Add MS 44848

HISTORICAL LETTERS AND PAPERS (ENGLISH AND FOREIGN) OF THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES: a collection of copies closely resembling those in Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Tanner 82 (see Cat. Cod. MSS. Bibl. Bodl., Pt. iv, Codices T. Tanneri, ed. A. Hackman, 1860, pp. 411-419) and British Museum Add. MSS. 4108 and 22587, Harley MS. 4761, and

Sloane MS. 1775, but containing in addition (at ff. 267-304) a supplement of Commonwealth and Restoration documents (the contents of which are listed below). The letters (arranged here in rough chronological order) are for the most part printed in the Cabala, 3rd (and last) ed., 1691 (where they are, however, generally grouped alphabetically under the name of the writers), in John Rushworth, Historical Collections, and Edward Cardwell, Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, 1839. Names of the writers will be found in the Index to the present Catalogue. The contents of the supplement are as follows, viz:-

(1) Speech made by Sir Walter Raleigh on the scaffold, 30 Oct. 1618. Differs, in detail, from the versions given by Oldys (Raleigh, Works, 1829, i, pp. 558-563); Birch (ibid., pp. 691-696); and Archbishop Sancroft (ibid., viii, pp. 775-779). ff. 267-269.

(2) Letters exchanged between Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, and Sir Francis Vere, relating to the former's challenge of the latter to a duel; 1602. Accounts of the episode, with quotations from the letters, will be found in E.B. de Fonblanque, Annals of the House of Percy, ii, 1887, pp. 217-222, and Clements R. Markham, The Fighting Veres, 1888, pp. 334- 336. (Other copies of Northumberland's letter and of Vere's answer are in Add. MSS. 25247, ff. 308-311, and 25246, ff. 60-65, respectively.) ff. 270- 276b.

(3) Letter from Sir Henry Wotton to the Queen of Bohemia, July 1636. Printed in Reliquiae Wottonianae, 1st ed., 1651, p. 393; 3rd ed., 1675, p. 336; and Logan Pearsall Smith, Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, 1907, ii, pp. 362-363. ff. 276b-277b.

(4) Letter from Eleanor Finch née Wyatt, first wife of John Finch, knt. 1625, Baron Finch of Fordwick 1640, written to her husband, circ. 1619. The original is in Wyatt MS. 31 which was, in 1892, in the possession of the Earl of Romney. See J. Cave Browne, History of Boxley Parish, 1892, p. 148, and William H. Terry, The Life and Times of John, Lord Finch, 1936, p. 16. f. 278.

(5) 'The Speech of a brother of Marquis Huntly's to the Covenanters in Scotland, 1640', i.e. a version of the reply of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly, to the leaders of the Covenant, delivered 20 April 1639, and published as The Marques of Huntley his Reply to certaine Noblemen, Gentlemen, and Ministers, Covenanters of Scotland, 1640. Reprinted in William Gordon, The History of the ancient, noble and illustrious Family of Gordon... to 1690, ii, 1727, pp. 239-240; and John Spalding, Memorialls of the Troubles in Scotland and in England, i, 1851, p. 179 (version in Scots). ff. 278 b-279.

(6) 'A note of the Principall Actes of Parliam^t. holden in Scotland June the 11th, 1640.' For the proceedings see The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, v, 1870, pp. 259-302, and of. J.H. Burton, The History of Scotland, 2nd ed. 1873, Edinburgh, vi, pp. 284-288. ff. 279b-280.

(7) Letter, in Latin, from the University of Cambridge to Parliament, 2 May (sic for 11 Apr.) 1641, accompanied by a petition in English. Printed in

J. Rushworth, Historical Collections, iv, p. 272, and C. H. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, iii, 1845, pp. 312-313. ff. 281-282.

(8) Letter from Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, to his son, Lord Raby, written before the former's execution on Tower Hill on 11 May 1641 - Printed in W. Knowler, Letters and Dispatches of the Earl of Strafford, 1739, p. 416. ff. 282-283.

(9) Petition addressed to Charles I by sixteen English peers requesting him to call a Parliament; 28 Aug. 1640. The Petition is printed in Rushworth, Historical Collections, iii, pp. 1260-1262, and in Rymer, Foedera, xx, 1732, p 435. ff. 283b-284.

(10) Letter from Sir Henry Wotton to Isaac Bargrave, Dean of Canterbury; 6 Nov. 1638. This and artt. 11 and 12 below are not recorded by Pearsall Smith, op. cit. f. 284b.

(11) Letter from Sir Henry Wotton to Thomas Bargrave, son of the Dean of Canterbury, and one of the two executors of Wotton's will; n.d. f. 284b.

(12) Two letters from Sir Henry Wotton to Sir Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland; 20 Mar. 163 6/7 and n.d. f. 285.

(13) Letter from King James I to Sir Henry Wotton; 16 July 1606. Another copy from a manuscript at Burley-on-the-Hill (see Hist. MSS. Comm., 7^th Report, App., p. 516) is printed by Logan Pearsall Smith, op. cit., 1907, i, p. 358 n. 2; while a third, at Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS. 318, is printed in Archaeologia, xl, 1866, p. 258. f. 285b.

(14) 'A Conference of Both Houses of Parliament, April 12 1641', regarding the notes produced in the House of Commons by Sir Henry Vane the younger on 10th April, offering evidence of Strafford's advice to Charles I to employ the Irish army in England. The text of what is probably the original document is printed in Hist. MSS. Comm., 3rd Report, App., p. 3; that given here is defective. For the incident see the Journal of the House of Commons, ii, pp. 118-119; Clarendon, History of the Great Rebellion, iii, pp. 133-137; and Harley MS. 164, ff. 162-165. A general account is in C.V. Wedgwood, Strafford, 1935, pp. 311-313. f. 286.

