the King alighted at Byfleet, and there I took my leave; and from Oatlands he removes to Cobham, or Woking, I know not whether the first; and then to Guildford; and so to Windsor, and there Holyrood day; and, by estimation, he will be at every of these places four days, or thereabout.

Other news I know none to ascertain you of, but thus betake your Lordship to the merciful governance of God. Written at my house in Smithfield, the next house to the Elephant, that is the New Tavern, the 4th of September,

By the hand of your old assured beadman,

ACCORDING to your commandment, this day your chaplain and I were with my Lord Cardinal, and

* Sir Philip Draycot, of Painsley, in Staffordshire, Knight; representative of a family of great antiquity, which still remains in that part of England. He was the only son of Sir John Draycot, Knight, by Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Robert Eyre, of Padley, in Derbyshire; and married Elizabeth daughter and co heir of John Fitzherbert, of Norbury, by whom he had two sons, Richard and George, both of whom left issue, and four daughters; Elizabeth, married to Geoffry Foljambe; Susannah, to John Blunt, of Burton upon Trent; Alicia, to Jasper Worth, of Tiderington, in Cheshire; and Dorothy, to Thomas Kynardesley, of Loxley in Staffordshire. By that part of his letter, however, which relates to his heir, who was of the family of Aston, we may conclude that he was then unmarried, or, at least, childless. He died in 1546.

delivered your letter, the which he read in his barge; and, after, I shewed to him, at the same time, your credence of sudden sickness of your servants, which daily continues; and therefore besought his Grace to be the means to the King for your excuse, and to know his pleasure what time your Lordship should come up. And he answered that the King would gladly have you here at Whitsunday, considering the coming of the Queen of Scots,* and many ambassadors which are here now; for that you were the great officer + of the King's household and I answered, considering the contagious plague daily continuing among your servants, and the shortness of time, you could not come so shortly; and then he commanded me on Friday to attend upon his grace, and I should know the King's pleasure, at which time I doubt not but you shall have respite to the next term, for, before his going the King, I will speak with him eftsones.

Also this day your said chaplain and I have had communication with the Lord Conyers, before noon and after, and thus concluded: that you shall pay to him £240; whereof £ 150 to be paid in hand, and the rest to be paid at the feast of St. Martin next; and the said lord is contented to

Margaret, the king's eldest sister, and widow of James IV. of Scotland. She had lately married Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus; a man whose great power and popularity had rendered him obnoxious to the Duke of Albany, now Regent. The Earl avoided this nobleman's resentment by a precipitate flight into England, with his illustrious consort, who came to London, and was received by Henry with much kindness and magnificence.

+ Steward of the household.

make the land as

to you, and over to your

use, as shall be devised by your counsel; wherein I shall do the best I can before my coming home.

This day my Lord of Suffolk asked me specially how you fared, and said he intended to tarry here all Whitsuntide, and would be glad to see you here. He takes his barge every day at Coldharbour, when he goeth by water.

My lord, if your money come up safely, and I can make no better shift, I shall pay my Lord Conyers with part of the same, and defer them that should have the said money unto such time as I can find better remedy.

There was a bill set upon Paul's door, and another upon our Lady Barkyn's* door. The same bill touched the King's grace and his counsel; part of it after this manner; "that foreigners had much money in their hands of the King's, by reason of the same bought much wool, which was to the undoing of Englishmen."+ Great displeasure is taken with the same; insomuch that in every ward, one of the King's counsel, with the alderman of the same, is commanded to see every man write that can; and, farther, hath taken every

Allhallows Barking, in Tower-street, which was founded by Richard I., and called Capella beatæ Mariæ de Barking. Richard III. rebuilt it, and fixed a college of priests there, consisting of a Dean and six Canons. It was a favourite foundation, having been improved by several monarchs; and being a building of much public notoriety and resort, it was perhaps the custom in those days to fix pasquinades and libels on its walls.

†These jealousies ended in a terrible riot, on the 1st of May, 1518; when the Londoners made a general attack on the foreigners, killed several of them, and pulled down their houses, after stripping them of their contents. Anderson observes that the pretended crimes of the foreigners were probably their working cheaper, and being more industrious, than our own people.

man's books, and sealed them, and brought them to Guildhall, there to examine them.

The Bishop of Hereford is departed, and Doctor Booth has his room: the Master of the Rolls is departed, and Doctor Tunstall has his room,* as the saying is: the Abbot of St. Albans is departed, and the Abbot of Bermondsey, whose souls Jesus pardon. They begin to die in London in divers places, suddenly, of fearful sicknesses; as knoweth our Lord, who long have your Lordship in his blessed governance. Written at Coldharbour, † the 28th day of April, at ten o'clock in the night, with the hand of

Your priest,

THOS. ALEN.

I have sent you Lordship by this bearer one lb. of white coral, and half a pound of powder preservative.

To my Lord.

* Richard Mayo, or Mayew, Bishop of Hereford, and Chancellor of the university of Oxford, died this year, and was succeeded by Charles Booth, who held the see till 1535. Cuthbert Tunstall, afterwards bishop of Durham, succeeded John Young, an ecclesiastic, in the office of Master of the Rolls. Dugdale, in his Orig. Jud. erroneously states that the former was appointed on the 12th of May, 1517.

+ Coldharbour, or Coldharborough, was a very large house, situated in the parish of Allhallows the less, in Thames-street; the steeple and choir of the church of which, according to Stowe, formerly stood on the old gate-house of this mansion. Several places in the neighbourhood still retain its denomination; as Coldharbour-lane, Coldharbour-stairs, &c. It was built by Sir John Poultney, an Alderman of London, in the reign of Edward III., and, passing through various hands, came at last to the Crown. Richard III., in 1485, granted it for ever to the College of Heralds, who had lately received their charter from him; and Henry VII., willing to annul every public act of his predecessor, gave it to the then Earl of Shrewsbury. It was pulled down by Earl Gilbert, about the year 1600.

No. V.

(Talbot Papers, Vol. A. fol. 31. 1516.)

THOMAS ALEN

TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY.

PLEASE it your Lordship to be ascertained that whereas Mr. Babington and I, by your commandment, have concluded with my Lord Conyers, it is so the Prior of Mountgrace* stands in possession of the said lands, and hath leases made to his use of the same, notwithstanding my Lord Conyers trusted to have caused the said Prior to have released his title at his desire, but in anywise he will not. The King's grace, hath sequestered 200 acres of the said ground, that payeth yearly 13s. 4d. which the Exchequer thinks to be much better. Mr. Babington hath spoke with the said Prior; they have appointed both to be with your Lordship at Worsop + the Wednesday in the Whitsun week which shall be the 14th day of this month. My Lord, I suppose you shall have an easier bargain of the Prior than you should have had of my Lord Conyers, for the said Prior shewed unto

Mountgrace Priory, in Yorkshire, founded by Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, temp. Ric. II. and enriched by several subsequent donations. Besides great estates in Yorkshire, it had property in the counties of Lincoln, Norfolk, Warwick, &c.

+ Worksop manor, in Nottinghamshire, came to John Talbot, first Earl of Shrewsbury, by his marriage with the heiress of Furnival, in which family it had been ever since the reign of Rd. I. and Henry VIII. granted to Francis, fifth Earl, the whole precinct of the priory there, to be held in capite, by the service of furnishing the king with a right-hand glove at the coronation, and supporting his arm so long as he shall hold the sceptre on that day. The estate is now possessed by the Duke of Norfolk, through the marriage of his ancestor, Thomas Earl of Arundel, with Alathea, one of the coheiresses of Gilbert seventh Earl of Shrewsbury.