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beleeve it will not be difficult for you to put all things here in good order att y next recesse, by carrying a steddy and moderate hand upon yo affaires.

Yor Matie will I hope pardon the tedious and on the oppoempty letrs wch you receave from,

Yo' Maties

Most humble and most obedient servaunt,

WESTMINSTER, 10 Sepbris, 1641.

EDEN: 16:

"For yor sacred Ma'tie."

EDW. NICHOLAS.

"Yours apostyled." 10 7bris, 1642. Apost. 16o.

Sir Edward Nicholas to the King.

May it please yo' Matie,

site page, in the King's hand-writing.

I co'mand you to draw up anie such warrant, as my Wyfe shall direct you, for the disposing of the great Collar of Rubies' that is in Holland, & tell

have

I cannot add any thing of advertisem1 worthy yo' Maties notice since my last of ye 10th of this present, her how I only I can tell yo' Matie that ye Declarac❜on of y directed you Com'ons (whereof I could not then procure a coppy) to wait her is now printed, as ye Duke of Richmond can shew this; & that yor Matie, to whome I have sent one from ye Ea. of I am confiPortland. Mr. Th'rer's ler of ye 7th present, puts secrecie in

co'mands in

dent of your

this, & anie

with. C. R.

1 This was an affair requiring delicate management, though thing else, not now so dangerous as it became two years later, when the that I shall Parliament, understanding that the Queen had pawned the trust you crown jewels in Holland, ordered that whoever had, or should pay, lend, send, or bring, any money or specie into the kingdom, for or upon those jewels, or accept of any bill hereafter, should be considered an enemy to the state.

2 De Larrey, in his characters, describes the Duke as at the head of the royalist Lords, not only from his near relationship to the King, but also on account of his personal qualities. At the early age of twenty-one he had been made a Privy Councillor, and married to the Duke of Buckingham's daughter. "His wit, his courage, and his affection for the King, made him worthy the esteem and favour of the Court. But two qualities which he had, prevented his being serviceable to the King, who loved him: the one was, his too great diffidence of himself; and the other (quite opposite) too great a haughtiness in point of honour. By the first he rendered himself too dependent; and by the latter, too obnoxious."

3 Jerome Weston, second Earl of that title; a family now extinct.

I have dispached this

& tell the

Keeper that

I expect a speedie account of

ye Queene in expectac'on every howre of 1" from yor Matie by ye Lo. Carr.

Besides y Queenes lers, yo' Matie will herein as is desyred, receave one from my Lo. Keeper, who humbly prayes yo' Maties pleasure for a new Sheriff for Nottinghamsheire, as Mr. Th'rer will acquaint yo' Matie. I find alreddy that I shall not (now ye Parliam' is adiourned) have much occasion to trouble yor Matie wth 1rs, but I shalbe never the lesse vigilant & industrious in my care to approove myself

this letter
I send him.

Yor Maties

Most humble & most obedient servaunt,
EDW. NICHOLAS.

WESTMINSTER, 13° Sepbris, 1641.

EDEN. 17.

And this

Sir Edward Nicholas to the King.

May it please yo' most excellent Matie,

I receaved yesterday yo' Maties of the 13th of this moneth by Mr. ffrisoll, & in it a let' to the Queene, wch I instantly presented to her Royall hands, & acquainted her wth what yo' Matie comaunded me. Her Matie tells me she wrote lately by my Lo. Carr,' & intends to write againe to yor Matie on Munday next by Mr. Wm. Murrey, & therefore forbeares to send lykewais is by this packet, weh I now dispatch for conveyaunce of the inclosed from my Lod Keep. I had sent the 2 lets (wch were directed to yo" Matie & ye Parliam1) under yor Maties owne cover, but that I founde it was divulged by Withering's deputy, that there were such letrs came to his hands, and by him sent to me, soe that it had beene a vayne thing for me to have concealed ye same from Mr. Th'rer, who I was sure had advertisem' of them by another hand. things here are in a great still, every one being busy in listening after the proceedings of the Parliam' in

meerlie for the conueyance of thease two inclosed.

Ye bad reason.

Eden: 23
Sept. 1641.

