Calendar of State Papers Spain Volume 5 Part 2 1531-1533. 10 Mar 1536. Wien, Rep. P. C., Fase. 229½. Eustace Chapuys (age 46) to the Emperor (age 36).

In my letter of the 7th inst. I mentioned the fact of Mr. Cromwell showing great desire of holding a conference with me. I thought at first that this was caused by the suspicion and fear these people have of Your Majesty coming to friendly terms or contracting a close alliance with France,— of which they are extremely suspicious. As, however, they must have since received intelligence from that country that there is no probability at present of such an alliance being made, I observed that Cromwell did not show so much eagerness for the proposed interview. This very day, however, he has sent me word that if he knew when I should be disengaged, he would call on me, were it for no other purpose than to know how I was faring. I will still wait a day or two to see what he intends doing, and if he does not come, shall go to him, and hear the news he has, so as to prevent their making a treaty with the French to Your Majesty's prejudice; from which, however, as far as I can gather from various quarters, they are now farther off than ever they were, being thoroughly disgusted with their neighbours, so much so that they will not hear about them and their intrigues,—not even the duke of Norfolk, who some time ago, in conversation with the French ambassador and with his brother, was heard to say that one of the greatest boons this King could confer on him would be the permission for him to raise 10,000 men and lead them across the seas in the service of king Francis whereas now, lately, upon the French ambassador mentioning to him his master's great military preparations, and how advantageous it would be both for Francis and Henry to join in a common enterprise, the Duke merely observed, in the coldest possible manner, that he and the rest of the Privy Councillors were too much pre-occupied with parliamentary affairs just now to mix themselves up in French wars. And even today Cromwell has assured one of my men that, whatever the French might say or do, they could never prevail on the King, his master, to join in that dance; after which he began to abuse them for their inhumanity towards Monseigneur of Savoy. The same French ambassador has this very day had a long conference with the Privy Councillors at Westminster for the sole purpose of remonstrating against the griefs, annoyances, and injuries of which the most Christian King pretends his subjects here are the victims,—a most odious and unpleasant task, which the said most Christian King seems to have taken much to heart, writing continually and urging his ambassador to get redress thereof. Nothing, however, has yet been decided in favour of or against the said French claims, and I am told that this king is about to send four doctors into France, there to discuss the affair. Yet it strikes me that if the French really wish to treat with these people, they ought not to cause them annoyance in matters of this sort.

Today a courier returning from Scotland has arrived. He has related to some one, who came and told me, that it had been decided that immediately after Easter this king and that of Scotland shall hold an interview at York, and that for the security of the latter the duke of Richmond (age 16), the eldest son of Norfolk (age 20), and the son of the marquis [of Dorset] (age 19), shall be given as hostages.

This Parliament has resolved and made it law that all abbeys and priories not possessing a revenue exceeding 1,000 crs. per annum are to be destroyed and rased to the ground; and I understand that the measure has already begun to be executed in some parts of the country, which will enormously increase the King's budget. Yet, not satisfied with this addition to his revenue, and the numberless ways and means he is daily devising to procure money, he has caused a motion to be made in Parliament to this effect: All and every one of his subjects to be obliged, according to the amount of his fortune, to offer a "saint sacrament;" the offerings to be collected by officers appointed by the King, and spent in food for the poor and weak, as well as for the robust and strong, who for the benefit of the kingdom are to be employed in public works, such as the harbour of Dover and similar undertakings.

This King has likewise forbidden the greater part of the Clergy to have anything to do with confession, which is henceforth to be entirely at the charge of the curates, to whom it has been enjoined not in anywise to give absolution to parties unless they previously acknowledge the Pope to be the Anti- christ, and himself (the King) the Chief of the Church, and adhere to the rest of the articles of the Creed in conformity.

Cromwell, finding that the cross which toe asked the Princess to surrender, as I wrote on the 25th of February (fn. n5) was not so rich as he at first imagined, and that it only contained a relic of the "Lignum Crucis," for which these people seem not to core much just now, sent it back to the Princess; but hitherto not one of the things which the late good Queen, her mother, bequeathed to her by will has been forwarded.— London, 18 March 1536.

Signed: "Eustace Chapuys."

Addressed: "To the Emperor."

