388 LETTERS RELATING TO 



My haste at this time makes me to end sooner 

 than I expected : but the subject of my next send 

 ing shall be to answer that part you give me in your 

 love, with a return of the same from 



Your assured loving friend, 



R. SOMERSET. 



Indorsed, 

 Lord Somerset s first letter. 



TO THE KING. 



IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, 



WE have, with all possible care and diligence, con 

 sidered Cotton s* cause, the former and the latter, 



* The case of this gentleman will render the detail of it neces 

 sary for the illustration of this letter ; and the circumstances 

 of it, not known in our history, may be thought to deserve the 

 reader s attention. He was a. native of the West of England 

 and a recusant, against whom a proclamation was issued in 

 June 1613, charging him with high treason against the king and 

 state for having published a very scandalous and railing book 

 against his majesty, under the title of Balaam s Ass, which was 

 dropped in the gallery at Whitehall. Just at the time of pub 

 lishing this proclamation, he happened to cross the Thames, 

 and enquiring of the watermen what news ? they, not knowino- 

 him, told him of the proclamation. At landing, he muffled 

 himself up in his cloke, to avoid being known; but had not 

 gone many paces, when one Mr. Maine, a friend of his, meeting 

 and discovering him, warned him of his danger; and being 

 asked what he would advise him to do, recommended it to him 

 to surrender himself; which he did to the earl of Southamp 

 ton. He denied himself to be the author of the libel: but his 

 study being searched, among his papers were found many parts 

 of the book, together with relics of those persons, who had 



