and castles, and see the fruits and produce of this land, I willingly grant it to you; and you have leave both to remain here and return when it please you. From Hampton Court, 9th September. E. REX. Edward VI. to the Duke of Somerset.1 Since in my last letters I could not fully explain my meaning, (so great was the haste) now as I have so fit a messenger, it has seemed best to send this letter. For I have sent Wroth to you, dearest uncle, in order that he may return and be able to let me know how you are proceeding, the manner of the battle, and all other matters that you shall think fitting; for the other messengers tell me briefly the state of your affairs. But, as you have said in your epistle that priests, bishops, monks, and all the friars, will fight and stand in the foremost ranks, I feel very great joy. For I hope that they will be conquered and routed, and at last, that all the ringleaders of this tumult and mischief are going out of the world. However, there is no doubt we shall conquer; for we fight for the cause of God, they for that of the 2 MS. Harl., 5087, f. 17. From the Latin. This letter of course refers to the Protector's invasion of Scotland. The Earl of Warwick, to whom Edward desires his remembrances, was the second in command. They crossed the Tweed, and marched towards Edinburgh at the head of twenty thousand men. It appears, from a document quoted by Mr. Tytler, that two hundred Scottish noblemen and gentlemen had engaged treasonably to join with Somerset. pope. God grant you victory! Salute in my name the lord of Warwick. From our Palace of Hampton, 12th September. E. REX. King Edward to the Duke of Somerset.1 Dearest uncle, by your letters and report of the messenger, we have at good length understanded, to our great comfort, the good success it hath pleased God to grant us against the Scots by your good courage and wise foresight, for the which and other the benefits of God heaped upon us, like as we are most bounden to yield him most humble thanks and to seek by all ways we may his true honour. So do we give unto you, good uncle, our most hearty thanks, praying you to thank also most heartily, in our name, our good cousin the earl of Warwick, and all the other of the noblemen, gentlemen, and others, that have served in this journey, of whose service they shall all be well assured, we will not (God grant us life) show ourselves unmindful, but be ready ever to consider the same as any occasion shall serve. Given at our house of Oatlands, the 18th of September, Your good nephew, [1547.] EDWARD. 1 Lansd. MS., No. 1236, fol. 16. This letter was written a few days after the battle of Pinkencleugh, in which the Scots lost 1300 men, and the English also a considerable number. According to Leslie, who may be considered a partial writer, the loss was nearly equal, about 1000 men on each side. Edward VI. to the Queen Dowager.1 I thank you, very noble and excellent queen, for your letter which you have sent me lately, not only for the beauty of the characters, but also for having invented the same characters; for, when I saw your beautiful letter and the excellence of your ingenuity, surpassing greatly my invention, I dared not to write to you. But, when I reflected that your disposition was so good, that everything proceeding from a good spirit and will was acceptable to you, I wrote to you this letter. From my house at Hampton Court, EDWARD.2 Edward VI. to Queen Katharine Parr.3 1548. As I was so near to you, and saw you, or expected to see you every day, I wrote no letter to you, since letters are tokens of remembrance and kindness between those who are at a great distance. But being urged by your request, I would not abstain longer from writing; first, that I may do what is acceptable to you, and then to answer the letter you wrote to me when you were at 1 Harl. MSS., 6986, Art. 10. From the French. It has been stated by a modern writer that the handwritings of Edward and Queen Catherine very much resembled each other. If so, Edward was paying himself an indirect and probably unintentional compliment in admiring her calligraphy. 2 Endorsed," To the very Noble and very excellent Queen." 3 MS. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, No. 119, art 8. Translated from the Latin original. This letter was in reply to one from Catharine on the subject of her great love for Henry VIII. It must be recollected that at this very time she was actually engaged to be married to Seymour. St. James's, in which, first, you set before my eyes the great love you bear my father the king, of most noble memory, then your good will towards me, and lastly, your godliness and knowledge, and learning in the Scriptures. Proceed, therefore, in your virtuous course; continue to love my father, and to show the same great kindness to me which I have ever perceived in you. Cease not to love and read the Scriptures, but persevere in always reading them; for in the first you show the duty of a good wife and a good subject, and in the second, the warmth of your friendship, and in the third, your piety to God. Wherefore, since you love my father, I cannot but much esteem you; since you love me, I cannot but love you in return; and since you love the word of God, I do love and admire you with my whole heart. Wherefore, if there be anything wherein I may do you a kindness, either in word or deed, I will do it willingly. Farewell, this 30th of May. Edward VI. to Queen Katharine Parr.1 We thank you heartily, not only for the gentle acceptation of our suit moved unto you, but also for the loving accomplishing of the same, wherein you have declared, not only a desire to gratify us, but also moved us to de 1 Edward VI. was only in his tenth year when this letter was penned ; it is not therefore a matter of much surprise that he should have been persuaded that Katharine's marriage was really in accordance with his own wishes. clare the good will, likewise, that we bear to you in all your requests. Wherefore, ye shall not need to fear any grief to come or to suspect lack of aid in need, seeing that he, being mine uncle, is of so good a nature that he will not be troublesome by any means unto you, and I of such mind, that, for divers just causes, 1 must favour you. But even as without cause you merely require help against him whom you have put in trust with the carriage of these letters, so may I merely return the same request unto you, to provide that he may live with you also without grief, which hath given him wholly unto you; and I will so provide for you both, that if hereafter any grief befal, I shall be a sufficient succour in your godly and praiseworthy enterprises. Fare ye well, with much increase of honour and virtue in Christ. From St. James, the 25th day of June.1 EDWARD. Edward VI. to the Lords of the Council remaining at London; persuading them to hold a moderate course against the Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protector of the realm. Anno 1549.2 Right trusty and right well beloved cousins, and trusty and well beloved, we greet you well and have, by your letters, which our trusty servant, William Hunnings, 1 Indorsed in a contemporary hand, "The king majesty's letter to the queen after marriage, June 25th, 1548." See Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens, vol. v., p. 105, where this letter is printed. The original is written in a very legible hand, and superscribed by the king, "To the Queen's Grace." It is still preserved among the Cottonian MSS. 2 Harl. MSS., 353, Art. 23 and 6842, Art. 7. Somerset was committed to the Tower a few days after this letter was written; the remou |