Add MS 4159

Many of the documents here formed part of the original collection of John Thurloe (d. 1668), Secretary to the Council of State and subsequently to the two Cromwells, Lord Protectors. They illuminate both the domestic and international politics of the period, as also the scope of Thurloe's intelligence service.

This forms one volume of the Thurloe State Papers Collection of state letters and papers in the British Library. It is has been classified as Volume 5 of the Thurloe State Papers (e.g. The British Library: Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1756-1782, London: British Library, British Museums Publications Limited, 1977, pp. 33-336), though there is a question mark as to whether Volume 1 properly belongs to this series. Moreover, whilst many of these documents clearly are of the 1650s, a number are earlier, with three from the late sixteenth-century and a number up to 1629, and more for the period 1661-1692. It is probably more accurate to term it, as does the spine of the volume, Volume 5 of the Birch Collection, after the 18th-century antiquary Thomas Birch, from whom the papers came to the British Museum.

Thurloe's main papers were hidden behind a false ceiling in a garret over his chambers, and upon their discovery were sold to John Somers, 1st Baron Somers (1651-1716), lawyer and politician. The papers here probably came into Somers's possession after the 67 volumes of Thurloe Papers which are now in the Bodleian Library (Rawlinson MSS A 1-A 67) were bound up. They afterwards came into the hands of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, and were 'communicated' by him to Birch, according to the Preface to the A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, (London, Fletcher Gyles, 1742), 7 vols., which Birch edited and dedicated to Lord Hardwicke in 1742, and in which a number of the documents here were published. From Hardwicke the letters passed to Birch who left them to the British Library.

Contents:

ff.1r-4v: Letter of the Dutch Commissioners for the treaty with Sweden, to the Dutch States General, Copenhagen, 16/26 Apr 1660. Copies. ff. 1r-2r is in Dutch; ff. 3r-4r an English translation.

ff. 5r-6v: Letter of Charles Longland, agent at Leghorn (Livorno), to John Thurloe, Leghorn, 23 Apr 1660 (new style).

ff.7r-8v: Letter of news from - de Lawerin to Isaac Johnson, merchant, Hamburg, 24 Apr 1660. Original. Johnson's is clearly acting as an intermediary between de Lawerin and Thurloe.

f. 9r: Letter from de Lawerin to John Thurloe, n.d. (?24 Apr 1660). Request for payment directly to Thurloe: the request is mentioned in de Lauwerin's letter of 24 Apr, ff. 7r-8v.

ff. 10r-11v: German printed newsbook, Ordinari Diengstags Zeitung, Hamburg: 1660, The newsbook covers events 10-24 Apr 1660.

ff. 12r-v: Letter of intelligence in French, addressed to 'Monseigneur', 9 May 1660. In French, with some use of ciphers. The ink is quite faint (originally invisible ink?).

ff. 13r-14v: Letter of Reginald Petit to John Thurloe, St Vincent (15 miles from Bayonne), 20/30 Apt 1660.

ff. 15r-v: Letter of intelligence, Paris, 12 March, 1660. In French.

ff. 16r-v: Letter of intelligence, Westminster, 12 Mar 1660. In French.

ff. 17r-v: Letter of intelligence of international news (evidently from the Netherlands), 19 Mar 1660. In French. The date may be 29.

ff. 18r-v: Letter of intelligence from France, 30 Mar 1660. In English.

ff. 20r-69v: Intelligences to Samuel Hartlib, 15 Feb 1661-15 Sep 1661. These are intelligences - narratives of events - formed into series in one hand. Hartlib's name only appears in one place, f. 63v: 'Intelligences to Mr Samuel Hartlib'. Despite the similarity of the handwriting, there would seem to be two roughly chronological sequnces, 1 Apr 1661-15 Sep 1661 (ff. 20r-61v) and 15 Feb 1661-25 Mar 1661. news from Paris, Amsterdam, Cleve, Hamburg, Warsaw.

f. 71r: Proclamation by state officials and citizens of Dublin of Richard Cromwell to be Lord Protector, [Sept 1658]. Signed by Henry Cromwell, Commander-in-Chief, and many others. Hand-written. Imperfect. [moved to shelf-mark 831b, May 2010].

ff. 72r-v: Answer of King Charles II to the address of the House of Commons, 16 Mar 1663.

ff. 73r-v: List of royal pensions, since 17 May 1673 (no other date).

