Yo' Maties of ye 6th of this moneth giues me good hope that this packet will meete yo' Matie on ye way, & therefore I have addressed it (as yo' Matie comanded) to ye D. of Richmonde. God of his mercy poserve & protect yor Matie, and send you a safe and happy returne, wch is ye prayer of all yo" Maties best affected servaunts, as well as of Yor Matie Most humble & most obedient servaunt, EDW. NICHOLAS. As I was closing this let' my Lo: of Bristoll sent me word that his sonne Mr. Jo: Digby goes not for Scotland, and therefore I have sent that let wth this to yor Matie. WESTMINSTER, 12° Nobris 1641. The Queen to Sir Edward Nicholas Maistre Nicholas, I have receaued your lettre. I am sory you ar not well for I would haue ben glad to speake to you but it is of no haste therefore donat hastend your selfe for feare of being sick; I send you a lettre for Milord Keeper that the King ded send to me to deliuer it if I though it fit. the subject of it is to make a Derclaration against the ordres of Parliamant which ar made withouct the King. If you beleue a fit time giue it him if not you may keepet till I see you. the King will bee here sertaineleye the 20 of this monthe therefore you may aduertice the Maior of London. Your lettre that you did writt to Carnaruen is comme bak to mee and I burnt it. he was not at is hows it should be vere nessessairie that you should inquaire where (he) is and writt to him and send to milord Cotinton for is proxies for I heer he as to (two) and is owne. and send to milord Southampton and Dunsemoure' to send 1 Francis Leigh, Lord Dunsmore; afterwards Earl of Chichester. their proxies till the comme them selues; the are in Warwicshier. hauing no more to say I reste this 12 Novembre "For your selfe." Your assured frend HENRIETTE MARIE R. 12° Nobris 1641. The Queene to me. Sir Edward Nicholas to the King. May it please yo' most excellent Matie, This is ye first day since my falling sick, that I have bene able to sit vp to write: & albeit I shall doe it wth some difficulty, yet my duty will not suffer me to forbeare any longer to give yo Matie an accompt, that by Mr. Barkley I receaved on Sunday night last yo' Maties comaunds in 3 apostiles dated ye 9th of this moneth: All wch I have alreddy p'form'd, excepting that concerning giving notice to my Lord Mayor of ye day of yo Maties entring into London, whereof (I beleeve) I shall this afternoone have certeynty from the Queene. re Herewth yo' Matie will receave a proclamacion for ye attendance of ye Parliam* men, Wch my Lo: Keeper & Mr. Attorney conceaved would have bene better to have bene forborne to be published till yo' Maties turne, wch is now so neere in expectac'on. The House of Com'ons hastens by all meanes ye finishing of ye Declarac❜on or Remonstrance, & for ye more speedy expediting of it, they have att ye Com'ittee passed by many p'ticlars to avoide ye delay of long debate. The order of ye House of Com'ons for ye number of Scots to be sent into Irland, was altered from 1000. to 5000. vpon Saturday last in ye afternoone, & thoughe (wee heare) that ye imploym of soe many Scots wilbe very acceptable to that nac'on, yet it is here apprehended by wise men, that y° same will exasperate y Irishe, & make them buckle more resolutely to a warre of rebellion, then otherwise they would doe. Since ye plot in delivering to Mr. Pym' a let wth a plaster and a threatening in it, there was on Munday last in ye evening, another as desperate and dangerous a conspiracy against him, & diverse members of both Houses, discovered by a poore zealous taylor, who, being in ye fields mending ye notes he had taken of a sermon, there happened to come (as he relates it) 2. souldier-like men, soe neere him, as he overheard them telling each other, how many of their acquaintance were to be forthwth imployed to murther diverse members both of ye Upper and Lower House, & this taylor had ye oportunity to take from those 2. mens mouthes ye names both of ye murtherers, & of ye p'sons to be murthered: the reward to him that kil❜d a member of ye Lower House was to be 40s. & to him that murthered one of ye Upper House 10. This discovery makes a great noyse in & about ye Parliam House, & (however many wise men give no creddit at all to it, yet) it hath produced severall orders for securing of y Parliam, & Parliament-men, the coppies of some of wch I have here inclosed sent yo' Mate. The order of ye 16th p'sent,3 wch requires that 1 Plots against the life of Pym were rife at this time. Among the parliamentary chiefs he was the most prominent mark for such attempts, and many appear to have been undertaken. "He seemed to all men," says Clarendon, " to have the greatest influence upon the House of Commons of any man: and, in truth, I think he was the most popular man, and the most able to do hurt, that hath