40 



Longleat Papers, No. 8. 



;is yo r grounde in my keaping will yoldo. I wouldo they had bono suche as I 

 wolde have wisshed them, but hereafter you shall have bettor, they bealing * at the 

 rut t and the welt wether \v ch we have had hatho hindred them mooho. I have 

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

 sprits cum above growndo they ar kyn to her and her breede : the great dis- 

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

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

 II. Leye was at the killing of her, whoe can reporte her fercenes, &c." 



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

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

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



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



and kept his chamber : what he intendeth to do I know not as yet. He hath 1 



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



Verye kyndly the sending downe of H. Gouldingham wherein yo r L. hath com- | 



forted him very moche. And I beseche God send your L. comfort of any thing j 



yo r L. hath .... From yo r L. castell of Kennelworth the xxiii th of 



October 1578. Your moste bounde servant Heney Besbeche." , j 



! 



I 



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



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



principall does, but the wether hathe faulen owte so extreme wyndye and rayny | 



all this weeke as we colde not perf orme our intent : one of the greatest wilde bores f- 



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



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



I am to advertise yo r L. of that w h will nothing like you, but I said as moche I 



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



there. I founde him so weake the last winter as I was sure he coulde not live 1 



an other winter : but yo r L. made warrants of him. Nowe he is ded. There is \ 



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



pale : I had also in my parke a young Stagg and an owlde hinde killed uppon the 1 



* 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. 



- % Sir John Ilubaud was one of the executors named in an original will of the Earl's (but apparently 

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



