######################################################################## Transcriber’s Notes Hyphenation and punctuation have been corrected and standardised. Cromwell’s letters, however, have been fully retained according to the original text; no changes in spelling have been applied here. Numbered ranges have been expanded in full, i.e. 1595-6 is now 1595-1596. Dittoes in the Table of Contents have been eliminated by insertion of appropriate text. Internal references have been adapted to match the numbering scheme used in this electronic version. The following passages have been changed: p. 28: 'England and Francis' → 'England and France' Footnote 240: 'Harl. MSS 6, 148' → 'Harl. MSS 6,148' Underscores have been used to highlight _italic_ text. The caret symbol (^) represents superscript characters; multiple characters have been grouped using a pair of curly brackets (^{text}). ######################################################################## [Illustration: THOMAS CROMWELL FROM A PICTURE IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY] LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS CROMWELL BY ROGER BIGELOW MERRIMAN A.M. HARV., B.LITT. OXON. WITH A PORTRAIT AND FACSIMILE VOL. I LIFE, LETTERS TO 1535 OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1902 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. _PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD_ LONDON, EDINBURGH NEW YORK PREFACE