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LETTER
CI.

1601. Sept. 19.

To Sir R.

Cecil.

tember, reportethe for certayne that the Spanishe fleete is still helde ther, together with some 6, or 7,000 soldiers, yeven then reddy to depart, ether for Irland or the Low Countres. Ther weare among them of shipps of warr some 25, the rest weare of all sortts for transportation Sherborne. only. The Frenche man is helde to be an honezt man and, as wee beleve in Jersey, will reportt no untrewth. If they be att sea this weather, they ar hardly besteede. The rest I leave to your judgementt.

From

News of

the Spanish Fleet. Knavish proceed. ings of John Meeres.

I ment to have gone to the Bathe the day after my returne, but I fell sick, and so continew; wherby I shall not be abell this yeare to help my sealf therby. That rooge MEERS continews his knavery as violently as ever, and sent down seven writts out of the Exchequer-on to me and six more to divers poore men here, to vex them only, and to shew bravery. I must in this matter refer my reputation to your favorabell regard of mee. For nothinge ever concerned mee more.

I have by this bearer sent yow the gloves, but it is indented that if the serve not your own hands, yow must of your grace return them agayne.

Your's ever to do yow service,

W. RALEGH.

Sherburne, this 19th of September [1601].

Addressed:

To the right honorable Sir ROBERT CECYLL, Knight. Principall

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CII.

TO SECRETARY SIR ROBERT CECIL.

From the Original. Cecil Papers, vol. lxxxviii. § 62 (Hatfield). Holograph.
Without date of year.

SIR,

IT is trew that MEERES1 is bounde to the good behavior by Sir GEORGE TRENCHARD and Sir RAUFE HORSEY, and three or foure other Justices of this shire. Butt the recognisence is not above £40. The rest that ar bound with hyme ar too or thre roggs of the country, and wher a counceler's cummandment is layde it serveth allwayes for a supersedeas; and did it not, yet by mee no advantage shalbe taken. That his wife is a kynswoman to my lady of ESSEX it is trew. She was a poore mans wife of this country, butt to good for such a knave; and beinge a broken piece that, I thincke, few or none would have had, this knave,-hopinge therby to have bynn upheld by the Earle of ESSEX,-tooke her. Butt the Earle did not make shew to like MEERES, nor admitt hyme to his presence. Butt it was thought that secreatly he ment to have used hyme for sume mischeif agaynst mee; and, if ESSEX had prevayled, he had bynn used for the counterfeter. For he writes my hande so perfectly, as I cannot any way decerne the difference.

My wife wrate unto my Lady WALSINGAME towching MEERES, for he tooke into hys howse a sister of his wives who had sume 200 markes' portion, which the knave hath cussned her of and turned her of3 a-begginge. Now that sister being as deere to my Lady as MEERS' 3 off.

1 See previous Letters; and also Vol. I., chap. xxi.

2 100.

LETTER

CHI.

1601. Sept. 25.

To Sir R.
Cecil.

Sher-
[From
borne.]
Lawsuits
with

Meeres,

and other

personal

affairs.

LETTER

CII.

1601. Sept. 25.

i

wife, she cannot esteme such a knave who, if he respected her, would not so abuse her sister as he hathe, who being unmaried and begotten with childe in his howse is now by hyme,-thus undun,-cussned and cast of.

Besyds, I hope that my Lady of ESSEX cannot say butt, in matters of more importance, it hath pleased yow and your frinds to do her service since her Lord's death. Butt, howsoever it bee, if yow shall not thinck it fitt that hee submitt hym sealf-having used towards mee many more cussnegnes and villanes then ever DANIELL3 did to my Lady of ESSEX-I shalbe contente with your

2 off.

