May it please yr Grace
The obiections yow were pleased to make against the owning and subscribing ye Letter to his Matie were as I humbly conceaue yr Graces resolution not to trouble ye King for any money businesse euen in your owne behalfe much lesse in an others, and secondly that as for Creations you had absolutely promised his Matie you would not importune him againe, to the furst I answeare that this is to save the Kings Coffirs, since certainely if eyther honor or conscience should take place his Matie ought to saue me harmelesse from the six thousand pound Confest and proued to be ye Crownes Debt, soe happyly now vpon his Head by your Graces noe lesse prudent and valerous then dutyfull endeauours blest by Devine Prouidence neuer intending the ruine of his best deseruing subiects, and ye only promoting of his ribells, which the child unborne may rue if not timely preuented, and as a wise Privye-Counsillor yr Graces part is to minde his Matie soe of, as not totally to disharten I will not say disgust his good subiects well desarueing yet that as far as loyalty and Religion will giue them leaue, and I am sory his Matie should bedd a diew to workes of superergation and loue in his subiects and most Certinely they are not his best Councellers who aduise him to it, and yr Grace will be most Commendable in douing the Contrery, and at long running the King will loue you best for it, soe that this obiection of yr Grace I humbly conceave to be totally solued.
As for the seconde yr Graces promise not to speake for any more Creations be pleased to vnderstand it rightly, and you are noe motioner of this, you doe but lay before him my reasonable Petition therein, such as indeed my Lord Chancellor was pleased to thinke soe fitting as he once vndertook it for me, and I am confident will thanke yr Grace for reuiuing of it and in my Conscience soe will ye King too in graunting of it, for I cannot haue soe meane a thought of his Matie but that against the hayre he hath binne forced to bistow honoure to the highest degree upon five member men and vpon irth as subscribed to his father of happy memory his death, and that he will thinke mutch to countinance him who only assisted his late Ma'ie to flye from theyr compulsion of him to agree to such acts as would have lefet him selfe our now Gratious King ye sucessior of a title of a King of three Kingdoms but to the substance of noe one of them. It was I furnished his Matie with money to goe (to) Theobalds to goe to Yorke when the then Marquis of Hambleton refused to pay three hundered pound for his Matie at Theobalds only to deliuer him to the Parliament, as he had donne the Earle of Strafford, and to * * * the * * * Parliament, It was I carried him money to sett vp his standard at Yorke, and procured my father to giue the then sr John Byron five thousand pound to rayse the first Regiment of Horse, and kept a table for aboue twenty Officers at Yorke, which I vnderhand sent thether to keepe them from takeing Conditions from ye Parliament, and soe were ready to accept his. It was I vittled the towre of London & gaue fiue and twenty hundred pound to ye then Lieutenant sr John Byron my Cosin Germain by my first wifes side. It was I raysed most of the Menne at Edgehill fight, and after I was betrayed at when soe many Gentlemen of Quality were taken and of twenty fiue thousand men first & last by me raysed Eight thousand men disperssed by the Contriuance of such as called themselues ye Kings good subiects, and some of them rewarded for it, they were my men weekely payed without takeing a farthing contribution because the country tottered, who tooke in the forest of Deane, Goodredge Castle, Monmouth, Chepstowe, Carlyon and Cardiff from ye Parliament forces, in wch and ye Garrison of Ragland I can bring profe of aboue an hundered and fifty thousand pounds expended, and in ready Money first & last to ye Kings owne Purse aboue as much more, and of aboue thirty five thousand Pounds Receaued by my father and me Comunely Armes in forty—forty two—and forty three I have not now fiue and twenty hundered and that clogged well, twenty thousand Pounds Crying Debts that keepe me not only from a competent maintenance but euen from sleepe, I speake not heare of aboue three hundered thowsands pounds which it hath cost ye Noblemen Knights and Gentlmen which ridd in my Life Guarde for ther comporting they makeing amongst them aboue three-score thousand Pownds yearly of Land of inheretance and I vpon my interest with seauen Countys had begune an Engagement of above three hundered thousand Pounds yearly land of inhiretance against my returne with men from beyonde the sea in which endeauours my charges have beine vast, besides hazard by sea euen of shipwracke and by Land of deadly encounters, I doe not trouble yr Lop with, but all this being true to a tittle as vpon my word and honour dearer to me then my life I advouche it, I cannot doubt but yr Grace will call for a peane to signe ye Letter, and if you please sende this together with it, and rest assured that if the King refuse my request I will neuer importune you more, nor euer sett my foote into his Maties Court againe vnlesse expressly comanded by him for his seruice, otherwise I will only heartyly pray for him but neuer hereafter shall I or any freind of mine engage for him further, then ye simple duty of a Loyall subiect sitting quiettly at home noe ways breake the peace or disobying the wholsom lawes of the land, and god seande him better and more able subiects to searve his Matie then my selfe, willinger I am sure he cannot, and I beseeche yr Grace to pardon me if passion hath a little transported me beyonde good manners, and lay what pennance you please vpon me soe it tende not to lessen yr Graces beliefe that I am
Yr Graces
Most really deuoted freind
and seruant ever to obey you
Worcester.
Dec. 29th, 1665.
My deare Lord, my heart is yet full froughted and I can say much more for myselfe, were I not ashamed of giueing yr Grace soe great a trouble with my scribling, which I will thus ende, promising to smoother as long as may be my deplorable condition, and worse vsage, but it will at last fly ouer the whole world to the disheartining of all zelous and Loyall subiects, vnlesse such a true hearted Englishman and fathful seruant as yr Grace doe awaken his Matie out of the leturgie my enimies have cast him not to be sensible of what I have done or suffered. Cardinall Mazarine presented me to his King, with these woords "Sr who soeuer hath Loyalty or Religion in recommendation must honour this well Borne Person," and Queene Mother now Dowager hath often sayd to have heard her husband say that next to her and his Children he wass bound to take a care of me of whom it may be now verified qui iacet in terra non habet vnde cadet, I am cast to the Ground I can fall noe lower.[6]
To the Kings most Excellent Majesty, The most humble Petition of Edward Marquis of Worcester.