ff. 74r-v: Letter of Henry Cromwell to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor, 9 Apr 1662. A copy, noted in an 18th-century hand as in the possession of Joseph Ratcliffe of the Inner Temple, esquire.

ff. 75v-76v: Note of the ships and artillery of the Red, White and Blue Squadrons, 1670.

ff. 77r-78v: Letter of James Ley, 3rd Earl of Marlborough to William Glascock, 23 May 1665.

ff. 79r-80v: Speech of Sir William Jones against the Duke of York upon the Exclusion Bill, Nov 1680.

ff. 81r-v: Account of interview between James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and King Charles II, [1683].

ff. 82r-84v: Account of the proceedings of the Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiatical Affairs against Henry Compton, Bishop of London, 4 Aug - 6 Sept 1686, Culminating in sentence of suspension.

ff. 85r-86v: Letter of William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy to Colonel Robert Lundy, Dublin, 10 Jan 1689 (ff. 85r-v) with added in another hand, resolution [of the Huse of Commons] of 28 Jan 1689 as to King James having rendered the throne vacant.

ff. 87r-88v: List of persons that signed the address [to William of Orange], 10 Jan 1689. The endorsement gives the title (also adding to the names 'I presum').

ff. 89r-90v: Letter of Charles Thompson, Surgeon-General of Ireland to Henry Gascoigne (with James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde in St James's Square), Dublin, 13 Feb 1689. Original. With seal.

f. 91r. Letter of King James II to his Privy Council, St Germain, 3 Apr 1692. Copy.

ff. 93r-v: Letter of M D^st Thom, n.d. Almost certainly a royalist letter intercepted in the 1650s.

ff. 93r-94v: An account of the Babington conspiracy, 1586. In a 16th-century hand.

ff. 95r-v: Letter of King Charles I to Sir Heneage Finch, Speaker of the House of Commons, to be read in the House, Palace of Westminster, 9 Jun 1626.

ff. 96r: Letter of King James I or King Charles I, n.d. Neither author nor audience are given, but evidently from Charles or James to Parliament. HMC, Reports on the Manuscripts of the Dukes of Buccleugh and Queensberry, vol. III: VI: The Montagu Papers, 2nd ser (London, HMSO, 1926). p. 94, suggests James I [1604?].

ff. 97r-v: Letter of Alonso de Cardenas, Spanish Ambassador in England, to the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, n.d. [1642-1649]. On trade with the Spanish Netherlands. Copy.

f. 98r: Petition showing the great inconveniencies arising to merchants in general by the delivery out of bills out of the Customs House of all merchants' entries of goods imported, n.d.. In 17th-century hand.

ff. 99r-100v: Letter of Anna Read to Robert Maitland, The Hague, 11 Jan. Year missing. probably a royalist letter intercepted in the 1650s. The first page is an innocuous letter from Read, the second and third pages (ff. 99v-100v) an enclosure in another hand.

f. 101r: Letter of the English Council of State to the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and to the Marquis de Leda, Governor of Dunkirk, n.d (after 3 Dec 1653, when the Council of State gave permission for the petition of John Causton, merchant, over the matter at issue in this letter, to be presented Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, [Commonwealth] 1649-1660, preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office. edited by Mary Anne Everett Green. Vol. 6: July 1653-Feb London, England: Longman & Co., 1879, p. 284). Copy.

ff. 102r-103v: 'Remembrances concerning the proclaiming of Peace made with the Low Countryes', 1654. Notes on the process of formally proclaiming peace.

ff. 104r-v: Letter 'for his friend the governere of Glasgow', n.d. [1650s]. An anonymous (Quaker?) letter. It opens,, What thy name is friend I knowe not'

ff. 105r-110r: Letter of public affairs addressed to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, n.d. [Feb or Mar 1658]. The date is inferred from internal evidence by C. H. Firth, who tentatively suggests that the author was John Shaw, Master of the Charterhouse at Hull and minister of Trinity Church there ('Two letters addressed to Oliver Cromwell, ed. by C.H. Firth, English Historical Review, Vol. 22, No 86 [April 1907], p. 308). The letter discusses both public matters in general and the particular situation in Hull. Henry Reece, The Army in Cromwellian England, 1649-1660 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 128, fn. 59 raises problems with this identification, and suggests it more likely that the letter was written by a member of the Hull corporation.

