Page images
PDF
EPUB

now my lordes lettre which is to Mr Secretary I had it red & therefore ye shall know semewhat of the tenor therof. Fyrst there is thankes for his last lettres, then he signifyes to him the popes grete thankes for the sermon whiche thanks my lord rekenneth Mr Secretary most wordy of all by cause he haith taken such paynes in to'nyng it in to latyn, thirdly he signifyeth to hym that one of the nonnes of Heigham wold be at Sainct Elyns desyryng his helpes therin. More our syr ye shall receyve of this berer my lordes sermon in ynglyshe which he p1yethe you to put to Wynkyn to prynt and he pyethe you to speke to Jhon Gowghe to see it diligently done & trewly printed. He signifyethe to Mr Secretary that he puttes this to Wynkyn & desyreth of hym one in latyn. I p'y yow syr let one of yor seruandes delyuer to Maist Denton my lettre ther is one of Mr Burbanke's wt in it. Christopher shall bryng to me your gown that it pleased you to geve me, if it so lyke you. No more but I beseche you remembre Thomas Bocher close if my labor be mayd for it & or Lord God kepe yo' m'shipe from Sellyng this Fryday

By yor Officiall.

The next letter is from John Wilson, Prior of Mountgrace de Ingleby, a Carthusian House in Yorkshire, founded in 1396 by Thomas de Holland, Duke of Surrey and Earl of Kent. Wilson was Prior at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Some notes on the Priory will be found in Dugdale's Monasticon (Ed. 1846) VI. p. 22. Addressed To Mr Doctor Metcalfe Chanceler to my lord bishop of Rochestre this be dd.

:

Worshipfull and wel biloved in or sauveyor Criste Jhu I hartely recomend me to yow and in the same desiring your prosperous helth. Letting yow to vnderstand that I receyuyd yor Ire dated the xij day of Novembre wherein ye desired me to be fauorable to Mr Rauff Maleney. Ye shalbe sure of me att all times if it lie in my power to doo you plesor. Albeit I will not flatter you for I had promysed to receyve hym at the instance of my brother Dan John Batmäson before I receyuyd yor Ire & so I cannot say that I doo you any pleasor herein. I haue a speciall good mynde to hym & if he will applie him perfectly to meknes

I fere not bvt he shall doo well wt thelp of or Lord; as to my brother James Wilson longar then he applieth hym to vertue. will I desire none for hym. Good Mr Doctor yor goodness haith made me bold wt yow wherfor I desire yowr maist'ship to pardon me. I desire you to be good Mr to a scoler called ffrancis Malett who is singlerly well lerned of his tyme in scoole matter bot much better in the scole of or saueyor for he is grownded in vertue & as I suppose haith grete feling in gostely operacon and of a similitude g'ciouslye called therto of or mycfull lord Jhus. He was apt to many woordlie plesor for when he was bot x yere of age he cuth haue song discant plaid of thorgans recorderes of lute wt other instruments in so much Lord Latymar had such pleso in hym that he lay wt hym nyghtly. And yet it pleased or swete saueyor Jhs to kyndell his hart so fervently wt the fyre of his loue that he despised all vane pleasors & then worldlie man sett nothing by him & soo through my counsell came to thuniversite & haith had vere little succor sence therefor I write more largely be cause I trust it shalbe comforth to you for to help hym as knoweth our lord who euer preserve yow to his pleasor At Montgrace the xxvth of Nouebre

Your faithfull bedman
JOHN ther prio'.

The "King's letters" referred to in the following letter are, I think, those for the suppression of the Nunnery at Higham. The Emperor is Charles the Fifth, who arrived at Dover on May 26, 1522, where he was received by Cardinal Wolsey. Henry VIII afterwards conducted him to Greenwich, which he reached on June 2 (the date of the letter), and thence to London. Further details as to the visit will be found in The Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth, by Lord Herbert of Cherbury.

Addressed: To the ryght worshipfull Mr Doctr Meytcalff archydekyn of Rochest be this delyu'yd at Hudson's bruer at Polles swarff at London.

