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BL MS Lansdowne 16 f. 102r - 103v. William Herle to Lord Burghley. 
Address Leaf:
[Superscription:] To the right honorable my good Lord, The Lord Thresuror of England give these with spede the Cowrte yt may plese your L to rede this assone as your leysure will serve./
[Endorsement by unknown hand:] William Herle to my L.
Letter Text:
[fol. 102r] a [ deleted: dis] discontented man, wold dooble his service & credit there, & content your L. in that ye had fownd so juste an Instrument to decipher even their secrettest Conwncelles & motyons: for of a mene man he saith, there was non more dere & familyer to sayas than he was, nor habler to enter into his bosom soner, which he hopes to revive again, nott only with hym, butt with other of gretter calling, whose humors he can intertayne verey well./

Then for owr englishmen there, he perswades that he may bothe understand & directe all their Cowrses, wherin your L. shall adventure nothing other in credite or money by trusting of hym over, butt rather if he shold be an [ ... ] man, to make a gayne by havyng hym hence: And to conlcude he saith, that he may (considring these tymes, & the disposityons of Spaine towards us) do good mani wayes, but harme nowaye though he wolde; desireng herin to be justeffied & accepted by the'ffecte only of his true & diligent service, which shall appere to the Q. & your L. to be bothe sincere & faithfull./ Wherunto I ad humbly mi oppinion, that he apperes a full reconsiled man, & will performe more than he promiseth for he hath a zele to his Contrey, & wold wyn his Credite again by whatt hardnes or travayll soever it were: And as there cam good intelligence thence of late by Brittain; so this man if he prove juste, might excede them all, be it ether for sufficyencye or secresye./

Lastly I have to advertis your L. of a new Conspiracye, that is intended by certain decayed men to go over into Spaigne, & to joyne with Stukely in his practises for the invading of Ireland, & the subversion of this State, as far as in them lyes. The matter is handled in sentligers howse & there concluded uppon. The cheeff partyes be sir warham sentliger hymself & Jerom Brett, having allured to them martin furbisher with the promis of 20li land by the yere, or with the vallew of it in redy money, to transport them over to their Cosin Stukely. They have joyned to them on Haselby a seaman & John Poole mi frind for whom I am most sory, butt that I prefferre loyallty to ani fryndship. They allso mene to bring in som more decayed gentilmen, & som other suche as they note ether discontented or addicted this waye, & among these they wold have yong Brown with them a base brother to the L. Montacute. Their pretence wilbe to ship corne over into Ireland, & therwith to passe into Spaine; to which end if Jerom Brett have nott bin allredy with your L. to obtayne a lycens for the sayd Corne he menes to be. The occasion of this Bile (beside their own decaye & lewdnes is an offence that som [fol. 102v] of them have conseved against your L. namely sir warham sentliger, for the restoring of the Erlle of Desmond into his Contrey again: which he takes on so ylle parte, that he hopes to se the Q. majestie he sayth destroyed with all the pack of suche villaynows Cowncelllors, as now governe, having opened to your L. grett secretts he saith, of the sayd Erlle of Desmond & of the state of Ireland, wherby he hath discredited hym self utterly, & is rejected with all from that he loked for & shold have had there, butt the Pope shall grow on their heeles, or ether he advertys ani more or serve in suche a state, where upstarts do comande & that the nobility of the land is kept back & contempned, cursing that blablipped Cowardly foole, the Duke of Northfolk, that he had nott gon rowndly to his busynes, who might have had xv, men to on of the Q. & yett wold suffer hym self to be intrapped like a Dollte; which words & matter as they be grevous, so it may plese your L. to construe of them as yow se cawse & to hold me discharged, for imparting the same unto yow; herof your L. shall trye the whole truthe with further circumstance if ye vowchesave to speke with furbishers wife, whom I will send to you with a lyttel scedule of myne, by whom her husbond may be made a mene to entertayne this matter to his full ripenes; for they canott departe before the next terme, for that their Banck will nott be redy till then. I have enjoyned grett secresy to furbishers wife, who is the discoverer of this pack, & though it procede partly of displesure borne to sir warham sentlyger as I perceve, & partly of som jarre hapned bettwen furbisher & her by sir warhams menes, yett there is grett likelihood that every parte therof shold be true, & by suche displesures, women mani tymes have disclosed grett tresons, wherin it may plese your L. to examine her of every parte that I have written, which she will shew you [ deleted: in effect] allso written with her own hand./

Now in th'end these few words towching mi self, beseching your L. to be good unto me & to consyder of mi hard estate, for nether have I cowntenance nor hability to lyve by ani longer, nor hope remayneng but in the Q. majestie alone & in your L./ yow know that I have nott bin importunate since I was comitted to the Towre, which is now ij yeres since & more, butt rather modestly attending whatt shold be disposed of me, than craving whatt becam me nott. Notwithstanding her majestie hath bin good unto me dyverse wayes, bestowing somes of money uppon me, wherwith partly the chargs of mi long imprisonment [fol. 103r] in the marshallsea & other detts were payd, & partly I have lited by the rest. Allso her majestie bestowed a lease in reversion uppon me which I followed not. And lastly, having granted to me by your L. good mene the stallment of Richard Smiths detts; where I thought it shold have bin servisabell to her majestie & proffitable to mi self, I perceve it canot be performed in ani of the parts, & this I rest by myne own unhappines an unhappi man still. Butt if it wold plese her majestie to bestowe uppon me the reversion of Chamberlaynes office in the Towre, (which most be given to som bodye) I shold nott only be well stayed therby, butt allso enhabled therin to obtayne a wydow that hath a Cli by the yere, which wold grettly expresse her majesties gracyousnes towards me, as a prefferment of her own, & make me hable to serve her in som better degre to the incoraigement of other, butt without suche a cowntenance & stay, first in on of mi sort, nothing ether prevayles or is acheved, which I humbly comend to her majestie & your L. Mary I have nether fee ferme nor fre holde to comande mi self to the Rowme, to make me the fitter for it, butt only mi faithfull, humble, & diligent menyng, which shall make me ye more bownd in duty & obedience to deserve her majesties liberality in obtayneng this, & therin do Princs most shew their grettnes in rayseng those that ar under foote, At lestwise consydring that the gretter nomber of small offices in this land ar employed uppon these that have as littel as I, & perhaps les goodwill, I humbly hope not to be excluded from the rest, & that in faith may have som place of beginneng, as other that pretend to rise by vertue & service, which now is to be hoped for or never, being growen to grey heres & to a staydnes of life & manners, which alltogether do verey hubly intrete for me, wherwith I take mi leve, craving pardon for this mi long lre & prayng to God for your L. good helth & contynuance./ from London this xvj of marche. 1572./ your L. verey hublye./ W. Herlleli.

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