To Dominus Christopher Goodmann, most dear brother

At Geneva.

[in Hebrew letters] MSIH [with a dot under it] YHWH [ = the anointed of the Lord]¹I am taking this, with the following a°, to be a rather pretentious equivalent of anno Domini. in the year 1556. 18 March.

Greetings in Christ our Lord. I do not doubt but that you take in good part my silence, which I have employed hitherto. I know that you will attribute it to the presses and the drudgery²It’s difficult to be quite sure what is literal and what is metaphorical in this moan. The second term, pistrinum, is literally a bakery or a mill for grinding corn; it was often a place of punishment for slaves and came to be used as a type or metaphor of hard labour or drudgery. The first term, prelum, is a wine-press, but is also, by this time, the normal word for a printing-press, which I take to be the referent here. by which I am overwhelmed and tossed about, not to my own fault. The leisure which I have now found from the vexations of printing – that I will bestow on my friends, and I will apply a great part of it to writing letters. I wished to at other times, but I was not able to do as I wished. – But what, you will say, was so serious? It is a serious matter, my Goodmann, to greet you, to converse with you, even if there were nothing besides that. It is a serious matter to give applause to our³The MS seems clearly to read nostris. It might be tempting to emend to vestris (or vostris) on the grounds that the original could easily have been misread, but, on the other hand, the sequel goes on to talk about the foundations which ‘you’ singular, rather than ‘you’ plural, laid, so it is probably better to retain the inclusive nostris. very fine undertakings. For I see the foundations of the church which you have laid. I pray God that our Lord Jesus Christ might be the corner stone, that the Genevan church might emerge as the pillar of truth and the house of God. I do not doubt that it will be so, if the top corresponds to the foundation. It is your task, my Goodmann, to take care that this happen – you who, I hear, labour faithfully and diligently in the cultivation of this vineyard. May God give the increase. – There will be a time, someday -- if resources⁴This could mean ‘fortune’, ‘fate’, ‘destiny’, but fortunae in the plural often means wealth and the ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ sense may be a little pagan for a character like Humphrey. will permit, if the money is at hand, if God wills – that I come to you [plural], that I renew the friendship which was of old, and that I praise God our Father with you [plural] with conjoined prayers. In the meantime, pray [plural] – pray [singular], Goodmann, for I do not have the time. Find out if you are able to be of help in any way to our brother Roland, once a printer at Froben’s.⁵The great printing house founded by Johann Froben at Basle in 1497 was managed after his death (in 1527) by his son and son-in-law. The author of the letter, Laurence Humphrey, is said by Garrett to have studied at Basle for a year from the autumn of 1555 and ‘after his year of study there was over ... to have stayed on with Froben the printer’ (Garrett, p. 193). The reference here would suggest that his contacts with Froben’s began earlier. He is not known by Garrett to have been at Geneva before 28 April 1558, so whatever the ‘our’ (nostris) discussed above means, it cannot mean that Humphrey is claiming some of the credit for the venture in Geneva and, according to Garrett, ‘he apparently never went to Frankfort’ (p. 193). Farewell in Christ.

Your. Laurence Humphrey.

Greet Dominus Pilkington,⁶James Pilkington; Garrett doesn’t know of his presence in Basle (which seems to be implied by this letter) before the autumn of 1556 (p. 251). a good man and one who loves me. Love him, for he is pious and learned. May the charity of our Lord, poured out in your hearts, bring forth lovely fruit to the glory of Christ. Amen.

Domino Christophoro Goodmanno fratri charissimo / Genevae. /  /

[in Hebrew characters] YHWH MSIH [with a dot under it]   a° 1556. Martii 18. /  /

Salutem in Christo domino nostro. Silentium meum hactenus quo usus sum, non dubito / quin boni consulas. Praelis[?] scio et pistrinis quibus involvor et iactor ascribes, non vitio meo. / Nunc otium quod nactus sum a typographicis molestiis, id tribuam amicis, et magnam / partem in scribendis literis conferam. Alias etiam volui, sed non potui ut volui. -- / Sed quid, inquies, adeo serium fuit? serium est mi Goodmanne te salutare, tecum col-/loqui , etiam si nihil esset praeterea[?]. Serium est ut nostris perpulchre coeptis applau-/dam. Video enim fundamenta Ecclesiae quae iecistis. Deum precor ut angularis la-/pis sit Dominus noster Jesus Christus; ut columna veritatis et domus dei Geneven-/sis evadat ecclesia. Quod futurum non dubito, si fundamento respondeat etiam / fastigium. [may be colon rather than point] Hoc ut fiat tuum est, mi Goodmanne, curare, quem audio fideliter, et / diligenter in vinea ea colenda elaborare. Deus det incrementum. – Erit aliquando / tempus, si fortunae ferent, si res suppetit, si deus voluerit, ut ad vos veniam, ut pris-/tinam familiaritatem renovem, et deum nostrum patrem vobiscum iunctis precibus ce-/lebrem. Interim orate, ora Goodmanne, mihi enim non vacat. Si quid possis prodesse / nostro fratri Rolando Frobeniano quondam impressori experire. Vale in Christo. / Tuus. Lauren: Humphredus. / Saluta D. Pilkingtonum virum bonum et mei amantem. Ama hominem. est enim pius / et doctus. Charitas domini nostri infusa in cordibus vestris amabiles fructus proferat ad Chris-/ti gloriam. Amen.