40 Longleat Papers, No. 8. 



as yo' grounde in my keaping will yelde. I woulde they riad bone snche as I 

 wolde have wisshed tliem, but hereafter you shall have better, they b.-aling * at the 

 rutt and the wett wether w"^*" we have had hathe hindred them moche. I have 

 also sent yo^ L. the graundam of the black sprits : t for sure yf any infernal! 

 sj)rits cum above grownde they ar kyn to her and her breede : the great dis- 

 pleasures they dayly doe ar to long to wryt and therefore we have fyrst kilde 

 the mother and hereafter you shall have the childerne from tyme to tyme. Sir 

 H. Leye was at the killing of her, whoe can repoi'te her fercenes, &c." 



[Then follows a long statement about rents. The Earl had reckoned 

 the amount he was to receive out of his rents in Warwickshire 

 at £700 a year. He is informed that it does not exceed £500.] 



" Sir J. Hubaude J hath bene here att Kennelworth one weke in weak estate 

 and kept his chamber : what he intendeth to do I know not as yet. He hath 

 bene verye ill tormented but no daunger as I hope and gesse. He takithe yt 

 verye kyndly the sending downe of H. Gouldingham wherein yo' L. hath com- 

 forted him very moche. And I beseche God send your L. comf<3rt of any thing 

 yo' L. hath .... From yo' L. castell of Kennelworth the xxiii"' of 

 October 1578. Your moste bounde sei-vant Henbt Besbeche." 



1578, Nov. 20th. The Same to the same. 



" I had thought to have sent yo' L. at this present tyme bothe a great bore and 

 prlncipall does, but the wether hathe faulen owte so extreme wynd^e and rayny 

 all this weeke as we colde not performe our intent : one of the greatest wilde bores 

 lyethe aboute Henlye in Arden and dothe moche harme in the country and they 

 have sent woorde sondry tymes to the castel that yf yo' L. will not kill him the 

 contry will kill : whereuppon I pointed Rychmonde and Duck to go this Thursdaye 

 last to go kill him, but yt woulde not frame : but before ji; be long yo' L. shall 

 have hira. And I the same daye hunted for good does but the wether was so 

 extreme fowle that we coulde not meete with the best, but yet good does for suche 

 a grounde : but there are better, as hereafter yo^ shall se, yf this wet wether mar 

 them not. I trust Graunt will use some more diligence in the carriage of theis. 

 I am to advertise yo'" L. of that w'' will nothing like j-^ou, but I said as moche 

 to yo' L. this somer. The black buck of Stonelye wood is ded in the woods 

 there. I founde him so weake the last winter as I was sui-e he coulde not live 

 an other winter : but j'o' L. made warrants of him. Nowe he is ded. There is 

 also 2 great Staggs ded in the chase, th'one killed w"" his fellows, th'other with a 

 pale : I had also in my parke a young Stagg and an owlde hinde killed uppon the 



• i.e., " belling ; " the low guttural sound made by the animal at the rutting season. 



t Probably some wild sow : for in the next letter animals of that kind seem to have abounded at 

 that time in the neighbourhood. 



t Sir John Hubaurt was one of the executors named in an original will of the Earl's (but apparently 

 not hU last will) which is among the papers at Longleat. 



