A volume of 137 original letters, for the most part from William Cecil, Lord Burghley, to his son Sir Robert Cecil during the years 1593-98, and dealing principally with affairs of government. Many of them are autograph, others have only a few lines at the end in Lord Burghley’s handwriting, and others have only his signature. They are endorsed ‘The Lo. Tresr to my Mr’.

The main sequence is prefixed by a letter from Sir William Cecil ‘To my very loving frend Mr William Phayer, the queenes ma’ts agent in the courte of Spaine’, Greenwich, 13 February 1565, and endorsed ‘From Sir William Sicill, the 13th of februarie, and here the 20 of March I received it’. The final letter is endorsed ‘My lords last lre yt ever he wrote wth his owne hande’, and ends ’10 July 1598 your languishyng father W. Burghley. Serve God by servyng of the quene for all other service is in dede bondage to the devill’.

Writers of letters other than Lord Burghley include: Peter Warburton (no. 11); T. Buckehurst and J. Fortescue with Lord Burghley (no. 72); Sir Henry Maynard (no. 89); and T. Buckehurst with Lord Burghley (no. 102).

Recipients of letters other than Sir Robert Cecil include: Henry Brooke (no. 6); Lord Burghley (no. 11); the earl of Essex (no. 70); William Killegrewe or in his absence Mr Duerye (no. 94); and Sir Thomas Egerton (no. 129).