By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 79 
Appleyard had expected Dudley to “ promote,”’ I do not undertake to 
say for certain, but it was perhaps this. I find from another original 
letter at Longleat that, so far back as 18th August, 1560 (the year of 
Amye’s death), Sir Thomas Gresham had written to Lord Robert, 
requesting him to use his influence in obtaining for John Appleyard 
the Lordship of Wyndham, co. Norfolk, for his better maintenance in 
the service of Her Majesty in those parts. Probably Dudley had not 
done all he could to help his kinsman, and it is not unlikely that this 
was the disappointment thathad exasperated Appleyard and had caused 
him to let fall his evil speeches. However, be the provocation what 
it might, John Appleyard did not speak the truth, but confessed in 
the Star-Chamber that he had been a /iar. Whether this “ maly- 
tyous beast” did or did not arrive at the pillory, and depart with the 
loss of his ears, I do not know, but in the opinions of Sir Henry 
Nevill and the Lord Chief Justice, he richly deserved it. 
Such are the few particulars, hitherto wholly unknown, supplied 
by the Longleat Papers, on the question of Dudley’s guilt or In- 
nocence in the case of Amye Robsart. They did not come ready to 
hand, tied up with official red tape, but were gleaned one by one, at 
intervals, and after patient scrutiny of a very large mass of faded 
and difficult handwriting. The documents and letters in which they 
occur, being original, contemporary, and altogether inartificial, are 
first-class evidence. It has not been in any way my object to draw 
forced conclusions from them, but simply to extract their fair bearing 
on this celebrated case. It may perhaps be thought that the cloud 
which has hung so long over Lord Robert Dudley’s name in con- 
nection with it is not so dark as it was before. 
I think it only right to add, in conclusion, that having had, 
through the friendly permission of the Marquis of Bath, the oppor- 
tunity of discovering a considerable number of letters written to 
Robert Dudley by persons of almost every rank of life, they have left 
upon my mind a rather favourable impression. Those letters 
make allusion to his kindness, his courtesy, his accomplishments. 
Nothing can be more straightforward and generous than his 
replies, his advice, his instructions. I cannot persuade myself 