lived in any time." The first of the plots referred to by Nicholas was a strange one. The plague still lingered in various places in and near London; and it would seem that as the popular leader entered the House of Commons one day, the porter of the House de. livered to him a letter (received from "a gentleman on horseback, in a grey coat, who gave him twelvepence for the speedy delivery of it"), from which, on his opening it, there dropped a covering which had come from a plague wound; the letter itself containing "many menaces and much railing against him." 2 His name was Beale: but the House could procure no further intelligence of a satisfactory kind upon the subject; and whether the alleged conspiracy may not have been a piece of folly or of roguery on the part of the informer, is by no means clear. 3 Not recorded in the Parliamentary History. y rigour of y law be put in excuc'on against all Papists, that shalbe founde in London or Westminster after this night, is not (I heare) thought by some of ye Com'ons to be severe enoughe, soe as it is conceaved there wilbe some more sharpnes added to that order this day: all ye Papists Lodes are alreddy removing out of this Towne vpon this order. ffriday last (wch was ye first day of my falling into extremity) the Venetian Amb'dor complained att y Councell Boorde, that his l'rs had bene opened by ye Com'ittees of Parliam, & he was soe much incensed at it, as he there made his protest, & declared, that he would treate no further, & thereupon wthdrew himselfe (as I heare) to Greenewch, till such tyme as he shall advertise that Republique wth that affront as he termed it. The agent of ye D. of Florence is as highly distasted with some violence that hath been vsed in serching his house by some officers or warr of Parliam: these distasts given to those Ministers will (it is thought) light very heavy on yo' Maties subts trading [to] those partes, and will proove a very great piudice & interrupc'on to ye trade of this yo' Maties kingdome. I heare from a very good hand, that there are diverse principall gen' of Hertfordsh: who are desirous to tender their duty to yo' Matie att Ware, & to wayte on you into that towne if yo' Matie shall make any stop there, & they will bring wth them diverse of their neighbours & friends, who are desirous to shew how welcome yo' Maties returne is into that country, whereof I thought good to give yo' Mate this tymely notice, for that I humbly conceaue it would not be amisse for yo Matie in these tymes to accept grac'ously y affecc'ons of yo' subts in that kinde, whereby you will have opportunity to shew yourself grac'ous to yo' people as yo" Matie passeth, & to speake a few good words to them, we will gaine ye aff ons (especially of ye vulgar) more then any thing that hath bene donne for them this Parliam. This day ye examinac'ons against O'Neale were read in ye Com'ons House, wherein were menc'oned some l'rs & papers signed C. R., the effect of one of wch (sent to Capt: Leg') was (as I heare), that he should speake with S Ja: Ashley according to instrucc'ons wch he had from yo' Matie, & let none see that let' but only S Ja: Ashley, who, together wth Sr Jo. Conyers (as I am tould, but I beseech yo' Matie to take noe notice thereof from me) have bene very large & partic'lar in their examinac'ons, wch (I heare) reflect vpon yo' Maties person: it is thought that ye Parliam will condempne O'Neale, but they are not yet resolved where or how to trye him: they doubte ye testimony against him will not be soe full, as in a legal way to condempne him at the King's Bench barre, & they resolve not (as yet) whether it wilbe fit to doe it by a Bill, according to their legislative power. I have (as yo' Matie com'anded) given wart to my Lo: Keeper to renew ye Com'ission of Lieutenn'cy for London, & to put in ye new Lo: Mayor, who is a very well affted servaunt of yo' Maties. There is a Com'ittee of both Houses appointed to pepare instrucc'ons for ye Lo: Lieutenant of Irland, wherewth they are now in hand. The 13 BPps did demurre to ye busines agt them, but ye Com❜ons have in their House overruled ye demurrer & voted that those BPs shall answere in cheif. I dispatched ye Bills for ye new BPs wth all expedic'on, & that busines is now in as good forwardnes as may be. I hope by that tyme yo' Matie shall returne hither, to be able to goe abroade, in ye meane tyme, I will to ye best of my strength & abillity p'forme ye duty of Yo' sacred Maties Most humble & obedient servaunt, WESTMINSTER, 18: Nobris, 1641. 'Captain Leg, otherwise Colonel; but better known as "honest Will Leg;" and ancestor of the Earls of Dartmouth. 2 This Conyers was afterwards, in 1643, nominated by the Parliament to the Lieutenancy of the Tower, on the King being compelled to dismiss Sir John Byron from that office. |
