Page:Englishhistorica36londuoft.djvu/237

 1921 A LETTER FROM CHARLES I 229 An Unpublished Letter from Charles I to the Marquis of Ormonde Of the provenance of the letter printed below I can only say that I found it in an old box labelled ' Family History ', which has recently come to my hands, after having belonged to my ancestors for several generations. The box contained numerous letters and documents for the most part of mere family interest, some dating from the first half of the eighteenth century, and one document, a bill of lading, dated ' 28th of Maye 1662 '. The letter is written on a sheet of paper 12 by 8 inches in size, bearing near the centre a watermark which may be described as two parallel lines about one-eighth of an inch apart, with an expanding base, the whole 2J inches long, and bearing at the top a pennon with two wavy points. Mr. Gilson, keeper of manuscripts at the British Museum, to whom I sent a tracing of the watermark showing its position in relation to the wire-lines, kindly informs me that the tracing agrees with the watermark and lines on the letter of Charles I to Lord Herbert of Kagland (Glamorgan) dated at Oxford 28 February 1645/6 : Harley MS. 2988, fo. 203, and that several instances of the watermark are to be found in the Nicholas Papers, Egerton MS. 2533, from the year 1641. We may infer, therefore, that the paper on which the letter is written was in existence at the stated date. The phraseology and even the peculiarities of spelling can all be paralleled in Charles's known letters, and, when writing informally to Ormonde, he habitually used the same or nearly the same string of adjectives before the word * frend ' leading up to his signature. 1 But in the opinion of competent persons who have been consulted the handwriting is not that of Charles I. Carte, indeed, informs us that Charles's letters to Ormonde at about this time were for the most part written in cipher, and he adds : * The reader will easily distinguish this sort of letters by the writer and his correspondent's being therein spoken of generally in the third person.' 2 This seems to explain the awkward recurrence of the words ' Ormond Marquis ', near the beginning, where we should expect simply * you '. Similarly, in the transcript of Charles's letters to his wife written about the same time, we frequently find the words 'the queen' where we should expect 'thou '. It may also explain the word ' dislikes ', as suiting the third person. Dr. H. H. E. Craster, sub-librarian at the Bodleian, to whom I sent a photograph of the letter and a transcript of the endorse- ment, writes to say, (1) that the endorsement follows the model of Ormonde's endorsements and 1 See Carte, v. 1-19. 2 Ibid., preface, vol. v.