[fol. 151r] I make mi mone verey humbly ^to yow^ (mi most sacred Soveraigne) of som that have of long tyme as it semes, sowght mi disgrace & undoing with your majestie. which your highe wisdom is to judge of, to whom mi service & sincerity is best knowen by the space of 28. yeres, & od moneths. They have informed that I am a raver, Thatt yow have bestowed uppon me manifolld things. Thatt in mi jorney estwards, the Townes (to honor your majestie) have gyven me above ij mli & that I have a whiske in mi hed, desirows to be gaddyng, wherby I were unfytt for an office, wherunto under your majesties favor, mi answer shalbe shorte & symple./
I only had duryng mi service .2. gyfftes, & those nott propperly of mi sute, butt of your free disposityon, The first a lese in reversyon, & the other a pencion, which may be valued att bothe to ix C li for gyfftes bestowed on me in the placs of mi employment, besyde a chaine worth 50 li I am so far from benefyteng that waye, as it hath coste me (yett nott wastefullye) in my .2. last jorneyes 860li for the which I have gayged mi frynds & mi pencion att home, th'only staye of mi lyveng, albeit I might have byn feed in lawfull things verey largely abrode, which I was free of as becomes the servant of a King. yett I have spent (to be the habler to serve yow) whatt soever mi industry or experyence cowd affourde me those mani yeres, which is nott so lyttell I modestly affirme as 4500li ther be that know the trew compasse herof. Lastly I have nott byn forward to presse for foreyn services, Butt have avoyded som that were presented ^me^ to Barbary, Flanders, & other placs, which argues then (poore sowlle) [ deleted: in me] no whiske, unstaydnes, or gaddyng humor I hope: Albeit I wisshe to your majestie more hable persons abowt yow, for employments abrode, then I se capable, though willeng, to discharge that vocation. A man of service is nott so sone bred, not eche manes sence serve him a lyke, the small remnante sholld be the more cherisshed./
your majestie graciouslye to prevent bothe mi craving & neede, appoynted me with many good woords a yere past, to succede master Beale in the Clerckship of the Cowncell, which when others (in objectyng belyke mi whiske) had obtayned, I then made sute for a mene thing voyd in mi naturall contry, nott reffused me by your majestie, yett crossed by on a neere stranger [ deleted: stranger] to your service, [ deleted: &] verey yong withall, whose lyveng by yow only (this thing & his patrymony excepted) is better worth than a m marcks yerely. other sute of ani vallew R. graciows Soveraigne, nether had I nor made I wherof I desire to be cleered in your own graciows conseytt, that mi detractors may cesse to supplant me with their bytternes, wherwith I am nether wounded nor moved, butt armed with pacyens to endure for your majesties service I thanck God, for the which I have provoked mightye enmyes, & purchassed only a barren harvest./
In regarde of which the premisses (mi weke estate consydred) it may plese your majestie to inhable me at laste, with somwhat convenyent for me in reputacion & comoditye, & I will [fol. 151v] most trulye deserve it, sed mora micti more. or yf it be so decreed that I alone shalbe secluded from benefite & prefferment, the same is of mi disaster, nott of your will, which hath byn ever most graciouslye inclyned towards me, & so will I ever reppute it beyng hable to gett mi lyveng abrode (though late) as a citezin of the worlld, with the plowe of mi poore witt, & the honest oppynion helld of me, so ye vowchesave to grawnt me [ Marginalia (by Herle): (which most humbly I do beseeke)] your honorable leve & Testimony, having mani eyes fixed on me, yett will I serve your majestie (mi sacred sweete Soveraigne) whersoever I becom, & pray for yow with as sincere devotyon, as ani neerer respected att home. Grenewiche the x ^th^ of Aprill. 1587. your majesties poorest servant, now in the fruteles Awtompne of his Aige. W.H./
