| Description | Letter in German, 3 pages, with news of events in Germany.
Otto had hoped to return to see Beale sooner, but his departure has been delayed because the soldiery then in Frankfurt has not yet withdrawn and because of his master's marriage on 27 April to Anna Hofftmann, daughter of the deceased burgess and merchant Gunther [?] Hofftmann. Armies are being raised all over; the officers have been commanded to Dessa [Dessau]. Mentions the young prince of Anhalt, Christian I. Otto hopes to return to England in four or five weeks. The final paragraph relates the latest news of the alchemist Edward Kelley, see note below.
Note by James D. George:
In the last paragraph the writer says ‘We hear that Mr. Kelly, his wife and family are closely imprisoned. Some say that Mr. Deyer has wanted to take them away, others than Kelly wanted to steal away in some other manner; it is my opinion that Kelly has greatly cheated the Emperor and other noblemen with his gold making’. ‘Mr. Kelly’ is Sir Edward Kelly, the charlatan alchemist. He avoided arrest by escaping from Prague about 28th April, 1591. He left his family behind. ‘Mr. Deyer’ is Edward (later Sir Edward) Dyer, the diplomat and poet. He had come to Prague in November 1590 to induce Kelly to return to England, being convinced that he had found a method of transmitting base metals into gold, and had been staying in his house. (See R. M. Sargent: ‘The Life and Lyrics of Sir Edward Dyer’ (O.U.P. 1968), Chap. VII).
[end of note by James D. George]
Dated: Frankforth den 9. May 91
Signed: E[uer] E[hren] Immer[?] Mart: Otto
Addressed to: Amplissimo Viro D[omi]no Roberto Beale D[om]ino suo obseruando [?]ondini
Endorsed in later hand: Mar: Otto 9th may 1591 |