Sir Henry Neville the Elder's Recommendation of Richard Farrant, 27 August 1576
Sir Henry Neville recommends Richard Farrant, 27 August 1576
Finding
C. W. Wallace's printed page 131 has now been read directly. It prints a complete letter from Sir Henry Neville the elder to Sir William More recommending Richard Farrant for the Blackfriars house Neville had formerly leased from More. The letter is dated from pyllyngber, a spelling of Billingbear, on 27 August. It therefore supplies the exact connection that summaries often reduce to a paraphrase:
my very frynd Mr pharrant
yor hows wc I had of yow
I dare answer for hym
The letter also contains a separate paragraph about an uncertain proposed royal progress. That material should not be omitted because it shows what Neville was discussing with More from Billingbear at the same moment.
Printed source and archive trail
Wallace heads the letter with the old manuscript citation:
Loseley MSS., Letters, II, No. 71.
The present Surrey History Centre item number has not yet been demonstrated. The current collection 6729 description explains that the historical correspondence volumes were broken up and rebound, that surviving volumes were assigned sequential modern references, and that some letters were transferred to later rebound volumes. The old label should therefore be quoted as an old reference, not mechanically rewritten as 6729/2/71.
Chambers independently cites the letter at Jahrbuch, xlviii. 92; Wallace, i. 131 and summarizes Neville's recommendation. Chambers's apparatus therefore provides a second route to two early printed witnesses, but it is not a second manuscript. His text is public in *The Elizabethan Stage*, vol. 2.
Address
Wallace prints:
To the ryght worshipfull syr Wyllyam more knyght at his hows at looslee gyv this
The letter is therefore addressed to Sir William More at Loseley.
Transcription from Wallace p. 131
The transcription below normalizes Wallace's printed long ſ to s for search and reading. It retains his spelling, word forms, punctuation marks, and unresolved contractions as closely as practical. It is a transcription of Wallace's printed edition, not a fresh reading of the manuscript.
Syr Wyllyam after my herty comendacyons vnto yow & to Mrs More./ I am to
request yowr good fryndship vnto my very frynd Mr pharrant who vnderstanding
that yor hows wc I had of yow is to be let either presently or very shortly,
that he may be yor tenant therof gyvyng vnto yow soche rent as any others wyl
It may do hym at this present great plesur & no man shalbe redyer to requit
yor fryndship then he I dare answer for hym If you thynk yow may plesure hym
wtowt prejudice to yor selff I pray yow sertify yor man that keaps yor hows
off yor plesur, & acordynglye he shall deall wt you/ Yf I may know whether
the quen wyl come vnto you or no I then can say I wyll vysyt yow I here she
wyl com to redyng by chenis & so to bussam & so to socynghill but no
certeynty I do here of a very vnserteyn progresse & so I wyl end tyll I se
yow from pyllyngber this xxvijt of august
yors to his poor
henri nevell
Wallace glosses poor as power. His page note expands bussam as Bisham.
Modernized sense
Neville sends greetings to More and Mrs More. He asks More to favor his close friend Richard Farrant, who understands that the house Neville formerly had from More is available now or soon. Neville asks that Farrant be accepted as tenant at the rent another tenant would pay, says the tenancy would do Farrant a great service, and vouches for him personally. He asks More to tell the keeper of the house his decision so Farrant can deal accordingly.
Neville then turns to the Queen's uncertain progress. If he knew whether Elizabeth would come to More, he could say whether he would visit. He had heard that she would come to Reading by Chenies and then to Bisham and Sunninghill, but he had no certainty concerning what he calls a very vnserteyn progresse.
Fact table
| Item | What the printed letter establishes | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Writer | The subscription is henri nevell. | Original hand not yet inspected. |
| Place | from pyllyngber supports Billingbear. | The reading is controlled through Wallace's print, not the manuscript image. |
| Date | this xxvijt of august = 27 August; the year is supplied by the document context and printed edition as 1576. | Check original endorsement when obtained. |
| Farrant relation | Neville calls Farrant my very frynd. | This proves Neville's wording, not the duration or origin of the friendship. |
| Property relation | yor hows wc I had of yow identifies More's house formerly held by Neville. | The clause does not list the rooms; the leases do. |
| Recommendation | I dare answer for hym is a personal voucher. | It is not a financial bond or legal guarantee. |
| Rent | Neville proposes the rent any other tenant would give. | The letter gives no amount; Farrant's lease later fixes £14 annually. |
| Royal progress | Neville reports a possible Reading–Chenies–Bisham–Sunninghill route. | He repeatedly says the progress is uncertain; this is not proof of the Queen's actual route. |
Relation to Farrant's own letter
Wallace prints Farrant's separate application on the same page. The two documents must not be collapsed into one letter. Neville recommends Farrant; Farrant himself asks More for the house, discusses removal of the Italian occupant, and seeks leave to take down a partition. Folger's surviving Farrant letter is catalogued as L.b.446.
The juxtaposition matters: Neville's letter supplies the personal recommendation and former-tenancy link, while Farrant's supplies his intended alterations and his own negotiation. They are complementary witnesses by different writers.
What not to claim
- Do not describe the letter as presently manuscript-controlled.
- Do not assign a modern Surrey shelfmark until the archive maps the old volume and
- Do not remove Billingbear merely because Chambers's narrative omits the dateline;
- Do not say the Queen certainly followed the route. Neville explicitly reports
- Do not use the letter alone to identify the auditorium. It concerns tenancy of
item number.
Wallace's printed text supplies it.
uncertainty.
the house; the room descriptions are in the leases.
Sources
- Charles William Wallace, The Evolution of the English Drama up to Shakespeare
- E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1923), Blackfriars
- Surrey History Centre, [More Molyneux family historical correspondence, ref.
(Berlin, 1912), p. 131, Internet Archive.
appendix and note 1562, Project Gutenberg.
6729](https://www.surreyarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHCOL_6729), used for the present collection history and renumbering caution.
Round 9 fact/source audit — 8 August 2026
The 27 August papers are two letters in one negotiation: Farrant asked More for the Blackfriars rooms and permission to remove a partition; Sir Henry Neville the elder separately recommended Farrant and said, in Wallace's printed transcription, I dare answer for him. Neville's letter is therefore direct patronage/intercession evidence, not authorship of Farrant's architectural request.
The sequence continues with Farrant's 17 September request for a very small dark room and the 29 September/20 December lease. Folger catalogues the 17 September autograph as L.b.447 and describes the room as occupied by More's man Bradshaw. Folger finding aid This chronology supports Neville's practical role in securing the premises while leaving later conversion and theatrical operation to Farrant and the lease history.