No. XLVII.

(Cecil Papers.*)

LORD HUNSDON TO THE EARL OF SUSSEX.

My very good Lord,

IHAVE received your letter of the 20th and the 21st on the same day; by the which I do perceive that the Queen's Majesty hath written to your Lordship for the discharge of the garrisons left upon the frontiers, as also the 300 shot left by my Lord Admiral; and find that her Majesty, and the council is persuaded that the Wardens, with the garrisons here, are able not only to withstand any attempt made against England, but also to join with the Regent to invade Scotland, if occasion serve. My Lord, I am sorry to see her Majesty's purse more accounted of than either her honour or the present necessity of her service at this time. Touching the lying of any garrison upon the borders, it is not needful, for any thing I see, for the defence of any enemy; but if her Majesty, or the Council, think us any way able to invade Scotland, they are very much deceived; and, knowing these countries so well as some of them ought to do, I marvel how they are so much abused. For this town, the garrison of footmen is only 500; whereof many old men, and many maimed in ser

Wentworth, and widow of John, the last Lord Williams of Thame, and had issue by her three daughters; Jane, married to Sir Richard Chetwode, of Oxfordshire, Knight; Elizabeth, who died unmarried; and Anne, wife of Robert Hartwell, of in the

county of Northampton.

Fuller, with his usual inaccuracy, tells us that Sir W D. died in 1598, and leads Lloyd into the same mistake.

vice, and thereby able not to travel any whither. The horsemen are but 80, whereof not 60 serviceable; the rest being old and impotent. For the Wardenry, I am sure cannot make 300 horse, so as what aid can be had hence let them judge; and for the other Wardenries, your Lordship has had the trial what force they are of; and this I assure your Lordship that I would not willingly serve where I shall be driven to trust to any companies of any borderers in these matters, and especially of any of Northumberland, or of Tindal, or of Rigdale; for I find the whole country, saving a very few, more addicted to the rebels than to her Majesty, as far as they dare. I know not what opinion the council has of Scotland, but this I will assure your Lordship that if her Majesty has occasion to send into Scotland, she must send a good company, more than either her Wardenries or the garrison of this town will yield, or else we may chance to be well beaten home. This I will avow, that whensoever we shall enter Scotland we shall meet with 4000 horse, besides footmen; for I am not ignorant that the Lords Hume, Farnhurst, Buccleuch, Johnson, Sir Andrew Carr, Badrowley, the Sheriff of Tiviotdale, with a number of others, are determined to maintain the receiving of these rebels, and what Moreton will do your Lordship shall hear shortly. If the Earls* will be delivered,

The former has

* Of Northumberland and Westmorland. been lately spoken of: the latter was concealed for some time by the clans of Ker, and Scot, called here Farnhurst, and Bucklough, and at last found means to escape into the Netherlands, where he lived for some years, wretchedly poor, on a small pension from the King of Spain.

her Majesty shall need to be at no further charges; but if they be denied, as I think they will be, either her Majesty must sit with that dishonour (which I hope she will not) or else she must send a better force than her borders can yield her. I think the rest of the wardens will be of my opinion. Within these three days, at the farthest, I look to hear from Sir Henry Gate and Mr. Marshall, by whose answer her Majesty shall be able to judge of the sequel.

Thus have I sent your Lordship my opinion, which you may advertise up, if it please you, for I write of knowledge, and some proof; and so for this time I commit your Lordship to the Almighty. From Berwick, this 22nd of January, 1569.

Your Lordship's to command,

H. HUNSDON.*

Henry, only son of Henry Carey, a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Henry VIII. by Mary, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, and sister to the unfortunate Queen Anne. Elizabeth, who seems to have been sincerely attached to this gentleman, her near relation, and a person of the most unblemished integrity, created him Baron of Hunsdon in Hertfordshire, and gave him the noble mansion Hunsdon House, with its large demesne, in the first year of her reign. He was soon after appointed a Knight of the Garter, Captain of the Band of Pensioners, and a Privy Counsellor; and in 1567 was raised to the important posts of Warden of the East Marches, and Governor of Berwick, with the garrison belonging to which he performed the most essential services in the course of this rebellious year, 1569; first, by assisting Sussex against the Earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland, and afterwards by subduing, with his own troops only, the insurgents under Leonard Dacre. Having remained nearly twenty years on the borders, he was at length constituted Warden of all the Marches, and soon after succeeded the Earl of Lincoln as Lord Chamberlain of the Household, continuing, however, to hold his military offices. He was pitched upon by Elizabeth for the delicate task of pacifying the King of VOL. I.

K

My Lord, as I am many ways to think myself much bound unto you, so am I not last for the favour it has pleased your Lordship to bestow upon George Carey, and for the letter your Lordship has written to her Majesty for him; whereof he has written to me, and I doubt not but will be ready to serve you to his uttermost.

No. XLVIII.

(Cecil Papers.)

THE EARL OF SUSSEX TO SIR WILLIAM CECIL.

Sir,

I RECEIVED this evening, at my lighting here, letters from my Lord of Hunsdon, and therewith a letter from Sir Henry Gate, copies of both which I send you enclosed. I received also here two letters from you; the one by my cousin Knevet's servant, the other by Mr. Stanhope's servant. By

Scots for the death of his mother; in which he succeeded beyond expectation, for he was a bad politician, a worse courtier, and a man totally illiterate but it is said that James, whose title to the succession he was well known to favour, had a personal esteem for him. This was the last important circumstance of his public life, unless his commanding the Queen's army in the camp at Tilbury may be mentioned as such. He died at Somerset House, July 23, 1596, aged 71, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a superb monument remains to his memory.

Lord Hunsdon married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan, Knight, and left issue four sons, and three daughters; Sir George, who will be hereafter mentioned; Sir John; Sir Edmund, whose line failed in the last Lord Hunsdon, about twenty-five years since; and Sir Robert, afterwards created Lord Lepington, and Earl of Monmouth. The daughters were, Catherine, wife of Charles Howard Earl of Nottingham; Philadelphia, married to Thomas, Lord Scrope of Bolton; and Margaret, to Sir Edward Hoby, Knight.

the first, I perceive the Queen's Majesty has granted the custody of the goods and lands of Edward Dacres to my cousin Knevet, the custody whereof I had long before granted to my cousin George Carey; and, if her Majesty shall command him to deliver over to my cousin Knevet, he is to obey to her Majesty's pleasure. He has sent twice into Cumberland for this matter, and I find that Edward Dacres has made states and deeds of gift, which Mr. Sadler and I have pursued; and I fear will in law disappoint them both; and yet I thought fit to let you know what had passed from me, which is to be ordered as shall please her Majesty. Touching the others, for Mr. Stanhope, I have already given general order to the Sheriff, according to her Majesty's pleasure, for delivery of all things according to the grants made by my Lords of Warwick, and Admiral; whereof I have advertised you in former letters, which I trust shall satisfy her Majesty, and all others, how little soever I be satisfied myself, seeing her Majesty willed you to write to me to do that which (by her Majesty's own former letters to Sir Thomas Gargrave) was before directed to be done.

I was first a lieutenant; I was after little better than a marshal; I had then nothing left to me but to direct hanging matters (in the mean time all was disposed that was within my commission) and now I am offered to be made a Sheriff's bailiff to deliver over possessions. Blame me not, good Mr. Secretary, though my pen utter somewhat of that swell in my stomach, for I see I am kept but for a broom,