I receved from your L. on Satterday laste, certayn interrogatoryes framed against Chillester, & his answers to the same, wherin the sayd Chillester hath answerd in few thinges or non to the truthe of the matter: for having talked a far of with D. Bulleyn & other that be his accusers, which they say, they do merly for zele borne to the Q. Majestie & her state, & for no malyce att all, they affirme all those thinges against hym, which they have sayd before, with further matter to prove of long tyme a malycyows mynde [ deleted: of hy] in hym bothe agaynst the state of Religon, against the state of governement & against the whole Cowncell, butt specially the sayd Chillester hath inveighed agaynst your L. & the rule of women & childern, as on that is grettly ^moved^ with yow bothe; wherof for that I wold be the better informed, hath made me stay the longer or I retorned ani answer to your L. again, Butt in few words this Chillester is a dangerows fellow, who if he be handled skillfully & sharply, he is hable to discover a grett & a dangerows neste of ill men & of practisers, butt now in his first examinacyon the mylldnes that hath bin showed unto hym, hath encresed grett coraige in hym, where before he cessed nott to wepe & tremble for fere of that which might follow which he hath spred abrode hym self with grett joye (I know nott how) that they be butt trifelles that he is charged with, insomuche that on overton his grett frynd, who serves master Comptroller, & whose wife the sayd Chillester is thought to kepe, cowd tell me on sonday laste in talking of Chillester, all the poynts that he was examyned uppon, & his answers to the same, which I semed ignorant of, wherwith overton concluded [fol. 2v] that his fryndes wold sue for the sayd Chillesters enlargement, seing he was comitted for suche trifelles, amongest whom sir Harry Sydney had promised his ayd, so had master wilbraham, & [ deleted: they] ^he^ hoped likewise that the Erlle of Bedford wold joyne with them, so as your L. may use your accustomed wisdom, how he may be streyttned tyll that he hath reveled the truthe, being as ranck a papiste (if he be of ani religion, for so as mather sayd, doth he use his conversation as a nose of waxe to wyn favor of every Company) as may be in this land, practiseng butt with on att ones, butt every mornyng he was wont in Powlles to disgorge his rebellyows stomack agaynst the Q. Majestie & the Cowncell, with those Papistes & ille men that he fownd there, which I se to be dayly a custom with a grett sight ^of other^ . And for the poynts that he answers it semes not [ Marginalia (by Herle): j] that the same is true, which he sayes for the changing of Davy into Chillester, butt conteynes a gretter mistery, being a cownterfett in all his life & doing, if it be well ciffted, as he is in name [ Marginalia (by Herle): ij] And to the second interrogatory, he fayles grettly when he sayth that he hath dwellt & sojorned from Ester laste with Buskill the parson of orfed in Essex, for the sayd parson tolld me & the sheriff (for I examyned hym specially of that poynt, & of the speche he used of religion or of the state, & of the Compani he kept) that he cam to hym nott Ester laste with his wife, & departed Imediately leving her there, then he retorned ones more att mydsomer for iij or iiij dayes, & the like he did att Michellmas & att Christmas butt at the last assises in Essex he cam down to hym, which was [ ... ] uppon the executyon of Mather, where he remayned till his apprehensyon, in which poynt as [ deleted: he] ^Chillester^ varyes grettly, so is itt nott don, butt to som end, to cover the Compani & tyme spent otherwise, & it pro [fol. 3r] ves withall, how he is to be trusted in the rest, wherfore if it might plese your L. to comand hym stryctly to make Diarium quoddam, how he hath passed the tyme dayly, weekly, & monthly, since Ester laste till he was apprehended, & in whatt placs & Company, & with whatt Conferencs, your L. shold sone in mi oppinion decipher bothe hym & his delynges, & perceve withall where & wherin he halltes with yow, but I wold wishe withall that he had nomore paper delyverd unto hym than he shold bestowe this waye, which might be marked with som seal unto hym & so receved agayn, & though he saye [ deleted: that he] in the latter parte of his answer to this second article that he sojorned with the abovenamed person, bothe he, his wife, & mayd, yett he payd never a peny, & if it were examyned how he gave mayntenance for hym sellf, & whatt he spent, it wold appere that ether it cam verey ylle favoredly, or elles that he ys fed by som, who were worthy to be knowen./
