404 LETTERS FROM BIRCH. 



servant. For myself, I shall ever rejoice at the manifesta 

 tion of his majesty s favour toward you, and will contribute 

 all that is in me, to the increasing of his good opinion; 

 ever resting 



Your Lordship s faithful Friend and Servant, 

 G. BUCKINGHAM. 



To the Marquis of Buckingham. 

 My very good Lord, 



With due thanks for your last visit, this day is a play- 

 day for me. But I will wait on your lordship if it be 

 necessary. 



I do hear from divers of judgment, that to-morrow s 

 conference* is like to pass in a calm, as to the referrees f. 

 Sir Lionel Cranfield, who hath been formerly the trumpet, 

 said yesterday, that he did now incline to Sir John Walter s 

 opinion and motion, not to have the referrees meddled with 

 otherwise, than to discount it from the king ; and so not 

 to look back, but to the future. And I do hear almost all 

 men of judgment in the house wish now that way. I woo 

 nobody : I do but listen, and I have doubt only of Sir 

 Edward Coke, who, I wish, had some round caveat given 

 him from the king ; for your lordship hath no great power 

 with him : but I think a word from the king mates him. 



If things be carried fair by the committees of the lower 

 house, I am in some doubt, whether there will be occasion 

 for your lordship to speak to-morrow ; though, I confess, I 

 incline to wish you did, chiefly because you are fortunate 

 in that kind ; and, to be plain also, for our better counte 

 nance, when your lordship, according to your noble pro 

 position, shall shew more regard of the fraternity you have 

 with great counsellors, than of the interest of your natural 

 brother. 



Always, good my lord, let us think of times out of par 

 liament, as well as the present time in parliament, and let 

 us not all be put es pourpoint. Fair and moderate courses 

 are ever best in causes of estate ; the rather, because I wish 

 this parliament, by the sweet and united passages thereof, 



* On Monday the 5th of March, 1620-1, the house of lords received a message 

 from the commons, desiring a conference touching certain grievances, princi 

 pally concerning Sir Giles Mompesson. See Journal of the House of Lords. 



t Those to whom the king referred the petitions, to consider whether they were 

 fit to be granted or not. This explanation of the word referrees I owe to a note 

 in a MS. letter, written to the celebrated Mr. Joseph Mead of Christ s College, 

 Cambridge. 



