Received of Mr. But

i aux,4 ebaudenbau 7. s. d.

Beanes 23q. att 3s. 4d. the strike ......... 30 13 4 Pod. r. 13 12 0

Burley, 8q & 4str. at 4s. ye str

I have paid & sowed theareof, 527. 11s. 8d. Mj lad. Gre. is ru [run] in arreages with mj sister for malt (as it seemeth), wc hendreth & troubleth hir not a littel.

No. XIX.

لم

Nov. 4. 1598. All health happines of suites and wellfare be multiplied unto u & u'. labours in Gd or. ffather by Cr. o' Ld.

Yr l'er of the 21 of octobr came to mj handes the laste of the same at night p Grenwai, wc. imported a staj of suites bj Sr Ed. Gr. [Edward Grevill's] advise, until &c1. & yt only u should follow on for tax & sub. 4 Pntly and allso u'. travell & hinderance of answere therein, bj u". longe travell & thaffaires of the Courte: And that o countrima Mr W. Shak. [Shakspeare] would 'cure us monej, wc. I will like of, as I shall heare when, & wheare, & howe; and I praj let not go that occasion, if it maj sorte to anj indifferent condicions. Also yt if monej might be had for 30 or 401. a lease, &c. might be procured Oh howe can you make dowbt of monej, who will not beare xxxtie or xls. towards such a match! The latter end of u' l'er we concerned u' houshold affaires I dd [delivered] P'ntly nowe to u other l'er of the 1o. of novmber received the 3d of the same.

4 The borough of Stratford at this time were soliciting the Lord Treasurer Burghley to be exempted from the subsidies imposed in the last Parliament, on the plea of poverty and distress occasioned by two recent fires.

I would I weare with u; naj if you continue with hope of those suites u wrghte of, I thinke I shall wt [without] concent; & I will most willinglj come unto u; as had u but advise & companj & more monej P'nte [present] much might be done to obtaine o' Cer [charter] enlarged, ij faires more, with tole of corne bests and sheepe and a matter of more valeu the [than] all that; for (say u) all this is nothing yt is in hand, seeinge it will not rise to 80'. & the charges wilbe greate. What this matter of more valeu meaneth I cannot undrstand; but me thinketh whatsoever the good would be, u are afraid of want of monej. Good things in hand or neare hand can not choose but be worth monei to bring to hand, and being assured, will if neede be, bringe monej in their mouthes; there is no feare nor dowbte. If it be the rest of the tithes & the College houses and lands in o' towne u speake of, the one half weare abundantly ritch for us; and the other halfe to increase S Ed [Grevill's] rialties would both beare the charge & set him sure on: the wc I take to be inge bj the latter p'te of u' l'er, where u write for a copie of the P'ticulars (wc. allso u shall have accordingly) Oh howe I fear whe I se what Sr Ed can do, & howe neare it sitteth to his selfe: leaste he shall thinke it to [too] good for us, & P'cure it for himselfe, as he s'ved us the last time. for it seemeth by u' owne words theare is some of hit [it] in u owne conceite, when u write if S' Ed be as forward to do as to speake, it will be done : a dowbt I assure you not w'hout doubt to be made:-whearto allso u ad notw'standing yt doubt, no want but monej. Somewhat must be to SE & to each one yt dealeth somewhat & great reason. And me thinketh u need not be affraid to 'mise that as fitt for him, for all the [them] and for u' selfe. The thinge obtained no dowbte will paj all. For p'sent advice and encouragmte u have by this time Mr Bailj; and for monej, when you certifie what u have done, & what u have spent, what u will do, & what u wante, somewhat u knowe

your mean

we have in hand, & Ga will p'vide that we shall be sufficient. Be of good courage. Make fast S Ea. bj all meanes, or els all our hope & u' travells be utterly disgraced Consider and advise if Sr Ed. will be faste for us, so yt bj his goodwill to us & his meanes for us these things be brought about. What weare it for the fee farme of his rialties, nowe not above xii or xiij'. he weare assured of the double, when these things come to hand, or more, as the goodnes of the things pr'cured p'veth. But why do I travill in these things, whe [when] I knowe not certainly what u intende, neither what u' meanes are, nor what are u' difficulties P'ciselj & by name all we must be knowe' by name & specially wth an estimate of the charge before anj thing can be added either for advise or supplie. I leave these matters therefore unto the allmighties mercifull disposition in u' hand untill a more neare possibilite or more leisure will encourage u or suffer u to write more plainly & p'ticularly. But w1hall the Chancell must not be forgotte' W < allso obtained would yeald some 'ettj gub of monej for u' P'sent busines as I thinke. The P'ticulars u write for shalle this morninge be dispatched & sent as soon as maj be. All is well att home; all your paiments made & dispatchd, mj sister saith if it be so yt u can not be P'vided for Mrs Pendllbur. [Pendlebury] she will, if you will, send you up x'. towards that by the next after, or if u take it up paj it to who u appointe. Wm Wallford sendeth order and monej Wm Court nowe cominge who hath some cause to feare, for he was newelj s'ved wth p'ces [process] on Tusday last at Ale'. [Aleeber] P Rog'r S[adler].