ff. 111r-112r: 'Proposalls for the safetie of the nation and security of Trade in generall during the warre with Spaine', n.d. [1654-1658].

ff. 113r-114v: Letter of Jeremiah Whitaker to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, n.d [1654]. From internal evidence Firth dates the letter to after 19 Jan (and possibly 7 Feb) he died on 1 Jun 1654. ('Two letters addressed to Oliver Cromwell, ed. by C.H. Firth, English Historical Review, Vol. 22, No 86 [April 1907], p. 308).

f. 115r-116v: Letter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Dolman, n.d. [1650s]. A copy.

ff. 117r-118r: Grant by ordinance of Lords and Commons of estates and possessions of delinquent estates and possessions (names left blank) to Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell, n.d. [1646-1648]. Draft.

ff. 119r-120v: Letter of Sir John Reynolds, commanding the English regiments in the Anglo-French army in Flanders, to (?) John Thurloe, n.d. [1657]. Original.

ff. 120r-121v: Letter of Posthumous Preistman to John Thurloe, n.d. Letter of intelligence from the 1650s.

ff. 123r-124v: Letter of Thomas Crompton to Matthew Worsewicke (at Stafford), 23 Sep [1654]. With seal. News of parliamentary business.

ff. 125r-126v: Letter to James Smith, merchant in London, 4 Oct [no year]. Endorsed as 'Intelligence without name or date'. With seal. Presumably James Smith is a pseudonym.

ff. 127r--130v: Order of John II Casimir, King of Poland, for treating of peace with the King of Sweden, n.d. [1657]. In Latin.

ff. 131r-132v; Letter of John II Casimir, King of Poland to Frederick III, King of Denmark, n.d. [c. 1657]. In Latin.

ff. 133r-v: Speech of Bulstrode Whitelocke, Ambassador to Sweden, to Queen Christina, on taking his leave, n.d. [12 May 1654]. In Latin. See also Add Ms 4156, f. 49.

ff. 134r-136v: Letter of Princess Hohenzollern (Maria Elizabeth, Princess of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Countess van den Bergh and Marquise of Bergen-op-Zoom) exhibited before the Dutch States-General by Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, n.d. [1657]. In French. The endorsement notes that Elizabeth exhibited the letter to 'aggravat her crime' - that is, her part in the conversion of Elizabeth's daughter, Louise Hollandine, to Catholicism.

ff. 137v-138r: Letter of Charles Longland, to (?) John Thurloe, Legorn (Livorno).n.d. (1650s: 1650?-1654?).

ff. 138r-142r: A relation by the Venetian Resident in England of the fight which happened between the fleets of Venice and the Turks at the Dardanelles, July 1656. For the date and attribution of the account to the Venetian Resident, see f. 206r. The battle took place on 26/27 June 1656. In Italian (ff. 140r-142r) and English translation, (ff. 138r-139v).

ff.143r-144v: Notes upon the trails of the prisoners, 1654. The notes are for the trial (Jun-Jul 1654) of John Gerard, Peter Vowell and Somerset Fox for the attempted assassination of Oliver Cromwell.

ff. 145r-146v: Letter of A.N. to Sir G.R., n.d. [1650s]. Original. Either a royalist intercepted letter or a spy's report.

ff. 147r-148v: Letter of A.N., n.d. [1650s]. Original. Either a royalist intercepted letter or a spy's report.

ff. 149r-v: Letter of Tom the Pedlar, 20 Oct, no year [1650s]. Intercepted royalist letter. Signed 'Tom the Pedlar'; endorsed 'From the Pedlar'.

ff. 150r-151v: A proposition, made to René Augier, British Resident in Paris: Information to, of a secret naval construction which add destroy all navies and, indeed, all earthly forces, n.d. [1649-1653-.

ff. 152r-153v: Letter of John Adams to ?John Thurloe, Amsterdam, 1 May 1654.

f. 154r: Extract from Rolls of Parliament, no. 43, 46 Edward III (1372-1373), extracted by William Ryley. In Law French.

ff. 155r-156v: Anonymous letter to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, n.d. [1653-1658]. Glossed in the endorsement as 'a congratulatory letter'.

f. 157r: Order for the discovery of names of rebels in Gloucestershire, January 1644. A copy. Directed to the high constables of Slaughter hundred.

