A miscellaneous collection, mostly of original letters and other documents, including material relating to Mary Queen of Scots.
Writers of letters include: Robert Stapleton; Thomas Lydgate; Abraham Wheelocke; De Peiresc; Sir Henry Spelman; the Earls of Bedford and Dover (1635); William L’ysle; Jeremy Stephens; Sir Nicholas Throckmorton; William Watts; John Littleton; Alexander Cunningham; John Jeffery; William Battie; Dean Prideaux; S. Knight; Joshua Barnes; Johannes Arcerius Theodor; Thomas Tanner; Thomas Knox; Dr Potter; the Bishop of Cork and Rosse (1698) [Edward Wetenhall]; Nathaniel Parkhurst; Thomas Moore; John, bishop of York (late seventeenth or early eighteenth century); Mary Allestry; Elizabeth Newett; and J. Morton.
Recipients of letters include: Richard Floyd of the Inner Temple; Sir Henry Spelman; Captain Roger North; Sir Nicholas Strange; the brother of John Littleton; James, nephew of Alexander Cunningham; John Moore, Bishop of Norwich and Ely; Mr Laughton, fellow of Clare Hall; Casaubon; Edward Griffith; and Abraham Seller.
Other documents in the volume include: a copy of the new Trent Creed, published by Pope Pius IV, 1564 (no. 10); ‘Prefatiuncula in seriem episcoporum in celebrioribus quibusque ecclesiis’ (no. 11); copy, in a hand resembling Lord Burghley’s, of an oath of a privy councillor, titled ‘Sacramentum consiliarioris dni Regis’ and dated ‘in 23 E. 1 ex parte rem R. not. 64’ (no. 13); ‘The summons of Henry Bromflete, knight, Baron de Vesey, to parliament, extracted from the Close Rolls, ’27 Hen. VI. m. 24 dorso’ (no. 14); the original order to Mr Selden and Mr Whitelock to search and report the state of the peerage of the earl of Somerset, dated 14 May 1645 (no. 16); ‘Question whether the corte helde before the Earle Marshall, and commonly called the Corte of Honor, may hold plea of words tendinge to the dishonor of a gent, as callinge him base fellowe ...’ (apparently the original draft of an argument with references to the authorities in the margin (no. 17); reasons offered why Thomas Hetley should be restored to his place among the sergeants of Gray’s Inn, fair copy, with Hetley’s signature (no. 18); certificates that the Chief Justice of Chester ‘hath always had place and precedence at the Council in the Marches of Wales, as well out of court as in court, next to the Lord President’, signed by H. Towneshend and 11 others (no. 19); oath of the gentlemen of his Majesties (Charles’s) most honorable Privy Chamber (no. 20); ‘That the professors of the common lawes ought not bee excluded from practysinge in cases of honor’, early seventeenth century, with remarks and additions by a later commentator (no. 22); judgement of the Lord High Marshall in a suit between Francis Warner, of Parham, Suffolk, and John Lynch and others, of Barfold, Suffolk, for an assault; the name of Thomas Eden, who died in 1645 as Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, appears as the High Marshall’s assessor (no. 22); six pages containing (a) a copy of the return made by Thomas Glenham and Edmund Doley to the High Marshall’s order, (b) Lord Arundel’s order to the above Glenham and Doley to call all the parties in the matter before them, 26 July 1638, (c) a copy of the appeal of the defendants against the judgement in the High Marshall’s court, and (d) the humble petition of Francis Warner of Parham to the High Marshall (no. 23); extracts from ‘The blazon of gentrie’ by John Ferne, London, 1586 (no. 24); fine of a baronetship, by which Sir Edward Tyrrell endeavoured to surrender the state, title, dignity and name of a baronet to the King, c. 1638 (no. 25); Act of the Council of Ireland concerning an oath to be taken by the Scots professing their abhorrence of the disturbances in Scotland, c. 1640 (no. 26); the petition of Margaret Mortimer to the Queen, praying the queen to hear a few words before she dies (early eighteenth century?) (no. 29); (a) ’15 December, 20 July. Extracts of two letters of Morgan to the Scot Qu.’, and (b) ’28 January, 1585. Extract of the letters written to the Scot: Qu: deciphered’ (no. 34); inventory of letters and state papers, chiefly relating to Mary Queen of Scots (no. 35); testimony of words spoken between the Queen (Mary Queen of Scots?) and the King (James, afterwards King James VI?) in Glasgow, and between the Queen and the King and the testator, the text with cancellations and alterations, possibly in the hand of Lord Burghley (no. 36); petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury signed ‘Le Sauvage, Minister’ (no. 37); ‘Mense Decembris, 1568. The principall poincts exhibited by the regent and his associates against Marie quene of Scottes, touching the murdre of hire late husband Henrie Stuart, Lord Darlie, sonne of Matthewe, earle of Lennox’ (no. 38); letter addressed to the Court of Delegates appealing against proceedings in the admiralty courts in the case of a Danish ship the ‘White Lamb’, incomplete copy, without signature or date (no. 39); ‘De dignitate episcopi et visitatione ecclesiæ: extract from the statutes of Norwich cathedral, apparently made in the mid-eighteenth century (no. 40); ‘A form for consecrating churches, chappels, and church yards or places of burial’, collated by Thomas Tyllot (no. 44); copy of the award of John, bishop of Ely, William, Lord Cooper, and Henry Newton, LL.D., in a cause between the Vicar General and principal official of the Bishop of Lincoln and commissary in the archdeaconries of Lincoln and Stowe on the one part, and the official of the archdeacon of Lincoln on the other part, concerning their respective jurisdictions, 19 June 1713 (no. 45); two drafts of the preamble to Lord John Hervey’s patent, one of them on part of a letter addressed to John Moore (no. 47); ‘Tres humble memoire du President de Brandenbourg a son altesse royale monseigneur le Duc de Yorck’, for passports to two vessels (no. 48); notes concerning a pedigree of the Scottish house of Seton (no. 50); presentation of Henry Whall, parson of West Lynn in Norfolk, 1695 (no. 52); ‘The certifycate of the Bishop of London answering to certain articles sent from the Queens Majesties most honorable Pryvy Councill’ imperfect (no. 54); the speech of the Duke of Lennox at the Council Table, on Scottish affairs, against war (no. 55); rules and orders made for the Court of Stannarines [Stannaries?], 28 February 1632, copy (no. 56); copy of a pardon granted by ‘Thomas Earl of Arundel, one of the Lord’s Marchers, and Lord of Clon and Tempsittor in the marches of Wales’, at the request of King Henry VIII, to one John Clon, of all murders and manslaughters by him committed within the said lordship (no. 57); copy of a decree of the court of Star Chamber made concerning the price of hay and oats, and touching victuals, c. 1633 (no. 58); reasons presented to the King James II by the clergy against subscribing the address proposed by their bishop, on the declaration published by the king, 1687 (no. 59); copy of the nomination of William Sterne to a fellowship at St John’s College, Cambridge, by Symon, Bishop of Ely, 21 May 1700 (no. 60); ‘A designe for registring of illustrious providences’, i.e., ‘apparitions of spirits witches, the proof of them &c.’ (no. 61); ‘Of Mr Poole’s designe’, relating to the previous item (no. 62); letter from Battersea on ‘Illustrious providences’, 14 November 1661 (no. 67; see also MS Dd.3.63 no. 33); official circular from Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Bishop of Norwich, respecting the granting of prohibitions, 16 February 1608 (no. 68); ‘An abstracte of all the moneys in the funds’, with names of persons and amounts (no. 69).