Mr Parsons supposeth that Wenlock came the same day wth Mr Bailj y'u writt u' l'er. he saith he supposeth u maj use yt x'. for our br'winge matters. Wm Wiatt answered Mr Ba [Bailif] and us all yt he would neither b'rwe him selfe, nor submit him selfe to the order; but (bj those very wordes) make against it wth all the strength he could

possibly make, yeat we do this day begin Ma Bar[ber] and my selfe a littel for assai. My bro. D. B. [Daniel Baker] att Shrewsburj or homeward from thence. But nowe the bell hath runge my time spent. The Ld of all power, glorj, mercj, grace and goodnes, make his great power & mercie knowe towardes us in u weaknes Take heed of

tabacco whereof we heare ? Wm Perrj against ani longe iournei u maj undertake on foote of necessity, or wherein the exercise of u' bodj must be implored, drinke some good burned wine or aq'avita and ale strongly mingled wthout bread for a t[oast] & above all keepe u warme. Farewell mj dare heart, and the La increase of loves & comforts one to an other that once it maj be such as becomethe christianity purity & sincerity wthout staine or blemishe. Fare you well, all u' & o's well. ffrom Stratford, Novem. 4th 1598.

urs in all love in the best bond

ABRAH. STURLEY.

Mrs Coombs whe Gil'ert Charnocke paid the there monej as he told me, said yt if anj but he had brought it she would not receve it, because she had not hir gowne; & that she would arrest u for hit as soon as u come home; & much twattle; but at the end so yt youe would pai 4". towards hit, she would allow u xx" & we shall heare at some leasure howe fruits are & hopps & sutch knakks. At this point came Wm Sheldon the silkma with a warrant to serve Wm Walford againe upon a trespasse of 5001.

To his most lovinge brother Mr Richard Quiney, at the Bell in Carter Lane att London, give these.

No. XX.

Sir Walter Ralegh, at the time Colin Clout was written,

5 Probably Mrs. Mary Combe, the wife of Thomas Combe, John Combe's elder brother.

was forty years old. His acquaintance with Spenser, we may presume, commenced in Ireland, where he first distinguished himself in military service, during the years 1580 and 1581; Spenser being, at that time, secretary to Arthur Lord Grey, who assumed the government of Ireland, as Lord Deputy, in September, 1580. At the assault on the Golden Fort, near Dingle, in the county of Kerry, a few days after Grey's arrival, where the inhuman office of putting the garrison to the sword, in cold blood, after they had surrendered at discretion, was assigned to Ralegh and another officer; Spenser, as he has himself told us, was near the scene of action, in the train of the Lord Deputy; for whose conduct, on that occasion, he has made an elaborate defence. In 1582, Ralegh returned to England; and after the death of Gerald, the sixteenth Earl of Desmond, and the consequent confiscation of his immense estate, consisting of near 600,000 acres, which produced a revenue of about 70007. per annum, Ralegh's services were rewarded, in 1585, with a grant of 12,000 acres of land, in the counties of Waterford and Cork. "He had these lands," according to a manuscript in the Lambeth Library (No. 617)," by expresse words of warranty in a special letter from her Majestie at a hundred marks pann. rent." Till the year 1590, however, neither he, nor any other of the undertakers, as they were called, paid any rent. From Michaelmas, 1591, to Michaelmas, 1594, he paid only fifty marks a-year; and from that time, for ever, his rent was fixed at one hundred marks annually. In 1587, as appears from a letter written by himself to Sir Robert Cecil (Burghley Papers, p. 658), he built a castle on this estate, and established on it a colony brought from England; but before May, 1593, he had been "driven to recall all his people." And, about the year 1600, he sold this estate to Richard Boyle, afterwards the great Earl of Corke, who, by means of its woods, and the iron-works which he erected on it, made