Lordship may appoint unto him such a number as you shall by your discretion think convenient. And, because it is considered here that the having of men of service about you shall stand you to good stead, the Queen's Majesty, knowing the wisdom and skill of John Brend, Esq., in the leading and ordering of footmen, wherein he has had long experience, has thought meet to send him presently unto your Lordship; whom you may use about the ordering of the army, or in such other things as, upon conference with him, you shall think him most fit to be employed in. And if you shall think meet to have any other skilful persons sent unto you hence, her Highness, upon knowledge thereof from you, will take order for the sending thither out of hand of such as shall be fit for that purpose. And, to the intent that if the Scots should come upon the sudden they may not find the pieces upon the borders unprovided for, the Queen's Majesty requires your Lordship to write unto the Wardens, and take such order with them, as all the forts, castles, and pieces, that are of importance, and stand in danger of the enemy, may be so substantially furnished of men, victuals, munition, ordnance, and all other things necessary, as they may be able to stand upon their small part of the number prescribed, at a low expense; and kept the surplus by way of perquisite. (See too a letter of the 11th of this month.) This paper, though deficient in point of historical information, is well worthy of a place here, for the insight that it gives us into the military economy of that time in almost all its branches. guard, and resist the enemy till further rescue may come unto them. Your loving friends, NICO EBOR, Cancel. HENRY JERNEGAN. E. WALDEGRAVE. WINCHESTER. Jo. BOURNE. JOHN MASON.* To our very good Lord the Earl of Shrewsbury, Sir John Mason, Knight, born at Abingdon in Berkshire, of the meanest parents. His mother's brother, a monk, caused him to be educated at Oxford, where he became a fellow of All Soul's College, and Sir Thomas More meeting with him there, recommended him to Hen. VIII., who sent him to the University of Padua ; whence returning, he was appointed Secretary for the French tongue in 1546, and in the same year obtained a grant, jointly with Sir William Paget, of the office of Master of the Posts, with an annual fee of £66. 13. 4. He was soon after sworn of the Privy Council, and served the King in several embassies in the last years of his reign. Under Edward VI. he was a Secretary of State, a Master of the Requests, and, though a layman, held several church preferments, particularly the Deanery of Winchester, being, according to Camden, "a man of learning and gravity, but a great devourer of church lands." He was also Chancellor of the University of Oxford, which office he resigned in favour of Cardinal Pole, but was re-elected in 1559, being then Treasurer of the Queen's Chamber. He was a great benefactor to his native town, for which he procured a charter of incorporation and the establishment of its fine almshouse, to which he gave a large sum. Sir John Mason was married, but left no issue: he died April 21, 1566, and was buried in St. Paul's cathedral: the children of his two brothers inherited his property, and settled in Hampshire, where their posterity remained, in or about Winchester, at the end of the sixteenth century. † Sir Edmund Peckham, Knight, second son of Peter Peckham, of Denham in Bucks, by his first wife, Agnes, daughter of Crowton of London. As the zealous historians of this reign have made it a mere collection of last dying speeches and confes No. LI. (Talbot Papers, Vol. D. fol. 209.) THE EARL OF DERBY TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. AFTER my very hearty commendations unto your good Lord. Like as perceiving by the contents sions, it furnishes but scanty materials for biography, except in the ecclesiastical line. This gentleman's name occurs in no piece of history but Burnet's of the Reformation, which vaguely styles him "Treasurer to King Edward VI.” No. XXXII. of our papers of the reign of Henry VIII. informs us that he was Cofferer of the Household, and General Receiver of the Benevolence levied in 1544. He was also of the Privy Council to the last-named Prince, and one of the assistant executors of his will. It appears from Haynes's papers that he was one of the persons who assembled the forces of Bucks, and the adjacent shires, at Drayton, the Lord Paget's house, in support of Mary's title, and that he was a commissioner for the examination of the Duke of Northumberland and his confederates. Several warrants directed to him, for the payment of large sums of money to various persons are mentioned in the minutes of Mary's Council preserved in that collection, but it cannot be determined from the nature of them whether he was then Treasurer of the Household or Chancellor of the Exchequer the former is most probable. In the first and fourth years of this reign he served as knight of the shire for Bucks, where he possessed a large landed property, particularly the estates of Denham and Bittlesden Abbey. He married Anne, daughter of John Cheyney, of Chesham - Boys and Drayton - Beauchamp, in that county, (who died in May 1750) and had by her Sir Robert, likewise a Privy Counsellor; John; Edmund; George, knighted in 1570; (see No. CLV. of the next reign) and two daughters; Amphillis, who died in March, 1545; and Dorothy, who married Edmund Verney, and, dying May 23rd, 1547, was buried at Bittlesden. Sir Edmund Peckham was buried at Denham, April 18th, 1564. This eminent family, which retired into privacy soon after Elizabeth's accession, is not recorded in the Herald's College: the genealogical account here given was most obligingly communicated by the late Benjamin Way, Esq., F.R. and A.S., possessor of a considerable part of the estates which formerly belonged to them. That gentleman further informed me that the heart of Sir Robert Peckham, who died at Rome, September 13th, 1569, is deposited in a leaden box in the family vault at Denham, where, upon a late examination, it was found in a dry and withered state, but perfectly whole; unfortunately for the memory of the late owner, in an age when canonization is rather out of fashion. of your letters of the 25th of September, the which I received on Michaelmas-eve, that, upon further intelligence and considerations, and for the avoiding of the Queen's Majesty's great and excessive charges (minding, for this present, to resist the Scottish doings with a less force than the whole army, and if it may be) have therefore willed me to stay myself, and the force of Lancashire and Cheshire, at home for this present, your Lordship's former letters to me addressed notwithstanding; and yet to remain in such perfect readiness as I and they may come forwards hereafter, upon any sudden warning, if the occasion shall so require; even so have I given present order with the captains and soldiers of both shires touching the same. And have likewise sent unto your Lordship the numbers appointed, and the names of sundry of the Captains, in both shires; whereof many are sick, and not able to serve, as they have signified me; with further credence in those things and others, by my servant, this bearer, whom I heartily desire your Lordship to credit; saving that I have omitted the captains of my own retinue, the which shall be always ready. Advertising your Lordship that I do estimate the distance hence to the New Castle to be 200 miles, and from Cheshire 120. And albeit that it were something less charges to have greater numbers forth of Lancashire, considering the distance, than the rates of the certificates of both shires doth extend unto, yet my full trust is that your Lordship will please (the rather at this my request) to burden the same shires alike, rateable according to their several certificates; the which is 3000 for Lancashire and 2000 for Cheshire; and not to overcharge the nearest for so small a matter, like as your Lordship has done even now, for which I am very sorry. And no doubt John Osbaldeston, as you will find, being appointed a Captain by your letter, is not meet for the purpose; as knoweth our Lord God, who ever preserve your good Lordship in health and honour. From my house at New Park, the 29th of September, 1557. Your Lordship's assured friend and cousin, CAPTAINS IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER. Sir Richard Molyneux, Knt, or his son and heir; a feeble man himself - 200 - 200 - 200 Sir Thomas Talbot, Knt. Sir Richard Houghton, Knt., not able himself, but will furnish an able gentleman to be Captain, because he is not able to go himself doth furnish but - 100 Sir Thomas Hesketh, and others with him - 100 Sir Thomas Langton 50, Sir William Norris 50, neither of them able, but will furnish an able Captain - 100 * Edward, third Earl of Derby of the Stanleys; celebrated for his unbounded liberality and the princely style of his household. He died October 24th, 1572,"with whom," says Camlen, "the glory of hospitality was in a manner laid asleep.” |