Source:
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14, Part 2: August-December 1539, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1895
Above: Honor Grenville, Viscountess Lisle, photo courtesy of Lobsterthermidor at Wikimedia Commons.
Above: Sir John Basset, artist unknown.
Honor Grenville (born between circa 1493 and 1495, died 1566) was a Cornish lady whose domestic life from 1533 to 1540 during the reign of King Henry VIII is exceptionally well recorded, due to the survival of the Lisle Papers in the National Archives, the state archives of the United Kingdom.
The letter:
Since your letter came, I was perplexd how to accomplish your wish for provision of wine. I proposed to send to Abbeville and also to St. Omer. However, I have been released of that care. Two ships laden with French wine have come here, from which I obtained two pieces of the best. John Owghters has been diligent in this. I have paid for it 14 crowns, at the rate of 21 crowns per tun. I send it you by Kirby. I have no little grudge in the town, because I gave so much for it, and had great trouble to get it, as the ships refused to unload. I send you partridges by Nich. Eyres, and now I send you a partridge pasty, and a baked crane, praying you to present one of them to the Palsgrave. I trust you have got your sables, but the weather has been very bad. Whereas I wrote to you that I would rather have two lines in your own hand than a hundred in another man's, I did not mean in your ordinary business, but only of such secrets as you might think fit to communicate at your leisure. No woman ever thought her husband's absence longer than I have done. Also I wish to hear how you have sped with the King, beseeching you so to use yourself towards his Majesty, that it may be to your honor and profit. I beseech you to trust to yourself; for, if redress be not now had, I know not when it will be. Advertise me if I shall send over your steward to make provision for beef, and whether you can provide him with money. The bearer will tell you how I have been treated by some since your departure. Clare is come home, but has brought no money, which grieves me not a little. I am sorry you did not ride to the King immediately on your coming to London, as you said you would. Had you done so, it would have been accepted. Now, I fear lest you should be circumvented by fair words. Leonard, who has 6d. a day is dead. Give his place to one of your own servants. Calais, 21 Sept.
Notes: speed = to help someone (as survives in the interjection "Godspeed")
advertise = to warn someone, to let someone know about something.
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