[fol. 65r] My R. honorable good L. even now I Receved your L. lre dated at the Cowrt this day, & do assure your L. that therbe sondry principal persons with others, that ar throwly edefied of your L. sincere & ernest proceding in these grett actions, & yow shall evidently se, that within short space, the oppinion shalbe generally so confirmed, & your person more Reverenced, then [ever] yt was. I have more instruments abrode, than your L. wolld weene, men of spirite & reputacion: & mi duty shall wake for your L. as carefully, as for the preservacion of the Ball of myne eye./
Seguris was with me this mornyng to take his Leve, discontented: butt confessing, that nott [ deleted: only] alone yow had delt most honorably for his K. (& yett ill handled by som) even to the offending of her majestie butt also had persisted therin, more than the rest, your credit & understandyng, having better passayge, than they altogether: whiche he wold nott only [ Marginalia (by Herle): publish] here, butt assure his K. that ye were the sole personaige, to whom affayres owght to be addressed, wherof ye shall here more within ij dayes, by ij mowthes perhaps of worthy persons: And these malicious brutes then, not only be ani skar, butt ^nott^ somuche as a supposed warte./
He affirmed that the Q. majestie had a will of her own joyned with an oppinion, that she sawe further into these Actions, than her whole Cowncell & wold not be advised./
Butt if her majestie undertake nott this cawse throwly & Royally, of the Lowe Contreyes: she consumes her [ Marginalia (by Tresure): ] to no purpose, wastes her men, undothe the poore people, that most nedes have a faithfull soveraigne Hed over them, [fol. 65v] the Lack wherof is their destruction. Pax enim in pacem non habet Imperius: she bringes the warre to her own doores & yett she canott provoke spayn more than allredy she hath don: she provokes all Pryncs, aswell Protesants as others against her: she makes her self naked of all aydes, & convertes the sydes now presented, to be turned against her self: she staynes her Credite everlasting, & that of her Cowncelles, in having importuned the poore people over to her, & then to send them fruteles away, which is [fonteles] , that her majestie becom nott their Hed, to bere downe the Tirany of Spayn: she abandons the Churche of God distressed, & her best Bullwarck withall, she intertaynes the Calamity of her neighbors, nott preserves it, which is bothe within her help, & nere her help: she excludes all Traffick at home by despiseng all frynds abrode: she dyssolves merchants: she brekes the Drapery of England, & sturres up all the poore people, lyveng of the same Trade, an infinte nomber, to a necessity, that will shake the frame of the whole State, joyned with the inconveniencs that where with All concurre./ The Gentilmen shall not sell his wooll: the plowman his corne, the Grasier his ware: nor the Artificer be employed, all things wilbe disordred, & so ar we suffocatted in our own fatt, thowgh we fele nott the force of ani foreyn invasyon./ Her majesties Customes, wilbe nothyng: she most lyve of her Rent, & how it wilbe answerd is dowttfull, And that which she most feres, will follow att the heeles, The contempt of her majesties person, the reputacion wherof [ Marginalia (by Herle): partly] hath bin kept in Tune, these 27. yeres by on polycy, butt the Date is owtt, & the Last intertaynment had like to have ended Tragically. Her majestie shall uppon this, nether here nor see ani thyng abowt her, butt sadnes of her subjects, open discontentment, murmuryng of [ deleted: her subjects] [ Marginalia (by Herle): all sorts] drowsing [fol. 66r] in the Nobility in the rest, [ deleted: murmuryng] whispering, conspireng, & exclamyng against the Governement, like as Q. Mary hard before her end, which hastened her end: from the which God of his mercy preserve her majestie. Butt this only seqwell, is hable to dissolve a gretter kyngdom than owrs hastily, which falles not by pushing att, butt by his own weight, wantyng weight to resolve & execute pregnantly, & to use & know his owne forcs, sic peribit (ne Deus montat) Regnum florentissimum, summo Tripudio./
Butt of the other syde, her majestie undertaking the cawse Rowndly, The P. of Parma shall misse of Andwarp: he will then sack som of the Citties allredy capitulated with, to satisfye his sowdiors which will brede a present & generall revolt, of all the Provincs named discontented, & of all sorts, from the Noble personaige to the Plowman: And yett the Nobility without this, easely drawen unto her majestie (yf she shew her self openly & nott masked, a grownd ^in^ convenient for Princes in honor to stand on) which otherwise, to speke playnly & reverently withall, argues fere & no polycye, howsoever it may be coverd & pretended./
Owr subjects of England, with the Contributyon of the Lowe Contreyes will abowdantly defray the chargs, without towchyng her majesties Coffers, with most willeng harts. The matter Rowndly followed, nott slowly & scantly, will make a short warre & a Long peace, without dawnger to the Enterprises./