Ryght Wyrschypfull mast' in my most vmbell man I comend me to yowr Mishyp lettyng yow vnderstand that acordyng to

yowr mynd I haue spokyn wyth my loord of Deynschyer & my loord of Deynschyer marvilles gretly that ye labor not for the aseynment of the Kinges letters & I schewyd to hym that ye wold haue laboryd now bot because yow thowght the Kyng & my loord Cardynall was no besyd in rasiwing the emperour that your mat wold not haue beyn mynded he mayd me answer that he wold ye shuld labor the mat when the Kyng comys to London the Kyng callyd of my lorde for his asoyn as he was cum to his logyng & he talkyd luffyngly wyth my loord all the way betweyn the pales & hys chamber in the abbay no mor to yow at thys tyme nosic haue yow in hys kepyng in hast be yours to his powr at Strod the ij day of June be me

My Loord wylbe at London on thursday next

JOHN WYLBOR

This instalment may finish with a letter of Smith's, in which he reports a number of minor worries to Metcalfe. The College had land at Steeple Morden, Ashwell, Melbourne, Holbeach, and other places mentioned in the letter.

References to Brokesby or Brookesby will be found in Mayor-Baker, p. 364, 1. 14, p. 466, 1. 46.

Addressed: To hys Ryght worshipfull Mast Doctor Metcallfe be thys lett' delyuryd at Londō.

Ryght Worshipfull Syr I humbly recomende vnto yow Mastshipp certefyyng yow that I sent carpenters to Stepull Morden, and Elyngton wolde not suffer the to worke on hys howse he sayth we shall not medyll therewyth. And so vnkyndly he doyth entrete vs, and as now both hys lands and Besten landes bythe vnfallowed, and he wyll nother falow the hy sylfe nor suffer other me to enter ther of. he reportyth that ye and Master Percy shulde make promyse of dyu's thinges the wych ys not performyd. I trust ye wyll se some remedy for hỹ. I cawsyd diu's of the olde howses of Beston to be pullyd down, and the tyle yr of wt other stuff to be spent at Ashewell and at Melborne and the mene of the towne be not content yr wt thei wolde we shulde bylde yt as yt was in tymys past. I perceyve we have hynderance in Lyncon shire for alteringe of our farmers at Whidteste and at Holdbeke I intende wt in thys ij or

[ocr errors]

iiij dayes to ryde to the Dene of Lyncon for owr mony. Mast Malyvery was here wt me and I made hy the best schere I cowde he laye in yowr chamber and hys horse was in the close. Mast Brokysby ys not content wt vs: but how we shall agre I can not tell vnto the tyme we spoke wt hy I lent hy a cheyne of golde agaynst hys maryage but as yet I can not get yt agayne by no meanys. he seyth both yow and I owght to gyff hy sa good a thyng as yt ys. From yow owne

Thus fare ye well.

College in Cambryge the iij day of June

By your owne Scholer and bedmā
JOHN SMYTH Pryst.

(To be continued.)

R. F. S.

NIL ERGO OPTABUNT HOMINES?

Ζεῦ βασιλεῦ, τὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ καὶ εὐχομένοις καὶ ἀνεύκτοις ἄμμι δίδου, τὰ δὲ δεινὰ καὶ εὐχομένοις ἀπερύκου.

POET in Plat. Alcib. II., p. 143a.

Das Gute, das wir nicht erbitten, sende,

Wenn's kann geschehn:

Und gnädiglich das Böse von uns wende,

Das wir erflehn.

FR. RUCKERT.

The blessing that we ask not, Lord, supply,
If such Thy will:

And, though we ask, in mercy still deny

The wished for ill.

J. E. B. MAYOR.

SECOND LOVE.

RIGHT glad am I that you have loved before,
For first love is a creature of the dust,

And springs up as a flower, and then it must
Return to whence it came, and be no more.
But second love makes the full soul run o'er
With all the high thoughts that are great and just;
We have escaped from that first foolish lust,
And now shall touch love's very farthest shore.

For nothing now shall change us, nor shall we
Change ever, for our two souls are made one;
And this high union which has now begun
Shall bring all great things unto you and me.
So shall our love last till our lives be done;
And after that, if aught thereafter be.

AT DOVER.

THOUGHT of my country rises strong in me,
Seeing these great white cliffs on either hand
Like giant warders at her portal stand,
Majestic, massy-fronted, restful, free.
Our land! our England! may she ever be
Grounded as they in solid grandeur, and
Unconquerable, firm, with iron hand,
Hold fast the mighty empire of the sea.
Beholding how this ocean guards her well,
May I not say, without o'erweening pride,
That in our England it is good to dwell?

That in her ancient strength she shall abide,
As long as these great billows heave and swell,
And fall and rise again and re-subside?

C. SAPSWORTH.

« PreviousContinue »