1 Meaning, it would seem, if he respected his wife. 3 John Daniel, of Danesbury or Dewsbury in Cheshire, who may possibly claim the distinction of having been the most thorough-paced and accomplished scoundrel known to the London of James the First. Ralegh's allusion is to his forgery of a series of letters entrusted by the Earl of Essex to the Countess' keeping. Daniel had married a Huguenot Frenchwoman, who had been in the service of Lady Essex, and had obtained that lady's confidence. When the Earl's troubles grew serious, Lady Essex feared, it seems, to keep the letters in her own house, and entrusted them to the charge of Daniel's wife. By her, they were shown to her husband, who stole them, and employed Peter Bales, a famous writing-master of the day, to make fac-similes. He then worked on Lady Essex' fears for her husband, by a series of villanies and threats which there is no need to narrate, until he had obtained an enormous sum of money as the condition of his returning to her the Earl's letters,-given in charge to her waitingwoman. The money obtained, he gave up the forgeries, and retained the originals; and then began to work upon the poor Countess' fears and love for her husband again. When the villany came at length to light, after the Earl's death, he was tried in the Star Chamber; sentenced to repay the money he had obtained from the Countess of Essex; and to pay a heavy fine to the Queen. The Queen compounded with him for the fine. He then set Lady Essex at defiance, and found one or more lawyers to support his plea that a pardon from the Crown, in such a case, disabled a meaner claimant from prosecuting her claim. His narrative of his own **Suffer ings"-addressed to King James the First - was long kept in the Chapter House at Westminster (among the Records of the Treasury of the Keceipt of the Exchequer), and is now in the new Rolls House. It is ent Led Danyell's Disasters, and is a curiosity in the literature of knavery. The letters of Lady Essex on this strange affair are among the Papers at Hatfield. They are both touching and admirably written.

order therin, and dare make my Lady of ESSEX judge in the cause.

MEERS hath sent down 26 subpoenas, to mee and other poor men, since he was cummitted.

If the Spanierds be now att sea, they ar in great distress. My Lord COBHAME is now with yow. I am sure the Queen must be a godmother and my Lord Admirall a fitt deputye. I beseich yow lett us know what becumes of Ostend and my Lord of NORTHUMBERLAND, to whom I have written of your carefull respect of hyme.

And, to conclude with MEERS, if ther be any nobell man, counceler, or gentelman that would be contented to be so provoked by a sarvant, and thinck it fitt to disgest so many indignites from a villayne raysed by hyme sealf, I wilbe contented to be ordered in this cause by such a one.'

BESS sayes that she must envy any fingers whosoever that shall weare her gloves, butt your owne.

Your's ever as your sarvant,

LETTER

CII.

1601. Sept. 25.

25 of September [1601].

W. RALEGH.

Addressed:

To the right honorabell Sir ROBERT CECYLL, Knighte, Principall

Endorsed:

Secritory, &c.

1601. September 25. Sir Walter Raleigh to my Master, concerninge

Meeres.

Three days later than the date of this letter from Sir W. Ralegh, Hery Meeres wrote to Sir R. Cecil a letter dated from Sherborne, and bearing on its superscription Viscount Bindon's signature,—dated from Bindon-enclosing certain "advertisements" which had been received by his Lordship, who, says the writer, "commanded me in haste to deliver them to the packet-bearer of Sherborne, which I performed this present day," &c. (Cecil Papers, vol. Ixxxviii. § 69. Hatfield.) On the 3rd of October John Meeres, the person specially complained of in

LETTER
Cill

1601.

Sept. 25.

To Sir
Robert

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CIII.

TO SECRETARY SIR ROBERT CECIL.

From the Original.

SIR,

Domestic Correspondence: Elizabeth. Unarranged Papers, marked $261 A. (Rolls House.) Holograph.

THER arived att Weimouth on Friday, the xxvTM of this September, to Skottishmen, the on called ROBERT BLANSHILL, the other ROBERT PERISON, marchants of Aburdene;-they departed Lysbone the thirde of this present;—who affirme, on their oathes, that they weare stayde att Lysbone and St. Uvall1 eyghteen weekes; and Arrival of that ther depted from Lysbone, some dayes before their cuminge from thence, a fleet of greate Spanish shipps, to the number of thirty-six, and with them three Irishe shipps, one Irishe byshoppe, with many preists, and other Irishe men. They all gave out that they intended to land either att Cork or Lymbrike. The number of men weare 8,000, wherof 6,000 soldiers; the other 2,000 weare to bringe back the shipps. They weare well furnished with vittell, munition, and mony; and had also with them many women.

Wer-
Beth-
News

of the Spanish Fleet

Sir Walter's letter printed above, thus addressed Cecil from his confine ment in the Gatehouse: "I do hereby acknowledge my violent speeches used by [i.. about] Sir Walter Ralegh, as formerlie I have done, and that they were spoken furiouslye and foolishelie; hoping that your Hor will have a mercyfull consideracion thereof, and waigh the tyme where I uttered them; the rather for that I am verie sorry for the same, and wilbe readye to make such satisfaction to him for the same as your Honor shall thinck meete, nothing doubting but that your Honor wilbe respective of my other causes that they may not [be] hereby impeached," &c.

St. Uvall.] San Juan de Ulloa?

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