[ Marginalia (by Herle): iij. iiij. v./] To the third & iiij ^th^ artycle, he nether answers directly nor truly, & wold fayne shiffte over for whatt offence he fled over seas, he allso omyttes his retorne into England to fetche suche money as he & Harrison had cownterfetted & hydden under a brydge abowtt follston, & how he wold have killed harrison for that he had prevented hym. he allso erres in that he sayth that he was mayntayned in frawnce by money sent hym owtt of England, for he had never a frynd that ether wold do, or cowd do for hym, butt he mighte have sayd that he lyved of spoyles & practises, & lastely was a deler in pyracyes & sea matters, joyneng hym self in th'end with the Killegrewes & with Martyn Dare, amongest whom he devised a certayn polycye & forme of a Comune weale, for the which & for other thynges according to the alltring of a state, he was muche comended by Mather to John Gilpine, wherby may appere that Mather & he had more conference of comune matters & oftener metyngs than twice or [fol. 3v]thrise att Goodalttes, having bin mett in the filldes alone ^with hym^ & in sondry other places, & att his executyon he was redy to encoraige hym with his finger to a certayn scylens, & constancye, wherin I knew Mathers nature so well, that findeng on so discontented as Chillester was, & so apte to discowrse with hym, [ deleted: butt] that he wold powre foorth his whole secrettes unto hym, & joyne with hym in the platt that he had intended, which semes confirmed by the words & Comendacyons that Mather used to me of Chillester but to retorne to the Killegrewes & to Martyn Dare, they coyned together, he being in their Compani (& by all likelihood was in his devise) frenche Crownes, which were uttred in sondry places, & he was a doer with them in their sea cawses, & had bin apprehended with them by Q. Maryes shippes, if he had not bin that daye ashore att a wedding, & partly for fere understanding of som fighte that might be, for that he being of nature a very coward wold save on, & of these devises grew his mayntenance & nott owtt of England, which may argue whatt sowndnes he may be of still, & how untruly he answers to the ix ^th^ interrogatory towching mather, butt to the v ^th^ interrogatory towching that he had nott served the late Erlle of Pembroke, it is supposed that he sayth true.
[ Marginalia (by Herle): vj.] To the vj ^th^ interrogatory, where he sayth that he had his pardon for coinage, butt then qwalleffieng thoffence in that he dyd only suffer sweete & [Champtred] to coyne in Ottford howse: the truthe is that when Harrison [ deleted: had] & he had agreed heruppon, then Chillester perswaded these ij fellowes with grett promises & fayre words to their intent ,alledging if that they brought the stampes of the Towne with them then shold it be no cownterfeate coyne butt true coyne, which pore men being won with hope of the gayne & the Comoditye of the place, yelded to Chillester & Harrison, who allso had provyded on [ ... ] a merchant to utter the sayd coyne, contyneweng this trade tyll as they were discoverd by a Baker in Chepe syde, who mistrustyng the newnes of the money, harrison & he fled theruppon, butt the other [ deleted: escaped] were executed, wheratt Chillester was wont to glory [fol. 4r] that he cowd bring pore knaves to the gallowes & preserve hym self. & thus your L may se, how he wold shiffte matters of ./
[ Marginalia (by Herle): vij. viij. ix./] To the vij & viij ^th^ he answers very breeffly to use the like cover of his doings that he doth in the rest, but as he served the sayd Sir William Ingelbye, so was he his whole doer, Cowncellor & Clerck, for that indede Ingelby was nott only a rawe officer, but not hable to make his owne accomptes, wherby Chillester had occasyon to behold whatsoever frawd or abuse the sayd Tresuror dyd practice against the Q. Majestie in his office, which hath bin so grett, as Chillester hath repported that Ingelby durst not displese hym, nor denye hm ani thing, & so consequently caryed hym in his sleve, of which Ingelby, Chillester receved besyde all former gaynes a viccaraige of late to supplye his nede, and [ Marginalia (by Herle): I delyvered your L. a paper hereof.] these ij joyned in on to overthrow sir valentyn Browne. And to the ix ^th^ answer, it may plese your L. to consyder whatt is spoken of before, which consernes Mather./
[ Marginalia (by Herle): x.] For the x ^th^ answer, itt rests in your L. to examyne whatt his stayte is in cosmographye or geographye, & to whatt purpose suche a on as he, who is Brewer of sedycyon shold have the platts & descriptyons of the sea coste only, & to whatt end he shold have those bookes of prophesyes, namely coted & wrytten with his own hand, where the whyte Lyon shold obtayn with so grett slawghter, the soverainty of the whole Reallm, wherof there is no mentyon made in these late Interrogatoryes unto hym./ Butt where he sayeth he hath other mappes of other Contreyes, he hath not on that is ether good or true, nor ani instruments as he pretends for his gretter skylle, butt on sely croked sphere./
