Add MS 78186

EVELYN PAPERS. Vol. XIX. (ff. 80). Miscellaneous letters and papers, partly legal, of and addressed to Christopher Browne; 1590-1630, n.d. Also included are various items relating to John Wells the elder (d. 1635), Treasurer of the Stores at Deptford (for whom see a letter of John Evelyn, 29 May 1691, quoted in Nathan Dews, History of Deptford, 1884, p. 93n.).

1. Letters addressed to Browne; 1605-1630, n.d. ff. 30. Several relate to property-holding and others to the education at Oxford of his son Richard, whose dockets appear on most of them. For letters written to Browne by his son, 1621-1628, see Add. MS 34702, ff. 1-8. The writers include: Richard Browne (son) from Oxford; 14 June 1624, 5 Jan. 1625. Latin; William Browne (cousin), Colchester, 9 Sept. n.y.; William Bourcher (cousin), rel. to a lease; 17 Jan. 1604/5; Margaret, widow of Sir John Hawkins; Luxborough, 20 May 1605. Signed, with a copy of her certificate giving consent to Browne’s conditions rel. to Sayes Court; Thomas Disney (nephew), relating to legal evidences; Harmeston, 20 March 1624; Christian Stephens (relative), rel. to a lease; 23 July, 18 Sept. 1627; Sir Anthony Weldon, n.d. [1627 on later docket]; Thomas Nevile, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, rel. to renewal of a college lease held by Browne; 28 Sept. 1610; three letters of Sebastian Benefield, al. Benfield, D.D., from Christ Church, Oxford, 25 Sept., 9 Oct. 1620 and 21 Mar. 1621, rel. to Richard Browne’s admission as fellow commoner there, under the tutorship of Barton Holyday. A letter from Barton Holyday to Christopher Browne, removed by William Upcott, is now in his album, Add. MS 78684 below; Charles Stockwell, B.D., from Christ Church, Oxford, 19 Feb. 1622, rel. to his taking over as tutor to Richard Browne; eight letters from fellows of Merton College, mostly rel. to Richard Browne, viz: Laurence Hinton, 15 Aug. 1625 (docketed as having been sent ‘With a Speech of Sr Robert Cookes’) and 12 Feb., 22 Oct. [1629]; Peter Turner, 19 July, 9 Sept. 1629 and 5 Apr., 14 June 1630, rel. to Browne’s progress in his diplomatic employment; James Marsh, 26 Aug. [1629]; Sir John Glanville, the younger, from Lincolns Inn, 1630.

2. Miscellaneous papers; 1590-1625, n.d. ff. 9. Viz:- (a) Letter of Sir John Hawkins to his brother-in-law Captain Edward Fenton rel. to payments for the navy; Plymouth, 4 Nov. 1590; (b) A pronostication out of French 1613’; - (c) Letter of Thomas Bodley to Francis Bacon rel to Novum Organum; 19 Feb. 1607/8. Copy; - (d) Francis Bacon’s letter to the House of Lords; 19 Mar. 1620/1. Copy, in hand of Christopher Browne; - (e) Translation into English of propositions rel. to the proposed match between Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Infanta of Spain; Madrid, 8 Oct. 1622; - (f) John Wells of Deptford, nephew of Christopher Browne: Prognostication ‘For Dr [Samuel] Page’ (d. 1630), Vicar of St. Nicholas, Deptford, concerning the prospects for success of his proposed match; 14 Mar. 1624/5.

3. ff. 35. Legal papers of and rel. to Christopher Browne; 1601-1618, n.d. Partly Latin. Viz:- (a) Certificate by Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice, and Sergeant William Daniel that Browne was provoked to the manslaughter of Laurence Robinson; 3 July 1601. Signed. f. 1; - (b) List of the plate of Sir Richard Browne, deceased, allowed by his widow Joanna to her son Robert Browne; 24 June 1604. f. 1; - (c) Christopher Browne’s bond for a lease of lands in Chartham, co. Kent; 26 Nov. 1605. Signed by Browne and as witnesses by Thomas Cockes, Edward Gower and William Short. ff. 2; - (d) Bond by John Nulls of London, merchant, to Christopher Browne in fourteen pounds; 25 May 1625. Signed by Nulls and, as witnesses, by William and John Frithe; - (e) will of John Wells, al. Welles, the elder, of Deptford, Treasurer of the Stores (d. Dec. 1635); n.d. [circa but bef. Aug. 1630]. Draft, partly autograph. Beneficiaries include his wife Katheryn, eldest son John, to whom he bequeaths his books and mathematical instruments, sons Thomas, Benjamin and Christopher, daughters Katherine, ‘Ben’, Margaret and Mary, and a child as yet unborn. Joint overseers Christopher Browne and Benjamin Wallenger. ff. 2.; (f) indenture between the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury and Christopher and Thomasine Browne of Deptford rel. to the lease of the manor of Chartham; 29 Jan. 15 James I [1618]. ff. 24.; - (g) memorandum of agreement between John Henniker (al. Heneker) and Christopher Browne rel. to renewal of the lease on Henniker’s farm at Chartham; 10 Oct. 1619. Signed by Browne; - (h) commissioners of the Green Cloth: ‘Articles agreed on concerninge all maner of Purveyances &c’ (docket); 6 Feb. 1622/3. Imperfect, comprising a leaf numbered 4 and one unnumbered. This document relates to compositions made with Justices of the Peace for purveyances in ‘the said County’ (probably Surrey). ff. 2; - (i) Quitclaim by James Currey, of St. Dunstan’s-in-the-West, to Christopher Browne of Deptford and his heirs; 10 Aug. 1631; - (j) ‘Copie of Jo: Grenesmyths will’; n.d. Hand of Christopher Browne.