The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 2 (of 4)
History
The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 2 (of 4)
Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Geology -- England -- Cornwall (County)
Sir Henry Killigrew, Knt. married Katherine, the second daughter and
coheir of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hall, in Essex. Her other
sisters married Sir William Cecil, Lord Treasurer, Sir Nicholas Bacon,
Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Hobby, and Sir Ralph Howlet, Knts. Which
ladies were all accounted of the most learned in the kingdom,
eminently skilled in the Latin and Greek tongues. To give an instance
for the whole:
Sir Henry Killigrew being appointed by Queen Elizabeth, ambassador to
Henry the Fourth of France, lately turned Papist, was not very fond of
that employment, and would have excused himself, but knew not how:
whereupon his lady wrote a letter to her sister Mildred, wife to Sir
William Cecil, to try her interest with his lordship to get the Queen
to excuse him, and that some other person might be appointed for that
employment. The letter was these words:
Si mihi quem cupio cures, Mildreda! remitti,
Tu mihi, tu melior, tu mihi sola soror;
Sin male cunctando retines, vel trans mare mittes,
Tu mala, tu pejor, tu mihi nulla soror:
It si Cornubiam, tibi pax sit, et omnia læta,
Sin mare――Cœcile! nuncio bella.――Vale!
Which I find thus translated by Dr. Fuller, in his Worthies, though
much abated of their elegancy in Latin:
If, Mildred! by thy care he be sent back, whom I request.
A sister good thou art to me, yea better, yea the best;
But if with stays thou keep’st him still, or send’st where seas may part,
Then unto me a sister ill, yea worse, yea none thou art;
If go to Cornwall he shall please, I peace to thee foretell;
But, Cecil! if he set to seas――I war denounce.――Farewell!
Whether this letter did procure Sir Henry Killigrew’s stay, and
dismission from the intended service, I am unable to resolve, although
well assured I am that his daughter by this Catherine Cooke was
married to Sir Jonathan Trelawney, of Poole, Knt. Sheriff of Cornwall
36th Eliz.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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