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I assure you there hath been such spoyle and defacings made in div’sparts of his Highnes’ said palace, that it wolde greve any man to see it,except his Highnes’ pleash r were that all shulde be pulled downe; andyet his Ma tie , in respecte of that w ch thereof might have been made, islike to have but small comoditie, as farre as I can perceive.

“ And where I am informed that ordre was given unto you from myLords of the Counsaile for the stay thereof, before the xiii th of thisinstant; upon the xxiiii th of the same, the chief wyndow of the King’sMa ts owne chamber was defaced, w ch , as it is declared unto me, wasdone by Humphrey Collwiche, one of yo r surveyors. Furthermore,when, according to yo r request in yo r said l re , I comoned with yo rsurveyors, and demaunded of them why they had so done, Laykinanswered, that when he declared unto you that the taking down of thesouth isle shulde be an ymparement to the King’s Ma ts palace, ye said untohim, that as well the King’s palace as al the rest shulde be takin downe.And nowe, as speciall frende, I have sent you worde what is done here,w ch you may use as shall appertyne; and thus I bydde you righthartely farewell. From Yorke,-of Aphrill, 1551.”*

In the household of the Earl of Northumberland, “ the clerk o’thworks, the clerk that haith the oversight ande payment of the book ofmy lorde’s expenses and reparacions, the clerk of my lorde’s forenexpenses, and the clerk that writes under my said lorde’s clerks,” wereof the same class, bed-fellows,t and with the joiner, smith, and painter,removable like apparel and furniture, with their master.

* Lodge’s Illustrations.

t It is somewhat remarkable, that of all the dependents of this great lord, the onlypersons who slept in separate beds, and distinct from their fellows, were the joiner, the smith,the painter, and the attorney!

E