[ Marginalia (by Herle): xj] To the xj ^th^ he doth D. Bulleyn grett wrong for he hath fownde muche fryndship & releeff att his hands, even in his grettest extremity, which he unthanckfully recompenseth; & where he chargeth the sayd Bulleyn with matter towching his mariaige the same is verey sclanderows & untrue, hable to be so tryed by men of grett honor & [fol. 4v] worship, butt rather the sayd Chillester shold refferme his own doings who possesseth another manes wife (as is sayd) whom he stolle from her husbond, & as his neighbors generally exclame agaynst hym, kepes other mennes wives besydes, & hath gotten ij of his maydes with chylde, butt they ar more offended with hym in that he is so sedycyows a fellow & so ranck a Papist even unrecoverable. And for the words that passed between Towres & hym, these they were. well sayth Chillester very malycyowsly, now that Berwick Brydge is broken & the Towne unforteffyed, there wilbe more scotts there shortly than all England is hable to putt owtt, & though we canott kepe it sayth he, those good fellowes will mawgre our heddes, wheruppon Towres repplyeng that this talke was very sedycyows, affirmed that he cowd with in ij dayes with caske & suchlike stuff, make the Brydge passable. which the other denyed with a certayn contentyon as though he knewe of the scotts intents & desyred that it shold be so possessed, wheruppon being reproved by Bulleyn & the Company, he turned his speche to the nature & deffinityon of a goollfe, in which dispute he receved a blowe of the eare by Towres. And for the wering of armor, when as Towres wished hym self & Chillester (in beholding of sondry good armures in Bulleynes howse) so well appoynted, to serve the Q. Majestie against the grettest enmye she had, nay sayd Chillester & if I were so armed, I wold last tell yow whom I wold serve, which was uttred in suche forme, as his verey cowntenance might shew that it shold nott be to serve her majestie nor her frynds. And for the changing of the state & of the Religion, these words dyd he expresse in grett choller to Cowper, who hath maryed with on Gods dowghter a verey ille man & a grett papiste, telling [ deleted: hym] ^Cowper^ that these puritane knaves shold be browght to the sea of Rome or it were long agayn, & that he & the rest shold be well hampred for their wyckednes & abuses, expressing ^this^ in the [fol. 5r] open strete whatt change of governement & Magistrates that he loked for, As allso the sayd Cowper hath offten complayned how Chillester did informe his father in lawe God, that he was a protestant, wherby Cowper had the lesse favor shewed unto hym by the sayd God, & the lesse hope to be benefited by his goodes heraffter, & these be the frutes of Chillesters religion, whom all the world knowes to be a Papiste & a versipeller whattsoever he wold heare now to the contrary, yett to wyn som oppinion of duty & honesty, he fathers Godwelles translatyon to be his, & hath dedicated yt to the Q. Majestie being more familier with the sayd Goldwelles wife than was mete, wherby after her husbonds decesse he gott the sayde worke./
[ Marginalia (by Herle): xij.] To the xij ^th^ it may be that D. Edriche & he be cosyne germaynes as well in nature [ deleted: &] ^as^ condicyons, butt yett he wished that he might deliver all the rest of the Papistes owt of their thralldom, as well as he dyd hym, suggestyng to D. Bulleyn & other (for that he wold have had hym to joyne in suretiship for the said Edriche) that Edriche was so rare a man & so dere unto the Q. majestie that she wold nott lese hym for ani tresure. /
[ Marginalia (by xiij. xiiij.): ] To the 13. & xiiij for [ ... ] & erectyng of figures, ether to know successe of thynges, or to make qwestyons towching the Q. Majestie owr soveraigne, or towching the Scottish Q. & the Duke of Northfolke, itt rests in your L. wisdom to serche owtt the truthe, [ Marginalia (by Herle): I sawe the figure for his son on the backsyde of a booke, which I left behynde me, for that it was of no value./] whatt he can do, or whatt he hath sought to do therin, ones therbe mani presumptyons of his hatred to this present state & of his affectyon to the Scottish Q. & the late Duke, of whom he hath sayd that he wold prove as true a man as the prowdest of you all, & that it was ashame that ether woman or boye shold ever governe, & that your L.was a briber & had holpen owt Sir Valentine Browne for bribes sake, [ deleted: which] which wordes were spoken by hym to D Walker, & dyd move me indede att the very hart, to se so [fol. 5v] noble a Pryncesse, contempned by so basse a creature & a man deserving so ylle of the Comune Weale, as the Duke hath don, so [preffered] , & lastly that he durst use so grett a sclander of your L. as he dyd, Butt if it may plese your L. to bowlte owtt the truthe of all these thynges, lett these partyes following be examyned severally att on instant, if it may be, uppon all these matters here within conteyned, & of ani thyng elles that they know by this Chillester, wherby your L. may be further satisfied of ani thing that is in qwestyon & this is to obey your L. comandement in that I cowd certeffye yow, according as yow willed me by master Blythe, & so most humbly I take mi leve this tewsday mornyng in haste. p. Aprilis 1572. att mi lodging. giveng your L. most humbell thankes for the goodnes & comfort that ye used yesternight to mi pore Brother./ Your L. verey humblye. W. Herlleli.
