you, uppon hys repayre unto you, studyosly to examyne hym, by whome ye perceyve dowblenes in the other, in him, or bothe, the whiche being never so craftely handelyd, I wold not wer hyddyn, not dowtyng yt shall your circumspect maner desyrus and attentyff mynd in trying owt trawthyt, known unto us as yt ys. Thys fare ye well. From our manor of Grenewyche the xxvjth. day of the xxvijth. yere of our reigne,

shall

LETTER CXXII.

William Earl of Southampton to Lord Cromwell concerning Blockhouses to be made at Calshot Point and Cowes.

[MS. COTTON. TITUS B. I. fol. 396. Orig.]

The date of this Letter must be placed in, or somewhat subsequent to, 1537; that being the date of Sir William Fitzwylliam's creation

as Earl of Southampton. Among Lord Cromwell's "Remembrances," preserved in the same volume with this Letter, fol. 428. is an Item, for v.C. appoynted to Calshot and the Cow."

PLEASE it your good Lordshippe, this bearer my felowe, Mills, came hidre to have spokin with you, The cause of whose comming, in your Lordshippes absence, I have declared to the King, wich resteth in thies to poyntes. The tone for the workes at Calshorispoynte, tooching wiche his sayeng is, that the Barbican of the Towre wol bee readie by Michaelmas, if they may knowe where to have Covring for it. And in that the kinges Majeste is resolvid that there shalbee led takin, aswel for the said Barbican, as the Towre it self, of the leades that arr at Beauley; a so that for delivery of the same, Maistre Wriothisley must make a warraunt, and his Grace wol signe it. The toodre poynt is tooching monay and charges of the said works, and also the work at the Cowe in th'Isle; b concerning wich this said bearer saith that by the next pay day, the money alreadie received wol be spent: so that he thinketh, and also it apperith by the declaracion of Bartine, that it woll axe at both places no lesse than one thousand marces more. And that by extimacion the said thousand markes, with the monay nowe remaigneng in his handes, woll performe the workes. In wich poynt, the Kinges Majeste is also pleased that your Lordshippe shall assigne &

a Beaulieu, or Bewley Abbey, in the New Forest.

b West Cowes.

deliver ouht a prest, and wolled me so to write unto

you.

And my Lord undre your correction, me thinketh it were best, that the hole some, shold bee deliverd all at ones, rather than to mak any mo sutes for it. Sir the kinges Majeste hathe beene somwhat a crased thoroughe cold, & kepte within yesturday; how beeit, this day his Grace hath beene abrode, and killed half a score of stagges with the Ladies; and is nowe, our Lord bee thanked, aswel as he was afore, wich our Lord continewe. Oodre newis I have none to send your Lordshippe, but thus commend the same to the kepinge of th❜oly Trinity. From Ampthil the xijth. of Septembre.

Your good Lordshippes assured,

To my singuler good Lord my

Lord Privie seale his good Lord

shippe.

W. SOUTHAMPTON.

LETTER CXXIII

King Henry the Eighth to the Lady Anne Savon, widow.

[MS. COTTON. TIT. B. L. fol. 58. Orig.]

A Letter of Sir Thomas More to Cardinal Wolsey in the former Series of these Letters afforded an instance of the King proposing a

a

Vol. i. p. 207. Letter LXXIII.