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LETTER
XCI.

1600. April 29.

To Lord
Cobham.
From

Bath.

Disappointment at Lord Cobham's absence.

Buckhurst had offered to support Sir Robert's suit,-in opposition to Cobham's,-on condition that Sir Robert should assign to him a life estate in Otford Park.1

MY WORTHY LORDE,

...

HERE we attend you and have don this senight, and . . . mourne your absence; the rather because wee feare that your m[ind] is changed. I pray lett us here from you att least, for if you cum not wee will go hereby home, and make butt short tariing here. My wyfe will dyspaire ever to see you in thes parts, if your Lordship come not now. Wee can butt longe for you and wyshe you as [our] owne lives whatsoever.

Your Lordship's everest faythfull,
to honour you most,

Bathe, the 29 of Aprill [1600].

W. RALEGI.

Addressed:

To the right honorable my very good Lorde, the Lord Cobham, give these.

LETIER

XCII.

1600.

Oct. 15.

XCII.

TO SECRETARY SIR ROBERT CECIL.

From the Original.

Cecil Papers, Pillar C, b ii. § 14 (Hatfield). The letter is undated, but the MS. Catalogue of the Hatfield Papers assigns to it the date of Oct. 15, 1600, from the endorsement. Holograph.

MAY it please your Honor to receve knowledg from this bearer, Mr. PAULE JUEY, what wee have determined for

1 Sydney Papers, vol. ii. pp. 193, 194.

2 An eminent military engineer, as will appear presently.

the fort Isabella Bellissima in the ilett,' where we have left workmen to finishe as mich as this season of the yeare will permitt, and the rest to be dun in March followinge. The charge wherof wilbe exceeding great, as Mr. JUEY uppon his conscienc can wittnes; and the profitt of the Iland so farr under the common valuation as, untill your Honor see the King's own Liger Booke, yow will not beleve. But, howsoever it succeed, I hold my sealf unmeasurable bound to her Majestye for her gratius respect to me therin. And I will never thinck of any peny receite till that peece of work be finished and past the recovery of any enemye; be it butt for the name-sake2 which I have presumed to christen it by,-being before without any denomination att all.

It had been very happy for mee if PAULE JUY had remayned to finishe what he began ther, which, I assure your Honor by the livinge God, is as praysewoorthy a woorke, both for his judgment, invention, and industry in saving charge, as ever any man behelde. And I have not seene a devize of that place3 and pride in any place of Europe.

Sir, I do assure yow the poore man hath an excelent gift in thes workes, and—that which is rarely joyned to suche knowledge-as mich trewth and honestye as any man can have. Your Honor, in my poore judgment, shall do her Majestye good service to be a meane for his releife; for such an other will not be had.

1 islet.

The reader will doubtless call to mind the chronology of "Isabella Bellissima," but Ralegh's flattery is not a whit more extravagant than that of his correspondent himself. And it was about this very time that Henry the Fourth, when embracing a miniature of "Isabella," expressed his passionate regrets that it was not permitted to him to embrace the original of the sweet picture.

3 So in MS.

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LETTER
XCII.

1600. Oct. 15.

For the accompts of the late governor,1 the2 ar strang to me; for PAWLE JUY did more with £300 then hee did afterward for £2,000. And PAWLE JUY is fittest to be used in the accompts because he can cumpare worke to worke, and judge of the rest, better then any man cann. For besyds the unmeasurabell reckninge made by Sir A. PAWLETT of her Majesties monies, they ar not ashamed to aske £500 debt of her Majestye due to them.

For Mountorguell, I have vewed itt, and do not find

1 Sir A. Paulett, Ralegh's immediate predecessor.

they.

3 Mont Orgueil Castle, here referred to by Ralegh, is still a place of great interest to the visitor. It derives its attractions, not certainly from its architecture, but from the romantic beauty of its position. It towers above a charming bay, to a height which commands an extensive view of the coast of Normandy. It also possesses many interesting and varied associa tions with the history of the past. Philip of Valois made an attempt upon it, in the hope of diverting Edward the Third from his conquests in France. Bertrand du Guesclin, at the head of a French army worthy of its chivalric leader, forced it to a surrender, the completion of which was prevented by the timely arrival of an English fleet. William Prynne was confined here for three years, as a prisoner of Charles the First; to be presently suc ceeded by Charles the Second, as a refugee from the victorious Cromwell. The Puritan prisoner here diversified his ponderous labours in controversy and antiquities, with verses in praise of Mont Orgueil, interlaced with "Meditations from its rockie steepe, and loftie situation;" his verses proving to be more ponderous even than his records. The royal exile had a famous attendant who here employed his involuntary leisure in the composition of part of the History of the Great Rebellion.

