lettertext
fol.177r
Later Addition: [To Master Bo]dly
Sir. I have the 26 daye of this August received yours of the 14 beyng the laste lettre commen to my hande from you. By which it appeareth you make aunswear to myne of the third, wherby I did wryte unto you as particularlie as I might of the succors which her Majestie requyred of the States, and yet me thinckes you still stand in doubt what is the deter- mination of the Queene, soe as except they maye have more certeintie of her Majesties proceedings then appeareth yet unto them, they will but temporize at home: and yet you doe wryte that Monsieur Caron hath let them to knowe that her Majestie hath sent 14 of her Shippes towardes Pli- mouth wherwith it seemeth they are not mooved, because you have not expressed it unto them by anie direction from hence: and yet if you doe peruse my letter of the third, you shall well perceave what I did signifie to be her Majesties desyre, soe as yf you did take knowledge thereof, you were sufficientlie instructed what to demaunde of them. And in that as you saye your sute hath been in all your lettres, that you might knowe more expresselie and directly her Majesties intentions, I doe thincke you ought to be satisfyed with my lettre of the 7 of July, wherby I did brieflie requyre you to recomend unto the States, the particular demandes which were deliyvered by Monsieur Caron, but you saye it was not signified unto you what these demaundes might importe, and herein you neede not to be soe precize, as that you might have recommended the same unto them, and referred you to Carons demaundes, who was commanded soddenly to expedit the same, and soe he promised to doe, and hath alwayes aunsweared us directlie that the States were well contented therwith, and that he had letters from the States of Zeeland promising to prepare the said shipping, soe as I saw noe cause to wryte anie more particularlie unto you thereof, untill by my lettre of the third of August, I did expresse what her Majesties mea- ning was, and I thincke it not amisse for the clearing of your conceit that you are not advertised as you would be, I would you should understand that my burden is great otherwise to aunswer farre greater matters, and that sometymes I am absent, and sometymes sicke, whereas if I had noe other chardge then to answear and instruct you, as you [had] nothing else to doe but in your owne negociation, you might heare oftener from me. And where in some other parte of your letter you saye there is varietie betwixt my wryting, and a writing deli- vered unto you by the States as from Caron. I am gladde that myne doth expresse twelve shippes, where their writing is for tenne, soe fol.177vFurthermore where I did alleadge, what the States had written to M[r] Caron of the 29 of July, I will still avow it soe to be reported by M[r] Caron, not onelie to me; but to the Quene, and howsoever the States beare you in hand, with shewing a Coppie of their letter sent to [Caron] I doe rather presume to Credit Caron /then/ their Copie of their Letter, in [that] I finde them unwilling to doe this service, which is to soe good a p[urpose] as, thoughe her Majestie had not pressed them therto, they ought to have [offe-] red it, and not with these trifling aunswers to delaye it as they have done, and soe it appeareth their unwillingnes. And where they see[m] to stand still upon the doubt of the countermand, I am assured tha[t] Caron was advertised within 6 howers after the countermande was [given,] that he should proceede as at the first he was directed, and soe he did [within] a daie or two after promise to wryte to the States, and I doe beleeve he [did] perfourme his promise: but in this matter I see plainely the trifling [of] the States, and unwillingnes whatsoever they give out in wordes, for (n[ot] as you write) when you moove them for 30 lastes of powder, they [make] you noe good aunswer therunto, but differ it untill all the Deputies [of] the States be come together, soe as I see howseover you have bin lately [in-] structed, or not thoroughlie, yet when you are both instructed and dea[l] fol.178r
with them in a point necessarie you can gett no aunswear./
You wonder that your advertisement of the taking of Groeninghen came soe lately hither, as indeede it did, though you saye Master Gilpin and you dispatched a post therwith, for in trueth the newes thereof, were particulerly certified to my L. of Essex, and common in London, before we could heare a word thereof from you: and therefore your Poste ought to make better aunswer therunto for his negligence: And if it be as you saye, that your poste brought your letters to my L. of Essex, then he delt lyke a varlet with me to keepe my lettres soe longe after my L. had receyved his.
Youe requyre me to pardon you a little, that you speake to me with some plainnes, when you feele your self encombred with the buren of your service, for want of due information: and soe doe I requyre you to beare with me in plaine writing that doe fynde you more scrupulous then neede is. And soe wishing that you would pro- cure some resolute resolution of the States, of that they are disposed to doe without cavillations, as it seemeth they doe at this tyme, and soe they doe in all Negotiations you have with them, geving generall good wordes, and yet in particularitie making alwaies delayes.
I thincke my next dispatche unto you; shalbe to send you her Majesties letter according to your desyre, to licence your comming from thence, which stayeth a fewe dayes, untill a Consultation maye be had, for sending of an expresse messenger to the Archiduke Ernestus from hence, of which matter you shall have information to deliver the same to the States. From Greenwich the 27 of August 1594.