ff. 158r-159v: The Speech of Oliver St John before the Dutch States-General at the Hague, 1651. A draft.

ff. 160r-161v: Letter of safe conduct from the English Parliament to Anton Günther, Count of Oldenburg, [1649-1653]. Copy. In Latin. The names at the end are John Milton, William Lenthall and Henry Scobell.

ff. 162-163r: Grant of pension to George Lockhart, Advocate-General in Scotland, by Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector, 1658-1659. Draft.

ff.164r-166r: Narrative of intrigues between Don Alonso de Cardenas (Spanish Ambassador in London),'O' (Oliver Cromwell), and Jules, Cardinal Mazarin, on the affairs of the three countries, headed 'France and Spayne', n.d [1658-1659].

ff. 167r-v: Petition of both Houses of Parliament to King Charles II against Priests and Jesuits, 31 Mar 1663. Copy.

ff. 168r-v: Letter of - Wescomb to - de Witterd, Englishman, at the College de Clermont, Ruse St Jacques, Paris, 23 Sep 1656. An intercepted royalist letter, from an endorsement diverted by Maurice Roche, Bordeaux, 11 Oct 1656.

ff. 169r-v: The 'harangue' of King Henri IV to the Parlement of Paris, [8 Jan 1599]. The word used on the endorsement is 'harangue'. In French. Copy from early 17th-century.

f. 171: Protestation of the House of Commons against innovation in religion and the levying of tonnage and poundage [2 March 1629]. The text of the protestation is complete, but the list of signatories has been cut off after the first, Sir Peter Heyman ['Haymond']. The names of Sir John Eliot and Denzil Holles appear at the head.

ff. 172r-v: 'The Kinges speech' [the speech of King Charles I at the opening of Parliament, 17 Mar 1628].

ff. 173r-v: List of anti-Catholic legislative directives, n.d. (early 17th-century hand).

ff. 174r: Speech of Prince Charles (later King Charles I) in the House of Lords, 30 Jan 1621. The text is not labelled as such, but has been identified from the calendar text in Calendar of the manuscripts of the most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, ed. by G. Dyfnallt Owen, Vol. 22: 1612-1668. (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1971), p. 145.

ff. 175v-176r: Petition of Sir Humphrey Gilbert to Queen Elizabeth I for a charter for a voyage of discovery for the North-West Passage to Cathay. n.d. [?1578]. Late 16th-century hand. Probably a draft.

ff. 177r-178r: 'The declaration to the people of Virginia', containing accusations against Sir William Berkeley, Governor, and others, by 'Nathaniel Bacon, General, by consent of the People', n.d. [1676].

ff. 179r-180v. Ruling of Dr Walter Walker and Dr William Turner, advocates, as to the power of a court martial where one soldier has killed another in Ireland, no enemy being in the field, n.d. [?1650s].

ff. 181r-182v: Petition of Thomas Carter, chief officer, to the House of Commons for the certain measuring of all timber brought from foreign parts [into the Port of London], n.d.

ff. 183r-184v: Letter of Robert Lightfoot to John Turner, Rotterdam, 1/11 Jan.,no year[?1650s]. With seal. Probably a spy's report or intercepted letter. Original.

ff. 185r-186v: Letter of Alexander Davidson to Robert Maitland (in London), The Hague, 4 Jan new style, no year [1650s]. Endorsed as 'An Intercepted Letter'. Original.

ff. 187v-188r: Letter of Alexander Davidson to unknown recipient ('Monsieur'), The Hague, 10 Jan, no year. In French. Original.

ff. 189r-190v: Letter of James White to John Mahan (at Mrs Woods' house near the Upper Bench in Southwark), Sluys, 5 Jan (year). Endorsed 13 January. Original.

ff. 191r-192v: Letter of James Welsh to Thomas Jones, n.d. With partial seal. Note that the letter is to be left with Mrs Catherine Paine at Mr Taylor's house at the sign of the Sugar Loaf in Queen's Street.

ff. 193r-194r: Letter of C Phitton[?] to Francis Wigmore, Cologne, Jun, no year. Location and date from endorsement which notes it as an intercepted letter. Addressed to Wigmore at Mr Thomas Cartwrite's house next door to the Plow Stables in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

ff. 195r-196v: 'Reasons why those who did signe the late address to the Lord Protector are not to be communicated within the ordinances of God', n.d. [January 1655]. Identified as confiscated from Major John Bramston as part of the Overton Plot in There it is dated 1 Jan 1655, but noted as forwarded to Oliver Cromwell by George Monck in mid-January 1655 (The Clarke Papers: Further selections from the papers of William Clarke, vol 5, Camden Society, 5th series, Vol. 27, ed. by Frances Henderson, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 231ff.