That portion of the structure of which Ralegh particularly speaks as so costly to Her Majesties father,' &c. was the work of one of his predecessors, Sir Thomas Auvrey; and, when he visited it, was but about fifty years old. Another adjacent portion still bears the arms of Elizabeth, and the date '1593.' Among the older parts of the Castle is a most curious crypt, the vaulting of which is supported by very short and rude columns. The noble old pile is—or was a few years ago—

"All tenantless, save to the crannying wind,

Holding but dark communion with the clouds."

But it will long repay a visit and a climb, and, to many visitors, will have an additional interest, as having been one of the last objects of curiosity to Ralegh, in his days of freedom and prosperity.

that I had any cummission to demolishe it; and to say trew it is a statly fort of great capacetye, both as to mentenance and cumfort, to all that part of the iland next unto Normandy, which stands in vew therof; so as, untill I knew further her Majesties pleasure, I have left att myne owne charg sume men in it. And, if a small matter may defend it, it weare pitty to cast it down; having cost her Majestyes father, brother, and sister,— without her own charge,—20,000 marks the erecting.

I will leve the rest untill my cumming from Cornewale, and then lett you know the estate of that poore place, the importance of it, and how it hathe bynn handled. Till then, and ever, I rest reddy to do yow all honor and service.

W. RALEGH.

LETTER

XCII.

1600. Oct. 15.

XCIII.

TO THE LORD TREASURER BUCKHURST AND
SECRETARY SIR ROBERT CECIL.

From the Original. Cecil Papers, vol. clxxxi. § 33 (Hatfield). Holograph.
Without date of year.

MAY IT PLEAS YOUR HONORS,

ACCORDINGE to the order which I had from yow, I have proceeded in1 Cornwale and agreed with the Tynners for a prize 2 certayne,-twenty shillings in the thowsand less then I had cummission to geve them, which they desire by peticion to have added, and which, for myne own poore oppinion, I could wishe that her Majestye, out of her own liberalletye, should bestow on

them.

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LETTER
XCIII,

1600. Nov. 4.

Affairs of the

Stannaries. -Agreement with

the Cornish Tinners.

Mr. BRIGANCE and Mr. CUNNOCKE can informe your Honors how I have proceeded,-who can best judge what my littell creditt here hathe done in this bussness.

Mr. CUNNOCKE hyme sealf hathe taken great paynes herein, and furnisht mee with many good arguments and reasons. Your Honors could not have imployed any man, as I thincke, both for his dillegenc and knowledge, of more sufficiencye. Mr. BULMER'S offer of £29 held us longe uppon that prize,1 and hath dun us mich wronge in this bussness. And had we not caled such a jurey as wee did of the principall gentelmen, wee had had a longe worke of it.

Ther ar yet many things to be done which this gentel man2 can better informe your Honors of then my sealf, which your Honors will take care of. For my sealf, I have performed your cummandments, and have littell elce to do butt to see promis keipt with thes poore men to whom my faythe is ingaged. And this bearer can informe your Honors trewly wher3 thes Tynners do not more rely thereon, then on all the rest of our argumentts.

I will shortly attend yow my sealf. And, in the mean while, I humblie desire to be continewed in your favors, and will remayne ever reddy to do all the honor and service I shall bee abell.

From Radford, by Plymouth, this 4th of November [1600].

W. RALEGH.

Addressed: "To the right honorabell the Lorde of BUCKHURST, Lorie Higė
Treasorer of Inglande, and Sir Robert Cecyll, Knight, Prinapoll
Secritorye, &c."

Endorsed, in Sir R. Cecil's hand: “4 November, 1600. Sir Walter Rale;"
and, in another hand, "To my Lord Threasorer and to my Mister.
From Radford, by Mr. Connocke."

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