Conde Giovan Tommaso Langosco di Stroppiana al Obispo de Arras

London,

I wrote to your Reverend Lordship from Kingston, and would not have filed to write again frequently had anything occurred worthy of your hearing. I can now tell you that he Bishop of Winchester, Lord Chancellor, preached last Sunday in the churchyard of St. Paul's, the cathedral, before a very large gathering of people. His sermon, as I am told, was on the confutation of heresies, and of the new religion. Towards the close he introduced most opportunely the history of Joseph, saying that all his brethren had not wished him to die, but all had agreed that he should be sold; and he wished to infer that the whole kingdom had sinned and offended against the Queen in one way or another, but that she forgave all past offences, provided none should be repeated in the future. That which offended her most was the matter of religion, her desire and intention being that, all present heresies and innovations set aside, the ancient rites and traditions honoured by their forefathers should be restored.

Although no exception could be taken to this summing up, three Englishmen, one of them in orders and the other two laymen, went each one separately to the palace to give warning that the people of London had been so grievously irritated by the Bishop's sermon that they were getting ready to go and kill all the priests and the Spaniards who supported them. No such intention had ever been held or remotely thought of, but these scoundrels had made their plans in the hope of capturing the favor and the gold of the Spaniards, or of earning some reward at least for their information. They were believed, so that all Sunday there was a sense of fear in the palace; the guard was summoned and all the noblemen were warned to be wary. Finally the device was brought to light, when it was found that there was no semblance of what they had foretold.

They have all been sent to prison, and I think they deserved their punishment. But if the matter had been referred at once to the Queen's Councillors the truth would have been discovers sooner and we should not have been kept in suspense so long. If these Spanish gentlemen go on lending faith to newsmongers they will have this sort of thing or worse repeated every day. By divine inspiration rather than through any human artifice or device, a certain perverse heretic and secret seducer of this people has been discovered. He is the author of all the plots, writings and books that have been published against our catholic faith, which he caused to be printed, as I hear, secretly at a certain place in Flanders, and disseminated among the people, causing great scandal and still greater harm.

They say that England held no blacker criminal than he in matters of religion; he denounced many of his fellow conspirators and accomplices who have been seized too, and I hope they will soon roast them all; (ne feranno un grosso rosto) and in this way the affairs of religion, having taken a favourable turn already, may make daily progress.

On the twelfth of next month the Parliament of the kingdom is to meet, as one may gather, to discuss the establishment of religion, the King's coronation, the coinage, taxation, and the rules of intercourse between foreigners and the natives of the realm. The speculators who have their exchange in St. Paul's church conjecture thus much. Five vessels are being armed to chase certain French ships that scour the Narrow Seas between Dover and Calais, and are preventing Don Ferrante (Gonzaga) and many others who would fain do so from coming across. I hear that the French ships have seized 14 Flemish herring smacks and that the Flemish have captured a French armed vessel.

On the twelfth of next month the Parliament of the kingdom is to meet, as one may gather, to discuss the establishment of religion, the King's coronation, the coinage, taxation, and the rules of intercourse between foreigners and the natives of the realm. The speculators who have their exchange in St. Paul's church conjecture thus much. Five vessels are being armed to chase certain French ships that scour the Narrow Seas between Dover and Calais, and are preventing Don Ferrante (Gonzaga) and many others who would fain do so from coming across. I hear that the French ships have seized 14 Flemish herring smacks and that the Flemish have captured a French armed vessel.

The Spanish gentlemen are going to-morrow week to give a show of cane-play in which certain Englishmen are taking part; and they are making friends.

London, 6 October, 1554.

P.S. I have kept the present letter by me three days owing to the lack of a messenger and I will add that we have heard that the French are arming, according to various reports, from 25 to 35 ships. The Queen is sending my Lord Clinton to bear the collar of the Garter, the mantle, and the garter, to the Duke, my lord. He is to leave in four to six days' time. I most humbly beseech your Reverend Lordship to send the enclosed packet to the Duke.

Holograph. Italian.