[Address Leaf]
To the Countesse of Shrowesbury
at Hardwike
The answere to my
Wyues lettre of ye 4th
of August. 1584.
[Letter Text: Notes]
Yor lettre of the third of this instant carryinge so faire
and vnaccustomed shewe of dutifulnes & humilyte of spirite
commeth now so late and so out of season that makes
me suspect it to be a Sirens songe set for some
other purpose then it pretendeth/ I would most
gladly haue accepted such motions (notwthstandynge
all other yor private & dayly abvses though both by
wordes and accions most vehement & intollerable) yf
the same had ever bene offered before you shewed yor
self publiquely my bytter enemy sekinge by yor ministers
of false sudiestions every where my infamy & overthrowe
then the spoile of my goodes and of myne & yor owne
children by yor vnnaturall meanes & mallice and
lastly the sack of Chatsworth house that
devowringe gulf of myne and other yor husbandes
goodes wch notwthstandinge I ever thought good and yet
do to maintene and augment for theire saks who are
to succede vs therein/ But now forasmuch as
ether for despite of me or for the vndeserved spoile
of yor sonne and heire or else to satisfie the
insatiable covetousenes of that yor other sonne
you haue betaken vnto him all as it semeth leavinge
in yor self no intrest vnto any thinge vnder colore
of a supposed graunt exacted from me by what
synister meanes the Lord knoweth: vppon deliberate
advice of the Lerned I am now resolved to proceade
by due order of Lawe wth those my adversaries
^yor sonnes^ vnto the triall of there honestnes & my honor in that
accion synce they haue alredy wth all advauntages
& force comenced the same thinkinge it in
conscience most dishonorable vnto me to stand and
Loke vpon the ruine of that house wt the vtter vndoing
of yor eldest and best deservinge sonne And the
manyfest wronge offered vnto my self by them
that by all reason shuld haue wrought the contrary
Sheffeld the iiijth of. August 1584

yor husband

the coppy of my my letter to the countes of shrewsbury
the 4 of August


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