Transcript

[fol. 228r] Your lre mi right honorable good L. that I Receved this mornyng, hath nott a lyttell comfforted mi dulled spirites, to se the honorable & Relygiows affectyon that yow bere so ernestly to these matters of holland which doth allso so satisfye Pawll Buys (who was with me all this fore noone, to passe furth the werynes of tyme) as he protests that your L. shall se good frute very shortly uppon his comyng home, of that servyce that he pretends to this Crowne & to her majestie to whom he vowes him sellf wholly, & all the cowrse that he & his natyon shall take in their actyons, to be directed & comanded entyerly by her majestie & non other, & doth make him sellf bolld & hable to entertayne others of the Lowe Contrey in the same devotyon towards her majestie. Ita ut pendeant ex eiq nutu. which God willeng he is to perfforme, with lyke care & duty: abhorryng noles he sayth, from the frenche comencements & leages, than he argues theme of levity & trecherye in their procedyngs, & of all other the most insolent where they have power to comande, nether shall his natyon have further Intelligence, with ani other strangers or neighbors, then as ytt may well plese her majestie to lyke of & allowe. Gyveng your L. most humble thancks, that it wolld plese yow to do hym that honor to lett hym understand, the inward good disposityons of [ Marginalia (by Herle): your L. &] the better sorte ^here^ enclyned to favor their comune cawse, & that where the same doth nott so owttwardly appere for other respects that yett the inward parte doth carye the stronger menyng & force with it, wherof he was throwly perswaded he sayth, for your L. own part beffore, knowyng uppon whatt vertue & reson ye [grownd] , butt muche the more conffirmed by your own speche in this now, & rejoyced to knowe others joyned with yow allso, [ deleted: giveng] assuryng your L. that as in partycler your travaylles, & favors for theme do lyvely expresse your owne worthynes, so in generall shall they nott be unremembred by those uppon whom ye bestowe theme, besyde that God will reward this goodnes of yowres, for whom they will contynually pray [ deleted: for yow] & for her majestie & this estate, attending the good howre for their dispatche hence, when your L. shall have procured it, of whom they deppend./

[fol. 228v]

Towching Champignye, yt is lykely on waye, that he desires her majestie & menes ytt in good ernest, to be the Awthor of a peace bettwen these men & K. Phillip, to th'end he may meryte the more favor of the contrey yf yt be procured by his mediatyon, & therby exclude the Awthoritye of the spaniards. that which he mislykes nott somuche, as he feres for by that lre which was intercepted by the hollanders & dd your L. ytt apperes that he is shrewdly manassed by the spanyards, & since that tyme, duryng hys being here, they have examined a prysoner in Andwarp of sondry matters abowtt hym, gyveng him the Torture thryse to ^make^ hym conffesse the allegatyons agaynst the sayd Champignye. Yett another waye, he hath as yll a menyng as the worst, that havyng establisshed a governement to his owne fancye & credyte ^there, then^ to introduce the Inquisityon which shall troble & conffownd things as yll as beffore./

For those matters that I advertised your L. to be spred of yow abowtt these hollanders, I dyd ytt of a trew & zelows dutye that I bere unto yow, & so verey humbly I desire yow to interpret of me, for soner shall mi brethe expire, than I fayll to expresse how derely & faythfully I esteme those things that appertayne to your honor & estymatyon, which being malycyowsly towched is to be mett withall, as otherwise to be contempned while your L. dothe holld that cowrse that ye do, which may be Imytated by fewe, butt attayned by non, & otherwise God conffownd me yf I speke nott as I mene, of which oppynion the best & wysest sort ar of, & this grettnes being joyned with the charytye that is in yow towards your maligners, doth make yow dooble worthye of your calling & rarenes./

This evenyng as I had wrytten this far unto your L. Pawll Buys advertised me with som spede, that they Receved lres from Calyce [ deleted: this] whiles he was absent with me to daye, written from on Charlles de Bewlew agent for the prince of Orenge in Calyce, that on monsieur de Revers passed by owtt of frawnce sent by the K. to speke with theme the Comissyoners of holland here, to staye their Actyons from delyng [fol. 229r] by all menes ani further with her majestie, telling the sayd Agent that the frenche K. wolld presently send a good force to possesse Zeland to prevent ani others that sholld do ytt, & that he wolld be master of it who soever sayd to the contrary, which Revers was brought over to flusshing in the passaige that the portingalles spowse was [ deleted: of] in, & there is detayned for a colowr, bycawse he sholld nott be knowen to the rest of the strangers, being a partye that the prince hath used in matters of Intelligence, bettwen the frenche K. & hym, & therfore the sayd Revers dyd the more conffydently ympart this muche, with Charlles de Bewlyew the princs Agent, wherin the danger is somwhatt yf the frenche K. do attempt it beffore they be gon over to settell things, bycawse [hawkin] is governor of flusshing & a nere frencheman, favoryng the frenche K. parte with toothe & nayll. which advertisment the sayd Pawll Buys is desirows that your L. & her majestie sholld understand withall spede, alledging uppon his fayth & christianity that he doth nott present itt as a matter ether to prevayll this more by, or to accellerate things, rather butt to be consydred of by her majesties wisdom & yowres ^ [ deleted: as the thing is worthy in effect] ^ to gyve suche order theryn, as shalbe thought convenyent by yow [ deleted: for surely is of ymportance] accordyng to the expedicyon & ymportans that it is of./

I thinck that your L. hard, that on don piedro de Swazzo a spanyard, cosyn to the late comendader, was drowned in the passayge of Gravesend, who had abowtt him vC [crowns] & bylles of exchange for 5000 [crowns] more, the gelowsye wherof is somwhatt that he being no merchant, nor havyng any charge or trayne butt on man, that this furniture was for som practis, wherwith I humbly take mi Leve in haste att x of the clock att night the xvj of marche 1575./ Your L. most humbly. W. Herlleli.