“Honourable Lords, I take God to record, that I did never commit nor reconcile treason sith I was born, nor imagined the destruction of no man or woman, as God shall save my soul; He knows my heart, for it is He that ‘scrutator cordium,’ and in Him is all trust. I will not danger my soul for fear of worldly punishment; the joy of Heaven is eternal, and incomparable to the joy of this wretched world: therefore, good lords, do by me as God shall put in your minds; for another day ye shall suffer the judgment of God, when ye cannot start from it, no more than I can start from yours at this time. Now to certify all that I can:—William Neville did send for me to Oxford, that I should come and speak with him at ‘Weke,’ and to him I went; it was the first time I ever saw him; I would I had been buried that day. “When I came, he took me to a _littell_ room, and went to his garden, and there demanded of me many questions, and among all others, asked if it were not possible to have a ring made that should bring a man in favour with his Prince; seeing my Lord Cardinal had such a ring, that whatsoever he asked of the King’s Grace, that he had; and Master Cromwell, when he and I were servants in my Lord Cardinal’s house, did haunt to the company of one that was seen in your faculty; and shortly after, no man so great with my Lord Cardinal as Master Cromwell was; and I have spoke with all them that has any name in this realm; and all they showed me that I should be great with my Prince; and this is the cause that I did send for you, to know whether your saying be agreeable to theirs, or no. And I, at the hearty desire of him, shewed him that I had read many books, and specially the works of Solomon, and how his ring should be made, and of what metal; and what virtues they have after the canon of Solomon. And then he desired me instantly to take the pains to make him one of them; and I told him that I could make them, but I made never none of them, nor I cannot tell that they have such virtues or no, but by hearing say. Also he asked what other works had I read. And I told him that I had read the magical works of Hermes, which many men doth prize; and thus departed at that time. And one fortnight after, William Neville came to Oxford, and said that he had one Wayd at home, at his house, that did shew him more than I did shew him; for the said Wayd did shew him that he should be a great lord, nigh to the partes that he dwelt in. And in that lordship should be a fair castle; and he could not imagine what it should be, except it were the castle of Warwick.”