Reference: LPL, MS 650 f.163r-164v
Citation: DCB/001/HTML/0766/008
Date: 02 March 1594
Note:
addressleaf
fol.164vEndorsed: De Monsieur Bodley le 2me de mars a Monsieur le comte d'Essex 1594.
lettertext
fol.163r
May it please your good Lp. it was your pleasure to will me when I parted from home, to write of any thinge whatsoever so I writt unto you often: which order I will followe till your Lp. be weary & bidde me take an other course. Master Devinston the Scottishe Ambassador ligger hath ben with me of purpose to ease his stomacke of dislike of this coming hither of Coronell Stuart: aswell in respect of his demaund of assistance, which if it be money he thinkes is wholly lost: as of the mariage be sollicited betweene th'Earle of Orchney & the sister of Co. Maurice: under cullour whereof he saieth that Co. Stuart doth practise somewhat elce: & yet for ought I can parceive he seemeth to be ignorant of his private instructions. And thus he uttereth his phansie not onelie to be, but in secret communication to diverse of the States: howbeit as I am informed he is a creature of the chauncellor, aswell as the Coronell. Both by him & the rest of the nation, here Stuart is reputed a papiste, & a spaniard in hart, & of a lousie disposicion: not as they affirme, beloved of the K; nor of many men in Scotland. And thoghe they speake it, I finde somewhat of the splene, yet many men concurring in one common conceite, I will take it for a caveat to observe his proceedinges. The 26 of the last I sent your Lp the copies of certaine lettres intercepted, in which was a note of a speciall parsonage, that would be wonne as he thought to doe a singular peece of service, it meanes might be found to recompence his losses. fol.163v
I have ben somewhat inquisitive, to know amonge the scottes who the partie might be, by their conjecture but they are all in a muse, not knowing whom to ghesse at: though their chiefest suspicion runne upon the L. Humes; by reason of aliaunce be- tweene him & Thomas Tyrie. The Coronell in his discourse doth rather ghesse the L. Atholl, partlie for th'affection that he beareth to Bothwell, & partlie for a pique, which he saith is growen of late between him & Argile. I cannot yet parceave by any circumstance heere, that Stuart hath imparted his private instructions to any one of the state. which makes mee thinke that his charge was to proceede in such sorte, as he should finde mens disposicions wherein I thinke he is deceaved.
I have had a lettre from your Lp. by Captaine Berry whereof the date was omitted: & the tenor was onelie to lett me know that her Majestie complai- ned of my silence: in which behalfe I trust by this shee is very well satisfied. And so I take my humble leave. From the Hage Marche 2 1594. Your Lps most humbly bounden. Tho. Bodley.
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