Procuring the Music Monopoly

In contrast to the largely informal lobbying required in order to obtain a position at court, the process for obtaining a royal privilege, or monopoly, was well defined. It comprised a number of steps, starting with a petition addressed to the queen, the Privy Council or one of the Secretaries of State, which was then referred to the Attorney General or Solicitor General for a legal opinion. If it was approved, an initial bill was prepared for the queen's signature, followed by a bill of Privy Signet, a writ of Privy Seal and letters patent issued under the Great Seal. The letters patent were copied into the Chancery Rolls, and the Patent itself, with the seal attached, was given to the patentee. The last step was optional and depended on the patentee paying a fee; in 1592, for example, Richard Field paid 20s 4d for the seal for his patent for an English version of Ariosto's Orlando furioso.

Morley's patent was procured for him by Julius Caesar, a lawyer and judge who held a number of senior court positions and who had close connections with the Cecil family. Caesar owned several properties in St Helen Bishopsgate, the parish in which Morley now lived, and although it is unlikely that Caesar himself was resident there at the time, it is not inconceivable that Morley was his tenant. Of course, they could equally have met either at court or through mutual contacts in the City of London.