French. Original. pp. 3.

Letters of Horace Walpole. 05 Aug 1752. From Sevenoaks [Map] we went to Knowle. The park is sweet, with much old beech, and an immense sycamore before the great gate, that makes me more in love than ever with sycamores. The house is not near so extensive as I expected:³³⁰ the outward court has a beautiful decent simplicity that charms one. The apartments are many, but not large. The furniture throughout, ancient magnificence; loads of portraits, not good nor curious; ebony cabinets, embossed silver in vases, dishes, etc. embroidered beds, stiff chairs, and sweet bags lying on velvet tables, richly worked in silk and gold. There are two galleries, one very small; an old hall, and a spacious great drawing-room. There is never a good staircase. The first little room you enter has sundry portraits of the times; but they seem to have been bespoke by the yard, and drawn all by the same painter; One should be happy if they were authentic; for among them there is Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Gardiner of Winchester, the Earl of Surry, the poet, when a boy, and a Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, but I don't know which. The only fine picture is of Lord Goring and Endymion Porter by Vandyke. There is a good head of the Queen of Bohemia, a whole-length of Duc d'Espernon, and another good head of the Clifford, Countess of Dorset, who wrote that admirable haughty letter to Secretary Williamson, when he recommended a person to her for member for Appleby: "I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I won't be dictated to by a subject: your man shan't stand. Ann Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery." In the chapel is a piece of ancient tapestry: Saint Luke in his first profession is holding an urinal. Below stairs is a chamber of poets and players, which is proper enough in that house; for the first Earl wrote a play³³¹, and the last Earl was a poet³³², and I think married a player³³³ Major Mohun and Betterton are curious among the latter, Cartwright and Flatman among the former. The arcade is newly enclosed, painted in fresco, and with modern glass of all the family matches. In the gallery is a whole-length of the unfortunate Earl of Surry, with his device, a broken column, and the motto Sat superest. My father had one of them, but larger, and with more emblems, which the Duke of Norfolk bought at my brother's sale. There is one good head of henry VIII, and divers of Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, the citizen who came to be lord treasurer, and was very near coming to be hanged.³³⁴ His Countess, a bouncing kind of lady-mayoress, looks pure awkward amongst so much good company. A visto cut through the wood has a delightful effect from the front: but there are some trumpery fragments of gardens that spoil the view from the state apartments.

Note 329. Only son of Dr. Richard Bentley, the celebrated Divine and classical scholar. He was educated at Trinity College, under his father. Cumberland, who was his nephew, describes him as a man of various and considerable accomplishments; possessing a fine genius, great wit, and a brilliant imagination; "but there was," he adds, "a certain eccentricity and want of prudence in his character, that involved him in distresses, and reduced him to situations uncongenial with his feelings, and unpropitious to the cultivation and encouragement of his talents."-E.

Note 330. Evelyn in his Diary for July 25, 1673, says, "In my way I visited my Lord of Dorset's house at Knowle, near Sevenoaks, a greate old-fashion'd house."-E.

Note 331. Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, while a student in the Temple, wrote his tragedy of Gordobuc, which was played before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, in 1561. He was created Earl of Dorset by James the First, in 1604.-E.

Note 332. Charles Sackville, sixth Earl of Dorset. On the day previous to the naval engagement with the Dutch, in 1665, he is said to have composed his celebrated song, "to all you Ladies now on Land."-E.

Note 333. On the contrary, he married the Lady Frances, daughter of the Earl of Middlesex, who survived him.-E. [Note. This appears to be a mistake insofar as Richard Sackville 5th Earl Dorset married Frances Cranfield Countess Dorset who was the daughter of Lionel Cranfield 1st Earl Middlesex. Charles Sackville 6th Earl Dorset 1st Earl Middlesex married firstly Mary Bagot Countess Falmouth and Dorset and secondly Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex. There, however, references to his marrying an actress Alice Lee with whom he appear to have had a daughter Mary Sackville Countess Orrery.]

Note 334. Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, married two wives: the first was the daughter of a London citizen; the second, the daughter of James Brett, Esq. and half-sister of Mary Beaumont, created Countess of Buckingham. To this last alliance, Lord Middlesex owed his extraordinary advancement.-E.