f. 197r: Letter of Constantin Schaum, Envoy of the Prince of Transylvania, to John Thurloe, n.d. [c. 1655?]. In Latin.

ff. 198r-199v: 'A Secret Instruction to [the English Commissioners] uppon their repaire to the Sound', n.d. [August 1659].

ff. 200r-201r: Letter to Dionysius Massarius, Secretary of the Congregation for Propaganda, n.d [1650s]. Headed 'Proposita Caesari etc'. In Latin, and discusses the situation in Ireland. Endorsed as Intelligence from Rome.

ff. 202v-205r: Propositions for the better preservation of the Lord Protector's Revenue in Ireland, n.d [1653-1657].

ff. 206r-207v: Speech of Francesco Giavarina, Venetian Resident in England, to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, [1657]. Protesting against English support of the Turks. In English, with text in Italian at ff. 211r-212r.

ff. 208r-209v: Lieuwe (leo) van Aitzema to ?J. Thurloe, The Hague, 13 Feb, no year given [1654-1658]. On the poverty of Elizabeth of Bohemia, widow of Frederick V, Elector Palatine. In French.

f. 210r: Letter of Henry Cromwell to ?John Thurloe, n.d. [1654-1658].

ff. 211r-212r: Speech of Francesco Giavarina, Venetian Resident in England, to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, [1657]. Protesting against English support of the Turks. In Italian, with English translation at ff. 206r-207v.

f. 213r: Notes on national debt, n.d. n[?1650s]

ff. 214v-215r: Notes on the West Indies by Mr Cooper, n.d. [1654]. The endorsement says West Indies, but the main subjects of the notes are the Panama Coast, Cuba and the names of Englishmen with experience of the coasts of the area.

ff. 216r-217v: Notes assessing the strategic value of 'Bozemans' Bay on the North African coast, some 36-45 miles east of the Straits, nd. [1650s].

f. 218r-v: Address of the House of Commons against the marriage of James, Duke of York and Mary of Modena. n.d. [3 Nov 1673]. Copy.

ff. 219r-220v: Henry Robinson, merchant and economic writer: proposals for setting up a bank or office of exchanges (also called, in the endorsement, a perpetual treasury), n.d.

ff. 221r-222v: Proposals for keeping on the Stuart family, n.d. [1653-1658] building up a military interest based on those who have received Duchy and Church lands.

ff. 223r-226v: Articles of treason presented against Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon by George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, 1663. Copy.

ff. 227r-v: Heads of the characteristics of the protectoral regime [1653]. The list starts with the statement 'That the Lord Generall bee chiefe Protector'.

ff. 228r-229v: Letter of Charles Gerard, Baron Gerard of Brandon to Mr Priestman (at Newark), Shrewsbury, 6 Apr (no year) [1650s]. Priestman is probably the royalist Posthumous Priestman.

ff. 230r-v: Letter of Charles Gerard, Baron Gerard of Brandon to [illegible], Abergavenny, date lost. The illegible recipient - an endorsement - might possibly be 'Will'.

f. 231r: Letter of George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham to Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, n.d. [probably before 1621]. The original is Harley MS 70000, ff. 74r-75v.

ff. 232r-233v; Letter of John Thurloe to Sir Harbottle Grimston, Speaker of the House of Commons. Draft. Clearing Oliver St John of any part in the death of King Charles I, n.d. [1660].

f. 234r: Intelligence report on royalist activity, addressed to Oliver Cromwell ('Your Highness'), n.d. [? 1656-1657]. From the content, the writer is evidently based in the Spanish Netherlands, and it is in the same hand as the anonymous letter from Brussels, f. 235r, which may be the covering letter to this report. The reports that James Duke of York is to be sent to the frontier towns and the hopes that the troops supplied by Cromwell to France will be suborned to run away to join with the King of Scots [Charles II). Thw riter also writes of a Dutch book, published in Cologne: 'It serves to incense the people against your Highnes: whom they have strangely pictured'.

