pany and conversation the Queen is so much delighted as she doth not only allow her very honourable bouge of Court,* three messes of meat twice a day, for her maids, and the rest of her family, but also her Majesty hath dealt so liberally with her husband that he hath a yearly pension of 2000 crowns, which he is to enjoy so long as he suffers the lady his wife to reside here in England. Her Highness hath of late, whereat some do much marvel, dissolved the ancient office of the Henchmen.+ And thus (remembering no great matter besides, unless it is that my Lord of Arundel means now at the spring, for the better recovery of his health, to go into Italy, having already obtained leave so to do) I most humbly commend me to your good was forced to take refuge in the Netherlands, where he served under Archduke Albert, and died by an accidental fall in 1600. His mother lived till 1627. *From the Fr. bouche. The diet allowed to certain officers of the household was so called. By a mess of meat was generally meant a fit proportion for four persons. † A certain number of youths, the sons of gentlemen who stood or walked near the person of the Monarch on all public occasions. They are mentioned in the sumptuary statutes of the 4th of Edward IV. and the 24th of Henry VIII., and a patent is preserved in the Fœdera, vol. xv. 242, whereby Edward VI. gives to William Bukley, M.A., propter gravitatem morum et doctrinæ abundantiam, officium docendi, erudiendi, atque instituendi, adolescentulos vocatos Henchmen; with a salary of £40 per ann. Henchman, or Heinsman, is a German word, as Blount informs us in his Glossographia, signifying a domestic; whence our ancient term Hind, a servant in the house of a farmer. Dr. Percy, in a note on the Earl of Northumberland's household book, with less probability, derives the appellation from their custom of standing by the side, or Haunch of their Lord. Lordship, whom I beseech God long to continue in health and honour. At Westminster, the 11th of December, 1565. F. ALEN. Postscript. Your Lordship shall understand that now there is no removing at all, but her Majesty is fully resolved to keep her Christmas here at Westminster. And before the making up of this my letter, while it stayed with me till Mr. Constable should, according to his promise, have sent for the same, I learned further these occurrences following. From out of France; that the French King,* who hath been brought up from his infancy in the old religion, and rules now absolutely by himself, doth, with the universal consent of his clergy and nobility, all that may be to the settling and establishment thereof throughout all his dominions and countries; insomuch that there is no office, they say, of trust committed to any man unless he be known, and well tried beforehand, to be a Catholic. And that the great part of the nobles being presently assembled at the Court, there is come thither the Cardinal of Guise and Lorraine, and the young Duke of Guise, calling upon justice against Chatillon,+ and others that were suspected for the Charles IX. now fifteen years of age. The plan for extirpating the Huguenots, which began with the Massacre of Paris, and ended in the bloody war of the League, now occupied all the attention of the French Court. †The famous Admiral de Coligny. Francis, Duke of Guise, murdering of his father; which matter, they say, shall now be judicially proceeded withal by order of the law. From out of Italy; that the Pope has promised to contribute to the defence of Malta the sum of 15,000 crowns, and to find 3000 soldiers besides by the space of five months, at the charge of the church of Rome. From Constantinople; that the Turk, in his great fury and rage for the late evil success of his army at Malta, has commanded, besides other great preparations, 50 new galleys to be made out of hand; and in great despite hath pulled down all the churches and synagogues, both of the Christians and of the Jews, where before he suffered them to use their own rites aud ceremonies. To the right honourable my very good Lord the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the Knights of the most honourable order of the Garter. No. XXV. (Talbot Papers, Vol. E. fol. 197.) SIR GEORGE BOWES TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. Pleaseth it your good Lordship, THE whole gentlemen and inhabitants of the North Riding in Yorkshire have appointed and required this bearer, John Layton, a very honest gentleman, to be solicitor for the recovery of the armour and was treacherously killed in 1563, at the siege of Orleans, by Poltrot, a Huguenot; and the Admiral, who was the leader of the reformed party, was suspected of being privy to the murder. weapon lately delivered to the Captains at Berwick out of this said North Riding, by virtue of sundry commissions from your Lordship, for the re-delivery whereof it is much doubted that the said Captains will use all the delay they can; so that it will not be obtained unless it please your Lordship to write to the Earl of Bedford, requiring his Lordship to command the said Captains to deliver the said armour and weapon (according to such tripartite indentures, one part whereof remains with your Lordship, and another part with the said Captains, and the third part with the Justices of Peace, whereby the said Captains received the same armour and weapon) which the country fully looks for again by your Lordship's good means. Having addressed this said bearer, for that respect, to your Lordship, unto whom I humbly beseech your Lordship to impart your pleasure; for surely by the delivery hereof your Lordship will obtain great honour, and win great good-will of the gentlemen and inhabitants of the country, which emboldens me to move your Lordship to call earnestly for the said armour. I am sorry to hear of the death of my Lord Dacre's son and heir; * whose death, and the youth of him that is now heir, I fear will break Thomas, seventeenth Lord Dacre. He left an only son, who not long survived him, and three daughters, to whom the inheritance of the family estates was decreed by Commissioners appointed for that purpose, to the prejudice of Leonard Dacre, their uncle, who claimed under an award made in the reign of Edward IV. Leonard, hereupon, conceived a personal hatred to Elizabeth; and we find him an active party in every conspiracy against her for the remainder of his life. the alliance meant betwixt your Lordship and him; but all must be as God will; unto whom I shall daily pray for the increase of your Lordship's honour, and rest at your Lordship's commandment. From my house at South Cowton, this 5th of February, 1565. Your Lordship's wholly at commandment, To the right honourable and my singular good No. XXVI. (Talbot Papers, Vol. E. fol. 212.) ELIZABETH R. BY THE QUEEN. RIGHT trusty and right well-beloved cousin, we greet you well. Forasmuch as it hath been declared unto us on your behalf that, for certain your urgent and necessary business, your request is to be dispensed of your coming to the feast of Saint * Sir George Bowes, Knight, one of the ancient possessors of those great northern estates which of late years produced such strange circumstances. He was Provost Marshal of the army in 1569, when he fortified Bernard Castle, and defended it bravely against the rebels, till he was forced to surrender for want of provisions. After this insurrection was suppressed, he had, by his office, the charge of punishing the offenders; which he executed with such terrible severity that no less than eight hundred persons are said to have suffered at the gallows by his order. married Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Mallory, who brought him three sons; and a second wife, by whom he had no issue. Streatlam Castle, in Durham, the most ancient estate belonging to this gentleman's family, was derived from a Sir John Trayner, who was living in 1310, and who left an only daughter, who married Adam Bowes, the first of the name on record. He |