Lieutenant Holyfen:

Those well-affected to Parliament have discovered a plot by the Papists to land arms from Holland; twelve trunks of same, with their guard of malignants, were seized at Skegness creek. Gather your troop; leave three to watch the roads and bridge near Holyfen, and with the rest ride to the Bishop's palace at Downham; search, and secure what you find; if Wren is there, take him a prisoner, and join me in Cambridge immediately.

Oliver Cromwell

My dear son,

Thank you for your letter, and your prayers for me. I, too, pray for you and see, truly,  the success of your work with my brother an evidence of the blessings of Providence, that you are about the work of the Lord. It is too my prayer that this ends without death, without the blood and ruin that is the dark handmaid of war, and that God restores to England the blessings of peace that have made us the envy of Christendom. My dear son, I msut ask: Charles hath sewn the wind, but must we join him in reaping the whirlwind? Yet God hath his purposes, and to each of us our part assigned in the tragedy.

Dear Edmund:

I have secret but sure hints Drs Beale, Martin, and Sterne, following our conversation yesterday, have let it be known to the Scholars that it’s the first part of a Christian’s duty to gird himself with sword for his King, and the University would smile on service undertaken to this end.

I propose, then, we pay call on the Castle at Cambridge, and secure its store of arms and powder against any malignant undertaking. Please ride with all haste and join us at King’s.