[fol. 107r] R. honorable good L. I Receved your lre of the 29. [ deleted: of] the same even, & do humbly thanck yow for delyng so favorably with her majestie on mi behallf, & for the taking the occasyon so aptly therunto: Allso in that it pleseth your L. to have care to pursew mi Releeff (in better sort) as ye vowche save to write/.
Towching mi Allowance towards the Embden vyage, I had in prest 50li. & it coste me well ny vijli. before I cowd furnish mi sellf hence: And besyde this (only ij Billes of Exchange excepted) nothing anserd me, The on Bill was of 50li. & the other of a C. markes. I having byn furth in the x ^th^ moneth, all things extreme deere where I travayled: And having often meetyngs & Removes abowtt the ij Brethern Erlles, & Comissyoners sent from ether of theme still unto me, mi charge was increased, besyde other open & secret expencs, that do arise many wayes: for my toyll & pursuite was nott small, & mi Reward of theme nothing./
Her majestie assured me before mi going owtt, & since my comyng home, that it sholld be the best & happiest jorney that ever I made, & that she wolld abowndantly provyde for me, which thowgh it be nott performed, I waytt paciently her graciows disposityon, & in the myddest of depressyon do her the best service I can, which by Godds grace I will contynew & seall with my blood./
I allso will nott extenuate her majesties Beneffitts bestowed uppon me, which she estemes to be verey many & grett; yett with favor, lett me somwhatt say whatt they were, & whatt successe they had./
The first was by your L. mediacion, a leasse in [fol. 107v] Reversyon of 40li. by the yere (& Gasceye the post, abowtt that tyme had on of 50li.) in furnissheng of which mi Lease with particulers, I was so crossed by grett men, & deceved by Awditors & Clerckes, as I had ij yeres Travayll before it passed the grett seall, which consumed the better moytye before hand, lyveng vj yeres after uppon the Remaynes: Tyll her majestie of her owne free mocyon gave me a pencyon, the only staye of mi Lyveng, which be the Beneffites under correctyon, that I have Receved insomany yeres service, the zele of ()which service ympoverisheth me./
In Wales by mi Industry & to mi undoyng I fownd owtt a conselement of xxs by the yere, which after viij yeres sute mi Lands, a grevows consumptyon of mi Ripest tyme, & the coste of vij C li, I obteyned a composityon with the Contry, Reducyng them to pay to her majestie the olld Rent, yf their olld Pattent, were Renewed to theme, which after grett Labor, & Tyme spent, your L. lastly att wyndsor procured her majestie to signe the Bill. Uppon mi Retorne owtt of the Lowe Contreys, whiles Monsieur was there./
Thus mi gayne & advancement is easely sene, wherof I wolld wisshe that her majestie were tryly satisfyed, & therwith I content mi sellf with mi meane estate & her favor, without grudging./
Towching these vyle sclaunders raysed of your L. in Scottland, passed from hence, there is no State man of conscyens or syncerity, nor person of any judgement, that understands nott clerely, the furtherance that ye have gyven to those Actyons, & the Approbatyon ye holld of our unitye with theme, in cherissheng the King as hed, & his neerest favorites for Instruments to noorisshe their masters devotyon to her majestie as an inseperable good, to be desired of bothe the Reallmes: To kepe the Back [fol. 108r] doore therby assured./ And this I understand to be your L. cowrse, intertaynment, & your ernest meditacion withall wherfore there is prompt Remedy, to Retorne the wyckednes uppon the hedds of the devisers, with the prooff of the Truthe it sellf./
There be ij Bad instruments in this Town, that even govern the scottissh Intelligencs wholly, & do Lewd offics: writeng somtymes as grosse error as may be: Ar made Bollts to shoote att men, & be full of malyce & fynesse in all their advertisments & procedings./
The on is Archibald Duglasse, now used partly for her majesties service in pryvate sort, butt a practiser from the begyneng, thatt never intertaynes on in hand, butt that he hath another in his hed for chawnge./
honest instruments be assured to their master allwayes, & do better & sownder service, ye Lawdable: for the truthe is discerned, & good Actyons follow: where otherwise the Prynce is sclanderd to intend fowll devises, beyng served by suche noted [ deleted: me] men, that prove verey Buttishewes & decevors./
The other Instrument ^is on that^ presumes the highest that ever I knew, unles it were Icarus, & I expect the seqwell. He intertaynes by strange & diverse degrees, bothe the scottish Q, & the scottish K, att on ynstant, & the yong Lady Arbell withall./ He deles secrettly with papists & protestants. He deffends som of Recusancye in his howse (who suffer their own infamy), He was Executor to a noble woman, I dare affirme worth in jewelles mony & goods xm. li att lest which he had all, & yett perswaded the Cowncell so smoothely of the poore estate she dyed in, as that her funeralles were deffrayed by theyr medicacion./ He writes to the scottissh K. he sends him Tokens & novelltyes familyerly. He writes to the master of Greyes, & to the justice Clerck, as he were a cheeff Cowncellor of Affayres, & his packett walkes weekely: [fol. 108v] yf occasyon serve. He mayntaynes on in the K. chamber abowtt him, as his Creature, to direct things, & to have the K eare, so as he is shodd with Iron, [befor] seasons after season to com, & sufferd to wade in this suspicyows foord uncomptrolled./ This party is entred allso in conseytt, with her majestie who hath bestowed uppon him a Lyveng [ Marginalia (by Herle): since whitsontyde] worth ij C li. a yere (as he reported him sellf) [ deleted: since whittsuntyde] nott in paltry matter butt in good stuffe of vallew Risen from a Tayller that wrought with the Needell (his father in Lawe a Chawndler) to be now att his foote clothe. Virtus Laudatur, at alget.
From these ij springes is easy to convey ani poyson that is conffected, wherby your wisdom is nott only to judge of the rest, butt withall truly to comtempne these scandales, as becomes your honorable sincerity & vertew: & to cowntermyne theme with the Truthe agayn, the Ruyne of [ deleted: Sta] Satan & his neerest favorites, who have nott power, no nott to towche the Lest herof that falles from you, yf your confydence be joyned with coraige./
I cowd make som Stoppell, & open a stoppell to se their Liqwor, butt that I lothe practises: Butt whatt may nottwithstanding, torne to ani good use of your L. I will be redy in discrete & honest Termes, to performe throwly which I refferre withall other things passed in mi former lres lately, to your own secrett skryne & deske./
Ytt is necessary, now that the new frenche Ambassador is com, that her majestie have good Regard to him & his Trayne, as I writt before, for security may breed danger, & the frenche fayth seckes Trechery & murther, wherwith very humbly I take mi Leve the Last of July. Temple Barre. 1585. your L. humbly devoted. W. Herllely.
