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[fol. 36r] Albeit Sir, I know your hevy Cowntenance towards me hath bin grett, which partly mi supplanters have incresed, & partly those ynfelicityes have bred, which communely follow a nedy man: yett mi ynnocency doth so assure me again, if I may be indiffrently hard, with mi contynuall devotion borne to your honor, as pardonably I presume to write these few lynes unto yow, first for the zelows duty I have to mi Prince & State: & Secondly for the present season, which forceth a nerer demonstracion of ani true & faithful hart: wherin if it may plese your honor to vowchesaffe to send for me & to here me by mowth (for that indede I have nether horses nor money to furnisshe mi selfe thither) I will present that, which may (with modesty be it spoken) be necessari to be effected for her Majesties service & security, & may haply spare her bothe men & money, & serve also to a further good end. Beseching your honor nott to Contempne mi menyng in thys how symple soever I be, ether in hablenes of mynde or body. for many tymes symple Instruments serve to grett purposes, & so hath the seely mowse stode the Lyon somtymes in stede, which I expresse verey humbly, but yett with suche abowndance of dutifull affection, as I am to seale mi words & allegiance with mi blood if nede be. Nether lett it be reckned to arrogancye or vanitye, if I say further, that her Majestie shall have of me as resolute a Mutius or Zopirus, as ever Rome or Persia had, the cawses so requireng it, which may crave cherishing in ani party of how mene qwality soever he be: having ment to have written to your honor long since, but that stagring bettwen fere & hope, I fered whatt presumpcion might be interpreted of me, by intruding mi self into gretter cawses, nott called for; I fered again whatt smal credite might follow men nott blessed with fortunes gifftes, an Adversary not treatable ani way to mi side, & that comunely where poverty is, the mynde is likewise reckned like with the rest. But finally mi hope & the respect of her Majesties better servyce, hath prevailed; with thobservation I have of your honor (which ar mi honorable Patron, & withall the true & undowted Patron of the whole Comune weall) Comending this mi fidelity therfore to yow only, which your wisdom shall finde as necessary, I hope, in prooff, as I redy to prove them [ deleted: trew] in effect true; Accomptyng the hasard & industry most honest, where ani may be an Instrument to serve (as I may saye) Pro Aris & focis, at on tyme; & with this to decipher further matter than is loked for at mi hands. But where sir mi life past, hath sondry wayes com in qwestion, which may now be a qwestion in thys, & perhaps a Bar withall to my [fol. 36v] aptnes; I dowt not but to make the grettest parte of it appere detraction & malice, & to purge the rest by a sownder amendment & seqwele; & then the commendacion is twise more to wyn a strayer, than to finde mani alredy Corrected. And this shalbe your honorable worck & monument in me, whom yow canot well reject (I speke it humbly) that somuche affects yow; affirmeng under your like favor (iff we descend well into owr own selves) that we have byn all yong, & all gon a stray, et semel insanivimus oes. wherwith, as I conclude, so beseke I your honor most humbly to accept mi menyng to her Majestie mi devotion towards yow, & to ayd so pore a man that is fallen, by so necessary a presentacion as I shall make att mi comyng, nether Basse nor contempnible in my respect, vowchesaffing withall to lett me have your honors present resolution hereunto, & to pardon mi boldnes that may be conseved of so bold a lre, & mi prayer shalbe again for your honorable preservation, & to the preservation of the state still. from London the xxij ^ti^ of December. 1569. your honors most humblye. W. Herllli.