Lansdowne MS 85/19

19. A copy of a letter from one of the Secretaries, supposed to have been Sir Robert Cecil, to the Earl of Essex, newly arrived from his unfortunate expedition; accounting for his silence and apparent neglect; with some reflections on Sir Walter Raleigh's defects as a man of business. This letter also contains a very interesting account of the insolent conduct of the Polish Ambassador towards the Queen, in public, and of Her Majesty's spirited and dignified conduct on this occasion. (See Mr. Camden's Annals, under the year 1597.) It concludes with desiring the Earl to take notice in his answer that he was pleased to hear of the Queen's "wise and eloquent aunswer." It appears that the Secretary had not written this letter with his own hand, on account of a hurt in his thumb; but though the signature has for some unknown purpose been cut out, it has no appearance of being the original, nor has it, any superscription, July 26, 1597. Compare with Num. 94, Art. 50, of these collections, and with Camden's Annals.