' The King himself was constantly running
into debt for his meals, and his friends spent many a hungry day
at Bruges. If by good luck they chanced to be in funds, one meal a
day sufficed for a party of half a dozen courtiers. If it was cold
they could not afford to purchase firewood. The Earl of Norwich
writes, saying that he has to move about so as to get lodgings on
credit, and avoid people to whom he owes money. Colonel Borthwick,
who claims to have served the King most faithfully, complains that he
is in prison at Bruges on suspicion of disloyalty, has not changed
his clothes for three years, and is compelled by lack of cash to go
without a fire in winter. Sir James Hamilton, a gentleman-in-waiting,
gets drunk one day, and threatens to kill the Lord Chancellor. He
is starving, and declares it is Hyde's fault that the King gives
him no money. He will put on a clean shirt to be hanged in, and
not run away, being without so much as a penny. Then we have the
petition of a poor fencing-master. 'Heaven,' he writes piteously,
'hears the groans of the lowest creatures, and therefore I trust that
you, being a terrestrial deity, will not disdain my supplication.'
He had come from Cologne to Bruges to teach the royal household,
and wanted his wages, for he and his family were starving.
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