wyth xij. or xiiij. of the moost substancyall men of the parryshe, and upon due examynacion I coude perceyve noon other thyng, but all thynges to be well and decently ordered and provyded for at thys hooly tyme of Eastre, contrary to the informacion gyven to your good Lordshyppe. And yf there had been any thing amys they shulde have been punyshed according to their demerytes. Beseching your good Lordshippe yf any further knowledge coome to you ayther for that towne or any other concerning the reformacion of my Jurisdiction, or the negligence of myne offycers, that I may be advertysed therof, and have your favorable ayde and assistance, and I shall doo the best I can for my dyscharge.

And where yt pleased your honorable Lordshipe to wyll me to take a dynner or a supper with you in the tyme of my Vysytacion, I humblie thank you therfor, moost hartelye beseching your Lordshipe whan occacion shall serve you to vysyte thys Cytye, that ye wyll vouchsave to take thys my poore House at your commaundment, wherunto your Lordshipe shalbe as wellcoome as to your owne.

Further I undrestond that M: Mayre here hathe certyfyed your Lordshipe of the sodeine good newes, brought to us by one of the Citye, of the Quenes Highnes moost joyfull deliverance of a nooble Prince: whereupon to laude God, Te Deum was solemplye songen in the Cathedrall Churche and other places of the Cytye

wyth woonderfull joye and muche gladnes of all people thoroughe owte all th'ooll Cytye and the Countrye thereabowtes. And yf ye have any further knowledge therof I beseche your honorable lordshipe that I maye be partaker of the same by this bringer my servante whome I sende purposelye therfor. As knoweth th'oly Goost who preserve Your Lordshipe in contynnuall helthe and honor. At Norwich the thred of May 1555.

Your L. assuredlie

JOHN NORWYCHE.

Post scripta. I receyved evon nowe knowledge from a freende of myn of ij. wyttenes more of the goode and joyfull newes above wrytten, as this sayde brynger can declare to your goode Lordeshyppe.

JOHN NORWYCH.

THE delusion of the Queen having been delivered of a Prince, was not confined to Norwich. Fox says, "the parson of Saint Anne within Aldersgate, after procession and Te Deum sung, took upon him to describe the proportion of the child, how faire, how beautiful, and great a prince it was, as the like had not been seen." The rejoicings extended even to Antwerp.

LETTER CLXXX.

Cardinal Pole to Sir Edward Hastings. A. D. 1555. [MS. HARL. 7041. p. 169. Orig.]

The following Letter is given merely as a specimen of Cardinal Pole's English style; who usually wrote either in Latin or Italian. He

was the son of Margaret Countess of Salisbury the daughter of George Duke of Clarence, by Sir Richard Pole, and was born May 11th. A.D. 1500: he was made a Cardinal in 1536: and was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury March 22d. 1556. He died in 1558.

MYNE OWNE GOOD COSEN

AFTER my most hartye commendations, thys shalbe to give you to understand how gladly I received your Letters written of your own hand, which I noe sooner sawe, but I toke them for a sure testimony of that I have long desired to hear of, your perfect recovery of helth. Howbeit they do not testifie so far, but that you be much better then you have been, which God increase; so that your frends may enjoye you abrode, as I trust they shall, the hotter time of summer now approaching, which season is best remedy for such diseases. And of this God send us perfectly to have experience from you.

Myn helth, thanked to God, is such that I desire no better; wherof I am the more jelose now then I am commonly at other tymes, for that I am here with my flock, amongst whom it woud greve me to be syke. But thanked to God I have yet no cause to feare, and like state I do wysh to you, which God send you shortly. And thus fare yow well. I am, dere Cosen Your assured loving Cosin

Written at Canterbury 26. April.

R. CARLE CANT.

To my derely beloved Cosyn Sir Edward Hastings Knyght, Master of the Queens Highnesse horses.

VOL. II.

LETTERS

OF

THE REIGN OF

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

FEW Letters of high interest are extant, written in the first years of the REIGN of QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Subsequently, however, the Letters illustrative of public events are abundantly numerous; and upon none in more extensive detail than upon the misfortunes, the excesses, the persecutions, the flight, the captivity, and the unjustifiable death of Mary Queen of Scots.

So much has been already done to illustrate the romantic history of this unhappy woman, that no large assemblage of new Letters relating to her will be expected here. One or two from the English ambassador in Scotland; the Queen of Scots own Letter to Queen Elizabeth upon her landing, which we shall give both in the original French, and in English; her Letter to Sir Francis Knollys containing her first attempt to write in English; two or three from those to whose care she was intrusted in confinement; and one or two more relating to her trial and the judgement which followed, are all we shall produce. Connected with the last mentioned of these Letters, is the FAC SIMILE which forms the frontispiece to the present Volume; affording a rude but accurate PLAN of the TRIAL at FoTHERINGAY, drawn upon the spot with a pen, by the hand of the Lord Treasurer Burghley.

Of the other Letters which illustrate the Reign of Elizabeth, the subjects will be found extremely various. A few exhibit traits of the Queen's personal character; among which her Letter written at midnight to stop the Duke of Norfolk's execution on the morrow, and that which, by her command, detailed to the Earl of Essex her reception of the Polish ambassador, are perhaps the most striking. There are a few also, which, in a remarkable manner, illustrate the feelings of those who received visits from her in her Progresses: several which throw material light upon the state of the Police, especially of the metropolis: and some which illustrate the manners of private life.

In the reign of Elizabeth a general change in epistolary style is perceptible. The taste which had been diffused by the cultivation of Greek and Roman learning extended itself even to private correspondence, and people of education wrote with a propriety of style approaching to the best models of that, if not of the present day.