For against whom hath her majestie to dele: with a kyng awgmented by Tirany, & usurpacion, by the suffrance of neighbor kings. A Begger indeede, hatefull to God, without people of his own, Liveng of Banckers: His kingdoms scattred, & mayntayned chargeably by the sword: & hath nothyng butt oppynion of grettnes, & not grettnes yndede, to mayntayne hym self: Butt now so overtaken by his overwenyng, to Emburg, butt to spoyle [fol. 66v] rather indeede, all Nacions his menyng was, whereby he is nere Ruyne, if it be followed, & her majestie was myraculowsly advertized of his intencyon, by his owne warrant sent in Poste by Goddes goodnes. His force yf he have any: far from us, & his force nothing, the same being looked into this Contrey like to be starved werthyly this yere, & his purse wilbe empty till the begineng of september, so grett Colossus owtward, & inward stuffed with Clowtes. A man subject to melancholy & nothing in these yeres with disgraces deadly & mortall passions follow. On that kepes att his owne Recknynges to cover his bare estate ^from^ others, & This is the skarcrowe of the worlld, that the Q. majestie hath to contend with, of whom nott kings butt mene persons have small cawse to dread./
His lyvetenant Parma [ deleted: withoute paye] in despaire, & without paye & vittayll, wherin our restraint hath don grett good, His sowdiers few & worn with necessity, & he nott hable to bryng mani together for want of provisyon to feede theme. These be the Enmyes & their estate./
Here wants then nothyng of our syde, butt the spirite of God to inclyne her majestie to that which is just & necessary, for it semes that God hath delyverd them into her hands allredy, which her faithfull Cowncelors (as ye be all) sholld pursew, till [ deleted: things] she hath yellded to the things, that conserned her saffety & high honor wise Cowncellors (under Correctyon) serve as Phisiciens, to cure the disease of Pryncs myndes by diveristy of Remedies, till they have won the disease, & by persisteng, without defatigation, which with favor, is their office & those under their charge, do loke for discharge herof with att Reverence.
In their Actyon her majestie shalbe effectually [ Marginalia (by Herle): assisted] by the K. of Denmarke, The Pryncs of Germany (who never faverd the frenche nor the Pryncs of Orengs Cowrse) will back her majestie & joyn [fol. 67r] to restore Truste to the sea of Colleyn, a matter of highe importance./ Her majestie shalbe Lady ^of^ xm. sayll of ships in Holland & Zeland, & the staple of the worlld in her hand, deffensible against all the worlld, havyng a hed only that will oppose./ This will staye & divert likewise, the frenche K. braynsick projects, who is bothe a Coward & a beggar./ All the Provincs (named malcontents) shalbe united hereby: her majestie [ deleted: shall] have infinite obedience, & they delyverd from infinite calmity: The glory is Godds: The enterprise easy & saffe: And her majestie shall have ymmortall Honor, welth & security. [ deleted: for which mi Tediows discowrse]
Butt for her majesties reson, that she wold nott enter into war, for displesing of her Pople, that hath so long lived in peace, is with her highe favor, no reson att all. The people self generally desireng this warres, as juste & necessary taken in ripe season, & will hate those that impugne it as enmies of their naturall Contrey, condempning theme of dotayge or malice or of bothe./ The consent (sayes Comimeus) first had of the people of England to allowe of warres, is a marvaylows strengthe to the kings therof, & is undertaken with Alacrity, & supplyed with abowndance, Then the Kings were wont to sew for the peoples favor, butt this is offerd ultra, with a generall consent & voyce, of all bothe the Gentry & Nobility concurryng & the Cowncellors together approvyng the same, which were most dangerows to be frustrated. On other thyng ^more^ that your L. was charged with for dissolving the Parliament so unloked for. Butt all wilby Godds favor be qwallefied.
The other part, that her majestie wolld nott be att ani grett charge: The Reallm (as is sayd before) for the vehement [fol. 67v] desire it hath to the conservacion therof, will discharge her of that care as reson is. And I dare assure her majestie further in the fere of God & mi poore knowlege, presuming modestly that mi judgement is somewhatt settled, that yf her majestie dele openly in this Action, she shall with facility ryd the Contrey of Parma & Spayne, before Christmas day, & so qwitt her self of this warre, more ferefull in conseytt, than dangerows in effect./
I have tolld her majestie of late sondry things of grett conseqwence, proving trew, but I had Cassandras luck. I pray God to open her gracious eyes, & strengthen her Royall hart, with trew vallew, that all weke respects be chased thence. Une Bonne guerre, faict une bonne paix. Towching deffensive Plasters to be made, to holp & heale owre sore, is a matter in the judgement of men of gravity, aswell infaisible as ympossible to be don, by ani mannes Brayn, butt most dangerows to hym that shold seke to perswade [ Marginalia (by Herle): that Cowrse] of aydeng those of the Lowe Contreyes (as allredy is written) The impostumacion brekes inwardly to our present & manifest destructyon./
For which mi Tediows discowrses I crave humbly Pardon of your L. that I am entred so far, being Transported into it er I was aware in sekyng to answer that parcell of your lre that Treats of the Q. majesties will herin: & it is the humble harmles oppinion conseved of me her majesties poore & Loyall, & carefull servant, uttred in all humble duty to you alone & refferring it to your honorable Censure: having mi blood redy to sele it for her majesties service, & the preservacion of mi [fol. 68r] swete naturall Contrey. And to you mi L. mi assured duty & devotion to the end of mi life, wherwith weke & sick I humbly take mi leve the 16. of July & kept till the 17. of July 1585. Your L. ever most bownden. W. Herlleli.
