46 Longleat Papers, No. 3. 



at that time give the sayd Lady Letice for wife i;nto the sayd Earle of Leycester, 

 at the solemnizing of w'='' mariadge as he sayeth were then and ther present and 

 sawe and hearde the same, beside the parties married and this deponent, the R'. 

 Hon. the Earle of Penbrook, the Earle of Warwick, the Lord Noiihe, S'. Francis 

 Knowlles, and one Mr. Richard KnowUes as he remembreth, and no more. And 

 otherwise he cannot depose, saving that he this deponent was at y' time full 

 minister and had bin ordered hy the Rev. father in God the L. Bishop of Peter- 

 borough in A°. 1572 : for profe whereof he exhibited at the time of his examina- 

 tion his letters of orders under the authenticall scales of the sayd Bu.shop, the 

 tenor whereof ensueth, &c. ' Tenore presentium, &c.' 



" Umphet Tendall " 



1589, Marchi 7th. — Countess op Leicester, (widow of Robert 

 Dudley, Earl of Leicester) to Lord Treasurer Burleigh, about 



HER HuSBAND^S DeBT TO THE QuEEN. 



" My very good Lord. I receved of late from Mr. Fan.shawe and Mr. Bayn- 

 hame, a book or charge (as thay tearme it) of my late lord's debts unto hur 

 magestye, wherin allthoughe thay offer to charge me with veiT manye thousands 

 (I mene mor then xx) contraiye as I am parswaded to sum of ther knowledges or 

 coticyences, yet I fynd not that cours so strange as that they would alowe me but 

 sume V or vi dayes ether to cleare or confes that imposed charge, and wher as 

 thay havinge all possyble assystance fi-om hur magestj's ofPycers to thys ther 

 rygoro searche and syftynge, have not bene able to fynyshe thys charge imder 

 at the least iij or iiij monethes worke, thay would inforce me being dysfavored 

 therin to fumyshe my defence in lesse then vij days ; wher-upon thynkinge my 

 self very stranglye oppressed, I am dryven to appeale unto your honorable 

 favoure, besechinge you to alowe me such competente tj^m therein as that my 

 solycytors and sarvants may be able to parews and searche all such ofPyces books 

 and accounts as shall be thought most fyte for manyfestynge of a truth in thys 

 behaulfe ; and becaus thys charge now layde on me doth in sum sort consame 

 sondrye other parsons wich were put in trust by my late L., my humble desyre 

 is that by order from your Ip. a commyssyone may be awarded out of the ex- 

 cheker (to sume such as your Ip. shall thynk fytt) that by veiiue thereof thay 

 may caule before them and examyne all such parsons as were any ways accompt- 

 able unto my late lord or which ar uppone any caus to aunswer any thyng towards 

 the dyscharge of hys debts, to the ende that all such sums as shall be founde dew 

 in ther hands may be in dewe sort aunswered unto hur magj'estye, wich if your 

 Ip. shall vouchsafe to doe and aUso to move the marchants to whom Denbighe * 



• Meaning the lordship of Denbigh, which had been granted along irith Kenilworth and other 

 manors to the Earl of Leicester, 9th June, 5 Eliz. lie had mortgaged it. One of the " Debts" 

 claimed from the deceased Earl of Leicester amounted to £3619. That was stated to be the amount 

 drawn by him in excess of his allowance when Lieut.-General in the Low Countries. The answer 

 upon this point made by his widow was that in the patent of his appointment he had been authorized 

 to ask for any sums at his pleasure : and that he did but take £10 14*. a day after the precedent set 

 by the Earl of Pembroke, Lieut.-General for Queen Mary at St. Quihtin's, '^From original document 

 at Longleat.) 



