By the Rev. J. E. Jackson. 313 



and lawfull possession of Th'imperiall coroun of this Realm, to take order that 

 the subjects should be kept in due and faithfuU obedience unto her, but also 

 for the better service of her Highnes to appoint certeyn gentlemen of the Shire 

 whom we should think mete forthwith to repaire unto London with their con- 

 venient furniture to do that in her Highnes behalfe should be commaunded 

 unto them : These shalbe to signifie unto your Lordships that havinge accom- 

 plished the too first parts of your Letters and mynding to take order for the 

 third, the Loid Stourton not only caused himselve to be proclaymed in 

 "Warraynster, but as we are informed in divers other places, the Queue's Highnes 

 Lieutenant of the countyes of Wiltcs, Somerset and Dorset, by vertue of her 

 Highnes Letters set forth by him, to him sent from Her Highnes as he affirmyth, 

 of the viii"' of this present, the copies whereof we have sent unto your Lordship 

 herewith, with also the copy of his letters and precept addressed for th'execution 

 thereof. 



Wherfor we desire your Lordship to declare unto the said Lords so as we may 

 be advertised thereof from them and you what we shall do further herein for 

 th'accomplishement of our duties towards her Highnes, whiche we wol endevor 

 ourselves to ensure to th'uttermost of our powers, as knoweth the Lord who ever 

 preserve your Lordship. From Broke, the xxiiij"* of July 



"James Stumpe," 



{Docketed by Sir John Thynne) " The mynute of S"' Wroughton's, S' 

 Stumpe's, Sir Bonham's, and my Letters to the Lords of the Counsaill, 1553." 



(Xo. 46.) 1553, July 26. Sir John Thynne's Reply to Lord Stourton's 

 Letter No. 43. {Original at Longleat.) 



Jesus.* 



"I having received letters for the proclayming of the Queue's Highness our 

 liege Soverayne ladye, and repayring in quiet order to Warminster (whereof I 

 am High Steward) for the purpose, at my coming thither was answered by that 

 seditious and lying vile knave Kent, that I should not proclayme her Highness 

 there that day, declaring that you had given him so in commandment, which 

 was strange to me to hear, for two causes, the one for that no good subject 

 ought to deny the setting forth of Her Highness' most just title in good order ; 

 the other, for that if ye had borne me the like friendship as I have and meant 

 towards you, ye would have made me privy thereunto being officer there, and 

 so nere unto you, and not have committed the doing thereof to so vile a person, 

 which might have besemed the best within the Realm in his own person to have 

 put in execution ; yet I, taking this thing to have risen rather of the cankerd- 

 ness of that varlet towards me than that ye would either for the matter's sake 

 or lack of friendship toward me commit any such thing to him, send one to you 

 in friendly sort to desire to know the truth of your Commission, offering myself 

 ready for the accomplishment of the same as the case should require ; and 

 wher(as) yester-night at my Repair home I thought to have found the copy of 

 your said commission if you had received any, I found a letter sent hither from 



• The private letters written by persons of a stricter sort in those, and also iii later days, were 

 constantly headed, either with this Sacred Name, or " Emmanuel," or (as in Bishop Ken's case) with 

 the sentence "All glory be to God." As a memento to a letter writer, to ^^Tite in a Christian 

 spirit, and to let his thoughts and words be those of charity and peace, a prefix of this kind was 

 appropriate and useful; but in somo cases that have come under notice the contents of the letter 

 hare not always been answerable, either in subject or style, to the auspicious commencement. 



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