them for takinge the aier, so that it be wth yor likinge and in yor company. And hereby we mynde not to charge you in any respectt wth his diette or otherwise in any sorte, but that he eyther beare them him self, or see you well satisffied and contented, as to his estate and in right apteyneth. And for that he hath desired to have lib'tie to repayre some tymes to an howyse of his in Hampshyr w'ch nowe is in buildinge,* her May is veary well pleased that he may now and then do so, so that it be in yor presence and cumpany, and that he retorne to your hows the same night againe. And so desiringe you hereof not to faile, we bid you right hartily farewell. ffrom the Starre

Chamber, the fifte of Maye, 1573.

Yor lovinge ffrends,

W. BURGHLEY. E. LYNCOLN.

T. SUSSEX.

R. LEYCESTER.

R. SADLEIR.

T. SMITH.
WA. MILDMAY.

To or lovinge ffrende

Mr. Moore.

* He was erecting a seat near Odiham in Hampshire. In a letter to Mr. More, dated from Cowdray 1st Nov. 1573, he says, "I beg you will do so much as send for your glassier and tell him that nowe I am redy for him at Dogsmersfield, and if he cannot presently serve my turne I must provide some other, for that some of the house must be forthwith glased before the frost, and my glasse and all other things is there redy."

(94.)

The Council signify to the Earl of Southampton her Majesty's permission that he should remain under certain restrictions with his good father-in-law the Viscount Montague at Cowdray.

Aft'r or hartie comendac'ons to yor L. The Quens Maty ys well pleased and contented that you shall remayne at Cowdraie, wth your verie good ffather-in-lawe the Vicount Montague. And ffurther, at yo' and yor ffrendes earnest request, ps also contented that yor Lordshipp may repaire to yor howse wch ys in buildinge, in such sorte as you did when ye were at Mr. More's, pvided alwaies that, by reason of the distance of ye places ye cannot well returne in one daie, ye do not by this pmission remayne there above one night, till her Mats ffarther pleasure shalbe knowen to the contrarie. And this shalbe yor and Mr. More's sufficient warrant in yt behalf, and so we bide yo right hartelie ffaire well. From Grenwch, the xiiijth of Julie, 1573.

Yor loving ffrendes,

W. BURGHLEY. T. SUSSEX. F. BEDFORD.

R. LEYCESTER.

(95.)

The Earl of Southampton to Mr. More, communicates the comfort God hath sent him after his long troubles, by the birth of a goodly boy. This child became afterwards his heir, and has the honour to be recorded as a liberal patron of our immortal and unequalled poet Shakspeare.

After my most harty comendacions, both to you and your good wife. Allthough yt is so happed by the sudden sickness of my wife, that wee coold not by possibility have her pressent as we desired, yet have I thought good to imparte unto you such comfort as God hath sent me after all my longe trubles, wch is that this present morning, at iij of clok, my wife was dd. [delivered] of a goodly boy (God bless him!) the wch, allthough yt was not wthout great perell to them both for the present, yet now, I thank God, both are in good state. Yf your wife will take the paynes to visit her, we shalbe mighty glad of her company; and so, wh my harty comendations to your son Polsted and his wife, and to good Mr. Soundar, if he be with you, I end for this time, biding you hartely farewell. From Cowdray, this prest Tuesday 1573.

Your assured ffrend,

To my assured frend Mr. William
More, Esquire, Losly, geve thes.

H. SOUTHAMPTON.

(96.)

Copley, of Gatton.

Thomas Copley, Esq. of Gatton, in Surrey, was a popish recusant. He seems to have retired into the Spanish Netherlands with other persons disaffected to the English Government and the Reformed Religion. Camden, in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth, gives the following incidental notice of this individual: *

"Don Lewis Zuniga de Requesens, who succeeded the Duke of Alva" (in the government of the Netherlands) "bent himself wholly to recover (if it were possible) the sea coasts, which the Duke of Alva had, by a notable oversight in so great a captaine, neglected, whereby the Low Country Warre was so many years prolonged. But, forasmuch as he was unprovided of shipping (for the Spanish shippes, which by ayde of the English were brought into Flanders a little before for that purpose, had miscarried, being rent and foully-weather beaten), he sent Boischot into England to levy, with the Queen's leave, ships and sailors against the Hollanders and Zelanders. But he prevailed not, for the Queene would not thrust her ships and sailors into danger in another man's cause, and publiquely she commanded that no man should man out ships of warre but by her license first obtained, and that the English sailors should not serve under other princes. Boischot therefore made suit that she would not be offended if the English Exiles in the Netherlands served under the Spaniards in sea fight against the Hollanders.

* Translated by R. N. Gent. ann. 1635, p. 181.

R

She in no wise allowed that those English Rebels, for so she called those whom he termed Exiles, should serve under the Spaniards, nay she hoped Requesens would not favour them. Certainly she prayed him he would not, and namely Thomas Copley; for him the Spaniards purposed to send forth to make prize of the English and the Netherlanders, having loaden him with the titles of Great Master of the Maes, Lord of Gatton and Roughtey."

These were sounding noms de guerre, and might pass very well in a foreign service, although the two last were but appellations of Copley's manors in Surrey; one of them a notorious borough, whose rottenness was of much antiquity, as it appears to have been a mere nominal corporation in the time of Elizabeth,† the privilege of which has been swept away by a recent grand experiment in political economy.

The letters of marque granted to him as "Don Thomas Copleus," by the representative of the King of Spain in the Netherlands, "Don Luys de Requesens, Comendador Mayor de Castilla, del Conseio de Stado, Gubernardor, y Capitayne Generale de los Estados de Flandres," are extant in the Loseley collection; which circumstance seems to bear presumptive evidence of a seizure at least of his papers, by the vigilant policy of the Queen's ministers.

† We here insert the following letter in confirmation of this observation.

"After my very harty com'endations, wheras my LL. (Lords) of the Cowncill do understand that Mrs. Copley hathe the nomynatio' of the two Burgesses ffor the town of Gatton, beinge a p'cell of her joynture. It is not thought convenyent, for that she is known to be evill affected, that she should beare any swaye in the choise of the said Burgesses, her Ma'ts pleasure being suche, as by o'r l'res hathe be' signyfyed unto you, that a specyall choise should be had for this