(15) Memorandum by Samuel Ward, Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, relating to the Synod of Dort, 1619. Latin. f. 286 b.

(16) Letter from Thomas Davies to James Ussher, Bishop of Meath, later Archbishop of Armagh; Aleppo, 29 Aug. 1624. Printed in Ussher, Works, xv, pp. 220-221. See William O'Sullivan, 'Ussher as a Collector of manuscripts', Hermathena, lxxxviii, 1956, pp. 45-46. f. 286b.

(17) List of M.P.s (styled 'Straffordians') who refused to vote for the attainder of the Earl of Strafford; [? 3 May], 1641. Differs, in details, from that given in Rushworth, Historical Collections, iv, pp. 248-249. For the episode see S. R. Gardiner, History of England, ix, p. 350. f. 287.

(18) A protest of eight Scottish peers (viz. James, 1st Duke of Hamilton; William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton; Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe; George Hay, 2nd Earl of Kinnoull; George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntley; James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose; William Hamilton,

Earl of Lanark and [1649] 2nd Duke of Hamilton; and Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline) against the Scottish invasion of England, 1643. f. 287 b.

(19) Letter from Sir John Hotham to his son; Hull, 25 June 1643. For Hotham and his conspiracy see D.N.B. xxvii, pp. 408-409, and S. R. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War, i, pp. 105, 141, 159-161; ii, pp. 103-105. f. 287b.

(20) Letter from 'Padre Paul', i.e. Paolo Sarpi, to François Hotman, Abbot of St Médard, Soissons; Venice, 22 July 1608. English translation. Printed by Richard Parr, The Life of James Ussher, 1686, App., pp. 2-3. Another version by Edward Brown, The Letters of the Renowned Father Paul, 1693, pp. 411-415, refers (pp. 415-416) to its presence in Parr's Life. The Italian version is given by F.L. Polidori, Lettere di Fra Paolo Sarpi, i, 1863, pp. 79- 83, who suggests (op. cit., p. 79 n. 1) that the letter was originally written in Latin, and then translated into French, thence into English and, finally into Italian. Another copy of the letter (imperfect, lacking the beginning) is in Add. MS. 12515, f. 5. f. 288.

(21) Letter from the United Provinces, proposing peace with England; 18 Mar. 1653. English translation. The original is printed in L. Van Aitzema, Saken van Staet en Oorlogh, in, ende omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden. Pt. III, The Hague, 1669, p. 804. On this proposal see James Geddes, The History of the Administration of John de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, 1879, pp. 282, 290 n. 1, 291. f. 288b.

(22) Articles brought by George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, accusing Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, of high treason; 10 July 1663. Printed in Cobbett, Parliamentary History, iv, 1808, cols. 276-280. ff. 289-291.

(23) Message of Charles II, in respect of art. 22. Printed, ibid., col. 283. f. 291b.

(24) Judges' opinion of the charge. Printed, ibid. f. 291 b.

(25) Articles brought against Clarendon in the House of Commons; 6 Nov. 1667. Printed, ibid., cols. 377-379. f. 292.

(26) 'Reasons of the House of Commons for Commitment of the Earle of Clarendon without alledging speciall matter'; 18 Nov. 1667. Printed, ibid., cols. 386-387. ff. 293-294.

(27) Protestation of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and other peers against the decision of the House of Lords not to commit the Earl of Clarendon on a general charge of high treason; 20 Nov. 1667. Printed in Lords Journals, xii, 154-155. ff. 294-294 b.

(28) Clarendon's address to the House of Lords, communicated by letter after he had fled the country; 3 Dec. 1667. Printed in his Life, iii, 346; Cobbett's Parliamentary History, iv, cols. 393-398; and Lords Journals, xii, 154-155. ff. 295-297.

(29) Report to the House of Commons by George Monck, Duke of Albemarle, on the misfortunes sustained by the English fleet in 1666. Printed in Commons Journals, ix, 12-14. ff. 297b-300b.

(30) A similar report by Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Printed in Commons

Journals, ix, 11-l2; and in Eliot Warburton, Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, iii, 1849, pp. 480-485. ff. 301-302.

(31) Letter from Sir Leoline Jerkins to the clergy of the diocese of Canterbury, regarding the briefs for the redemption of captives in Barbary; Exeter House, 21 Nov. 1670. ff. 302b-303.

(32) Answer by John Prideaux, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, and (1641) Bishop of Worcester, to certain accusations made against him, 1663. Printed in William Laud, An Historical Account of all Material Transactions Relating to the University of Oxford from Arch-bishop Laud's being Elected Chancellor to his Resignation of that Office, pp. 64-66, in Remains ... of William Laud, vol. ii, collected by Henry Wharton, 1700. ff. 304-304b. Paper; ff. 314. Folio. Late xvii cent. Watermark (on ff. i, 2, 3, 104, 279, etc.): a bunch of grapes and the initials 'N G.' (Heawood, No. 2179-London, 1638). Contemporary binding, the upper and lower covers being stamped with a pegasus courant, ducally gorged, within a laurel wreath with a coronet (Finch, Earls of Winchilsea and Nottingham) This device is today one of the crests of the Earl of Winchilsea and suggests that the MS. may originally have been in the possession of the Finch family, possibly Heneage Finch, the 3rd Earl.

Presented by Lady Muriel Elizabeth Anna Louisa Capel Cure, daughter of Sir Percy Dixwell Oxenden, 10th Bart.