f. 235r: Anonymous letter to Oliver Cromwell, Brussels, n.d. This is in the same distinctive hand as f. 234r., and may be the covering letter to that report. The writer complains that he has been 'aspersed with the name of a spy' and physically attacked as such in Brussels. he offers his services in discovering all the plots of Don Alonso de Cardenas, 'the great animate wheel that now moves against your Highnes', and to open 'a Door of Intelligence'.

ff. 236r-237v: Two royalist intercepted letters, the first (ff. 236r-237v) signed R.B.; both in the same copyist's hand, and from the content possibly by the same author. The dates would seem to be late 1653 or early 1654. The first has an account of the end of Barebone's Parliament and the 'Instrument of Government' which made Cromwell Lord Protector. The second is even more evidently early 1654, reporting George Monck not yet removed from his ships, whilst the writer pins his hopes for the royalist cause on Scotland. (Monck was recalled from the fleet on 17 Jan 1654 and commissioned commander-in-Chief in Scotland on 8 April).

ff. 238r-243v: Speech of Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector, to the officers of the Army, n.d [18 Oct 1658]. A draft, heavily worked on.

ff. 244r-245v: Letter of the Swiss cantons to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, 2 Dec 1654. In Latin. With seal.

ff. 246r-247v: Report on the intrigues of Henry Rumbon [i.e. Rumbold], wine merchant at El Puerto de Santa Maria, n.d. [Nov 1657]. This is evidently in part a duplicate of a report made by Thomas Maynard, Consul at Lisbon, in a letter dates 8 Nov 1657 (reprinted in A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, ed. by Thomas Birch, 7 volumes [London: Fletcher Gyles, 1742), Vol. 4, p. 186). However. there is a significant divergence between the two texts in their second half.

ff. 248r-249r: Letter of John Benson to John Thurloe (at Whitehall), Danzig, 19 Oct 1653. With seal.

ff. 250r-v: Letter of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham to unknown recipient, n.d. [?1625]. In English. Relating to the Duke of Bouillon and M. Boisloree.

ff. 251r-252v: Letter of Jeh: (or Joh:) Burlamachi to Richard Browne, King Charles I's Resident in Paris, 9 Nov 1643. In French. With broken seal.

ff. 253r-254v: Letter to Oliver Cromwell by Swedish emissaries, n.d. [1657?]. In English. Incomplete.

ff. 255r-v: Letter to (?)Oliver Cromwell ('Illustris et Excellentissime Domine'). In Latin. In reply to a letter of 17 April. [Check Abbott]. Evidently from a city-state.

ff. 256r-257r, 261r-v, 278r-279r: Papers relating to dispute, at Morlaix, involving William Horn, Edward 'Dachoue' and Richard Davidge, English merchants, 1641-1642. In French.

f. 258r: 'In the Trunke R'. .d. This is evidently part of John Thurloe's filing: contents include various treaties; Sir William Lockhart's letters and three bundles of the letters and papers of George Downing, and 'severall printed Pamphletts'.

f. 259r: Note of agreement on Baltic shipping of the English Republic. In Latin.

f. 260r: Memorandum partly on diplomatic rights within the City of London, partly on education (on which he calls on the authority of the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Winchester): 'in good Faith it is a shame that Children shoulde be bredde heare as if they were bredd in Madrid or in Roome'.

f. 262r: Notes on the Flanders trade and the jurisdiction of the Narrow Seas. [before 1655]. A draft.

ff. 263r-268v: Instructions to the English commissioners to Sweden, n.d. [?July 1658). Incomplete (the first complete articles is no. 9).

ff. 269r-270r: Anonymous letter to unknown recipient, n.d. ?[late 1657/early 1658]. Evidently an intercepted royalist letter.

ff. 271r-274r: Letter of intelligence from the Hague, 9 Apr (new style), no year. [1660]. A section, left blank on f. 272v, and added on separate pages, ff. 273r-v, discusses the terms of the surrender of principality of Orange to French troops (in March 1660) until William III, Prince of Orange, comes of age.

ff. 275r-276v: Anonymous letter on the English political situation, Mar 1660. Possibly written abroad and probably an intercepted letter.

ff. 277r-v: Memorandum on royalist designs on Ireland, n.d. [c. 1655].

f. 280r: Letter of Privy Council to King James I, Whitehall, 16 June 1620. Copy.