LETTERS ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS. 19 



his said house, and it appeareth that in old tyme there hathe 

 bene within a quarter of a mile of the same place greate 

 woorkinge, but noe man to this daye knoweth to what pur- 

 pose. Onelie this I heare, that there was an olde recorde 

 found mencioninge that those hilles thereaboutes were called 

 riche mounts or divites monies, whereof the towne of Rich- 

 mont took the name and was called Richmounts. And thus 

 I am bolde to declare the reporte thereof to your honnour, as 

 yt was tolde unto me ; and I doubte not to discover manie 

 profitable thinges bothe there and in other places in that 

 countrey, if I had occasion to remaine thereaboute. And if 

 it please your honnour to use my service in this or anie other 

 thinges according to my skill, I am at youre honnors co- 

 maundemente, havinge founde you my good lord at all 

 times. For by your good meanes I was placed in the tower 

 to serve the Quene in the mynte to doe the servyces perteyn- 

 inge to the mill, that, when Eloy the ffrenchman shoulde be 

 taken therefrom by death or otherwise, I should enjoye the 

 same. And towarde my staie of livinge till that office shoulde 

 fall, there was alowed unto me the ffee of the sincker of the 

 stampes, being 20 by yere; and he that nowe exerciseth 

 that place hath not other thing to live on but the half of my 

 ffee. And nowe he refuseth to serve in it anie longer, where- 

 fore I humblie besech your honour to continewe my good 

 lorde, that I maye be established in that house, office and 

 ffee, which the said Eloy had, which I have staied for theis 

 xx tie . yeres, and thereby spente the best of my tyme to my 

 greate hindraunce, lackinge sufficiente maintenaunce for me 

 and my family. Albeit that T hoped, by the service whiche I 

 have donne and can doe, both in this respecte and in manie 

 other thinges, if I were called thereto, to have obteigned some 

 suche prefermente before this time, as that I should not nowe 

 have bene destitute of livinge in this my olde age. And thus 

 remayninge alwaies readie to serve the Quenes Majesty, and 

 to die in hir service, I praie God that hir noble highnes maie 

 have a longe lief, that I and manie other maie serve hir manie 

 yeres, and that your honnours health and prosperous estate 

 maye longe contynewe. 



From London this iiij.th of December, 1578. 



Your honor's moste humble suppliante, 



HUMFREY COLE*. 

 To the right honnourable and his singuler 



good Lorde the L. Burghley, Lorde 



Highe Treasorer of England. 



* Humphrey Cole was the most distinguished mechanist in England at this pe- 

 riod. Gabriel Harvey in a MS. note on the margin of a copy of Blagrave's Ma- 



c 2 



