182 



Wulfhall and the Seymours. 



" Further tlieys shal be to advertyse you that I have discharged Foscowe and 

 Hanoe the rnyners, and they have had for their charges and bordying, syns they 

 came owte of London in Lent past vi£ with the xl#. that I delyvered to them 

 there at theyr comyng owt. Foscowe sayeth that he hath found a riche piott 

 of grounde as eny is in Englonde. I wolde fayne have knowen sumthing of his 

 secresy, but he answeryd me so reasonably that I colde go no further with him. 

 Which was that it was not mete for eny man to know it, unto suche tyme he 

 had fyrst declarid the same hymselfe to my Lord's grace. He shewyd me a 

 grey stone suche as be yn the felds and strete of Eston, wherein there's metall 

 (as he saith). I have sent you a pece thereof by this berer, lest he shuld shewe 

 my lord's grace a contrary thing. And as to Hance I think there be not a more 

 dissembler yn England, for he worketh too fondly as Mr. Comptroller can 

 declare. 



Further ye sent ns downe such a lewde company of Frenchmen masons as I 

 never saw the lyke. I assure you they be the worst condicyoned people that 

 ever I saw and the dronkenst ; for they will drynke more in one day than three 

 days wages wyll come to, and then lye lyke beasts on the floor not able to stonde. 

 I have geven them dyvers warnyngs me selfe and yet never the better. And 

 now I perceive by Bryan they be departid and stolen away lyke themselfs, and 

 be yndeptyd ( indebted ) to dyvers folkes yn theis parts ; wherefore it were well 

 don to punyshe them if they may be found ; I thynke they will make their 

 repayr to London. 



Further, according my lord's grace's pleasure, I have byn at Yasterne Park* 

 and there with moche worke I have put owt by estymacion 500 dere of all sorts 

 into Braydon. It was not possible to devyde the bucks from the rascallsf but 

 one with the other. Whereof the most part were rascalls. And although we 

 colde not get owte so maynye dere as we wolde, yet there wil be pasture ynough 

 for my Lord's grace's provysion, for the grounde was never so well beforehande 

 yn grasse thys tyme of the yere as yt is nowe. And thus desyryng you to re- 

 member my sutes wherein I requyred Walron to move you I wysh you no less 

 helth with th'yncrease of wurshipp that your gentle harte desyrethe. Praying 

 you that I may be most hartely commendyd unto my good lady your bedfellowe. 

 From Estone the iiijth of June. 1549. 



Your most assuredly to command, 



John Bebwicke." 



To the right worshipfull Sir John Thynne, Knyght. 



5. — Me. Aethub Roods to Sie John Thynne. About Puebeck Stone # J 



1549 6 June. Thys shal be to advertyse y r . Mastershyppe after whatt sort 

 the stone lyeth att Purbecke, and whatt order I have taken there. Fyrste in 

 the south partt of the Hand, at a poyntt calyd Sayntt Aldomis from the wyche 

 pointt ij myles towards the west end of the He lyeth the towyche (touch) stone 



*Fasterne Park, near Wootton Bassett: appears in the list of estates granted to the Protector, 



+ See Note, p. 156. 



t This letter may be interesting to geologists : as some of the old Purbeck stone quarries, out of 

 •which much stone used formerly to be obtained for church columns, and monuments, are now 

 filled up and scarcely known. 



