A volume consisting for the most part of original letters.
Writers of letters include: Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton; Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester (later Earl of Somerset); Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk; Dr Prideaux, Archdeacon of Suffolk; Sir Roger L’Estrange.
Recipients of letters include: Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester (later Earl of Somerset); Sir Gervase Helwys, Lieutenant of the Tower; Sir Thomas Overbury; Sir Henry Spelman; John Moore, Bishop of Norwich; Sir Christopher Calthorp. The letters from Northampton to Somerset contain many allusions to the intrigues for promoting the Essex divorce, and to the last illness of Sir Thomas Overbury.
Other documents in the volume include: part of a letter addressed to a bishop from an Arian, possibly William Whiston to John Moore (no. 17); the answers of Sir Francis Bacon, Attorney General, to queries propounded to him by King James I touching the prosecution of the Earl of Somerset for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, with notes written by the King in the margin, 28 April 1616 (no. 28); certificate that Lady Packington was the author of the ‘Whole duty of man’, ending ‘This is a true copy of what I wrote from Mr Caulton’s mouth two days before his decease. Witness my hand Nov. 15th, 98. John Hewyt’ (no. 29); two leaves, possibly from Dr Prideaux to John Moore, Bishop of Norwich, one a notice of Mr Gargave, dissenting minister, the other concerning Mr Tate, brother of the poet Nahum Tate, and Mr J. Killinghall (no. 31); and a letter dated from Battersea, 14 November 1661, without signature or addressee, entitled ‘Of illustrious providences’, containing stories of apparitions (no. 33; see also MS Dd.3.64, nos 61, 62 and 67).