All

Lord Ker of Cesford; son to the Earl of Roxburgh, Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, the first peer of the family, and ancestor of the Dukes of Roxburgh.

Scotland, where Mr. Th'rer writes the people are stiffe, & seeme to be resolute not to recede from their proposic❜ons, wch in my poore iudgem' is bad newes, and of very ill example to us here.

I humbly thanke yo' Matie for yo' gracious leave granted me to reside at my house att Thorpe, for ye sickness & small pox contynues very rife in London and Westminster. I am now once a day, or att least once in 2 dayes, att Oatlands, and intended to be att Westminster every tuesday & wensday, to attend what shalbe donne there by the Comittees, having nothing in my affecc'on or ambition soe much, as by an exact dilligence & fidelity to approve myself

Yr Maties

Most humble & most obedient servaunt,
EDW. NICHOLAS.

THORPE, 18° Sepbris, 1641.

Sir Edward Nicholas to the King.

May it please yo' most excel' Matie,

Yesterday I sent by packet a let' to yor Matie from the Lo. Keeper, & should not now have troubled yor Matie, but that the oportunity of safe conveyaunce by this gent. doth prompt me humbly to minde yo Matie of some things in my poore opinion worthy yo' Royall considerac❜on.

I am confident yo' Matie doth by this time cleerly perceave, how it is here insinuated upon all occasions, that Popery (wch is generally exceeding distastefull to yo' subts of this kingdome) is too much favoured by yo' clergy here, & in yo' owne Court, & that this opinion (how vniustly soever laid by Brownists' on I thanke you yor Maties governm't) hath & doth (more than any me in mynd thing) preiudice yo Matie in ye esteeme & affecc'on of the va of yo' people, whose love I humbly conceave to be Bishobrikes, soe much yo* Maties interest, as that it ought to be

1 The "Brownist" schism began as early as the time of Elizabeth; and their founder was able to boast, on his deathbed, that he had been in thirty-two prisons during his religious warfare with the established authorities.

fore putting

cancie of

therefore I

co'mand you

B. of London

vacant

& those notes

con

to direct the preserved & reteyned by yo' Matie by all possible to send me a meanes: wherefore I humbly offer to yo' Maties list of all the siderac'on, whether it be not requisite, that yo' Matie Bishobrikes, should now (during this recesse) give some publique assuraunce to the contrary: wch I humbly conceave may be donne by yo psent conferring of such Bpricks and ecclescall dignities as are now voyde vpon those places. persons, of whome there is not the least suspic'on of favouring the Popish partie, such as may be Brownrigg. Dr. Prideaux,' Bromwich, Gouge, Mr. Shute, & ye

wch he & I made concerning the filling of

Hitherto, I lyke your

like, if they will in these tymes accept of such peferm's, for I assure y' Matie I am vnknowne to all and every one of them. Such men thus peferred, would not only give assurance of yo' Maties firme resoluc❜on to maynteyne the Protestant religion here professed, but by filling vpp of ye vacant Bpricks th such persons, yo' Matie would gayne not only their votes for Episcopacy, &c. but many more, who seeing such divines pefered, would rest confident that there is noe inten'con to introduce or connive at Popery.

Also concerning the booke of Co'mon Prayer, (to partes whereof ye late Declarac'on of ye Co'mons House shewes there is some excepc'on), yo' Matie having constituted such BPPS, may be pleased to declare yo' reddines to reforme what shalbe thought amisse in it by yo' clergy & Parliam', weh will prevent those that (in a zeale wthout knowledge) seeke to overthrow ye good government & order wisely established in this church: & thus by yo' Maties tymely moderac❜on, you will put a bitt in their mouthes, who (vpon a popular pretence of ye reliques of Popery) cry downe all that is of good order or decency in the Church.

And for a further assuraunce of y* Maties integrity opinion well, in this reformac'on, I humbly offer it to yo' Maties coning the rest, siderac'on whether it may not be necessary (before y

but concern

1 Prideaux was Canon of Christ Church, Oxford; he was made Bishop of Worcester in 1641, and died in 1650, Dr. Ralph Brownrigg, Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and Prebendary of Durham, was made Bishop of Exeter in 1641. Gouge and Shute were high in the confidence of the Puritan party, and remained steady to their old congregations.

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