PREFA- PREFATORY NOTE TO LETTER LXVIII.—RALEGH AND SIR IR ARTHUR SAVAGE, who was the bearer of this letter to Sir Robert Cecil, together with the despatches from the Earl of Essex and the Lord Admiral, is the "verrie honest plaine gentleman," mentioned, in close connection with Ralegh, in a remarkable letter to Lord Henry Howard from King James, undated; but written in the year 1602. The letter to Howard is at Hatfield, and is one of those which have been recently printed by Mr. Bruce for the Camden Society. In the original, the figures '8' and '10' stand as cyphers for the names of Edward Bruce of Kinloss and of Cecil. The passage which relates to Savage and Ralegh is as follows:"I doe also persave by youre letters to BRUCE that Sir ROBERT CECIL is verrie desyrouse to knowe the knichtis name that delt betuixt the Duike of LENOX and RAULIE; and thairfore, althoch the knicht him self be a verrie honest plaine gentleman for so farre as I can learne, yett knowing that confident trust can no more be severid from trew freindshippe than the shaddow can be cutte from the boddie, I will give to Sir ROBERT CECIL this further proofe of my confident truste in him by discoverie of this gentlemanne's name unto him,quhiche is Sir AIRTHOURE SAVAGE; not doubting but that Sir ROBERT CECIL will conserve this as a freind's secreate, without suffering the gentleman to receave any hairme hearby, guhiche more volde interest me in honoure than him in person; especiallie since the gentlemannis nature appearis to be farre different from RAULIE'S, thoch oute of zeale to me and affection to his freinde he could not refuse to be trucheman unto him."1 1 Cecil Papers, cxxxv. fol. 86 (Hatfield). Printed in Correspondence of King James VI. &c. p. 43. . LXVIII. TO SECRETARY SIR ROBERT CECIL. From the Original. MS. Cotton, Отнo, E ix. fol. 365, verso (formerly numbered 334). (British Museum). Holograph. Mutilated; having been partially burnt in the fire at Ashburnham House. Without date of year. [The beginning of the letter-all that precedes the word 'burnt'—has been so burned in the fire at Ashburnham House as to be irrecoverable.] and LETTER .... burnt. We had not means to . . difficultye was labored as to... ... person. I thancke God 1596. Aug. 6. To Sir R. Cecil. From she is now in the Port of . . .; and with us my Lord Plymouth Sound. The .. leakes, wherof Victory The rest of the at Cadiz. opin]ion, if the came a litle before by reason of This gentleman, Sir ARTHUR SAVAGE, is dispatched by the Generalls. I know not the effect of his message. Butt, under pardon, I thincke it good for Her Majestye, if he be agayne returned with order for the Army which may, for the most, be returned into their countries from hence; which, the sooner it be done, the less charge 1 Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards Earl of Suffolk. The ship Mer-Honour. 3 Meaning evidently came away.' trace-more or less. Her Majestye shall be att here, with continewance of her sea charge. Sir, may it please yow to beleve me, this bearer hathe deserved with the first and had the Poynt att the entrance of Calize. Butt he came, with others, in the rereguard of profitt and good fortune. And I assure your Honor, by the love I bear yow, that yow shall not favor any man more honest and valient. He can yield a good accompt of whatsoever hath past. For my particular, I beseech yow, if it may be, that I may be pardoned for cumminge about by sea; for besids the great and dangerous infection, I am not well in health my sealf. My Lord Admiral will cum with the Fleet, and my Lord Thomas likewise. Sir, I hope her devin Majestye is well: the report wherof hath incountred us all with infinit joy. From the port of Plymouth, cumming in, this 6th of August [1596]. Your Honor's, ever to honor and serve yow, W. RALEGH. PREFATORY NOTE TO LETTER LXIX.-NARRATIVES OF ON the question "To whom was this letter addressed?' PREFA TORY LETTER LXIX. 1596. I am unable to throw any light. In a MS. copy NOTE TO of it which I have seen in the old library known as "Dr. Williams' Library" (formerly in Red Cross Street, London; now, temporarily, in Queen's Square), it is saidagainst plain internal evidence-to have been addressed to the Earl of Northumberland. Other copies are, like Philip Ralegh's print of 1699, wholly without superscription. Fortunately, its great historical interest depends in no degree on the solution of that small question. It has, eminently, the qualities which Ralegh's writings so rarely lack,-force and clearness. It also combines fairness to his fellows with his wonted full justice to himself. In half a dozen clear and simple words, he brings vigorously before the reader that fearless courage and self-devotion, on the part of the Earl of Essex, which, in moments of excitement and of peril, did much towards redeeming very grave errors of judgment. When, in relation to this event, Ralegh has to touch on those errors, he touches them with a gentle hand. If, for example, the reader will compare his account with that of Sir William Monson (MS. Cotton, TITUS, B viii.), he will find that the rival-whom Essex had so repeatedly and so bitterly attacked-deals more leniently with the faults of the brave but rash and inexperienced general, than does the declared follower and friend. Nor will it be found less interesting, or less instructive, to compare many of Ralegh's details, as to the doings and sufferings of the Spaniards, with their own contemporary accounts, as they have been recently collected from the Simancas archives and elsewhere, by the Continuators of the PREFA TORY NOTE TO LETTER 1596. Coleccion de Documentos inidites para la Historia de España, so ably began by Navarrete. Another collation has an interest more directly biographical. Thomas Carte is known to have had access to many original papers of the Elizabethan period, not all of which can now be traced Some, even, of the Burghley MSS. to which in his History of England he refers cannot, I believe, be discovered. Whatever may be thought of the colouring given to Carte's inferences by party feeling, his use of documents is admittedly honest. In his account of the Cadiz battle, he borrows much from the present letter; yet there are in that account some details, distinctly personal to Ralegh, which are not mentioned in Sir Walter's own letter, minute as it is. Whether, or not, these have been taken from correspondence not at present accessible, they are obviously founded on original testimony, and will be seen to have considerable interest. Here, to note them all,—or nearly all,-is impracticable. One or two points must suffice, by way of sample. The victory at Cadiz was notoriously a great blow to the power and influence of Spain, but no one can study the documents which bear upon it without perceiving that it might, with little difficulty, have been made a much more effective and farther-reaching blow. The question, Whose was the neglect?' is, for students of English history, not at all an idle or superfluous question. Ralegh (in Letter LXIX.), Sir William Monson (in the Cotton MS. TITUS, B viii.), and Carte's informant,-whosoever he may have been,-all give, or suggest, an answer. All were present. All, it is obvious, had access to the best sources of information, for what did not pass actually under their own eyes. Each, if listened to separately, gives, or seems to give, on this point a different answer. But, if collated, the conflict of testimony may, perhaps, be found to be much less than it, at first, appears : |