MS 18 consists of 16 foolscap folios, closely written on both sides in George Wyatt's hand. It forms the preface to, and the first fragment of, his magnum opus in defence of Anne Boleyn; of which MS 7 is an earlier, and much briefer, draft. The project was a grandiose one, apparently involving a total refutation of papal claims to authority in England, in a manner similar to that of MS 19. George's approach is far more detailed, however, and if it had been completed his work must have been far longer. This fragment of the main work comes to an end at the year 640, and how much of the remainder was ever written is problematical. The document published here comprises the preface only; four complete folios and a portion of the fifth. Had the work ever been put into its final form, this would no doubt have been addressed ‘to the Christian reader’, and the general view of history which it expresses is conventional and unremarkable. Fifty years before, John Proctor, following classical and other precedents, had written in the dedication to his Historie of Wyates rebellion:

It hath been allowed … for a necessary policy in all ages … that the flagitious enterprises of the wicked … as also the wise and vertuous policies of the good … should by writing be committed to eternal memory. Partly that they of that age in whose time such things happened might by the oft reading conceive a certain gladness in considering with themselves, and beholding as it were in a glass, from what calamity and extreme ruin, by what policy and wisdom, their native countries were delivered … partly for a doctrine and monition serving both for the present and for future time. But chiefly and principally that the traitors themselves … may always have before their eyes the miserable end that happeneth as just reward to all such caytives ….

MS 1 in Richard Wyatt's catalogue consists of two drafts of a treatise upon the security of Calais, and one copy of a covering letter addressed to Lord Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinq Ports, and dated 5 December 1593. All three documents are in George Wyatt's hand. The second draft is clearly a revision of the first, and several verbal alterations made by the author upon the latter are incorporated in it. The document printed here is the second draft, supplemented from the first where the MS is damaged or defective. It is a complete work, consisting of 9 closely written foolscap folios. The covering letter is written on one side of a single foolscap sheet.

MS 17 consists of 32 foolscap folios, written on both sides in George Wyatt's neat italic hand. In substance it is a treatise on the subject of raising and organizing a militia, based ostensibly upon his father's work, and undertaken for ‘the spetial purpose … of havinge my Fathers travels cum to that use of his Princes and Countrise honour and servise which in his life and death he shewed to much to desiere’. The work is in two parts, an introduction describing the circumstances and outline of Sir Thomas's project, and the treatise proper. As it now exists, it is incomplete, but whether because George never finished it or because a part has been lost, cannot be said with any certainty. This document is a draft, corrected and amended in a number of places by the author, but if any more polished version was ever prepared, I have found no trace of it, and it seems certain that the purpose of its composition was never realized.

MS 5 consists of 8 foolscap folios, 7 closely written on both sides, and one partly written on one side. It is in George Wyatt's hand, but not the firm italic of most of his works; although legible and regular, it has a broken backed appearance, as though age or sickness had weakened him. In form it is a letter to his son, Sir Francis, then Governor of Virginia, but it bears no sign of having been sent as a letter, and is therefore, presumably, a copy of the original. MS 6 is another holograph copy of the same document, and we are bound to ask why George transcribed his letter in this way. The answer perhaps lies in the fact that, although it contains some personal matters, it is primarily a treatise on the security of the Virginian plantations. Such a treatise might well have been circulated among the members of the Virginia Council in London at a time when the Company was in grievous difficulties, and was being bombarded with criticism and advice. Although portions of this letter savour of Polonius, it contains many shrewd and practical suggestions, and George was obviously kept well informed by his son of events in the colony, as well as studying to good effect the map which he had received. Although a ‘Roman’ in his military science, in so far as he was a firm believer in the classical discipline and tactics, George here shows himself to be fully aware of the peculiar military problems presented by the small number of the colonists and the elusive nature of their enemies.

MS 19 consists of 52 foolscap folios, written in a large and legible secretary hand. Richard Wyatt accurately described it as ‘imperfect and much eaten by the mice.’ The first 12 folios have suffered severely, and the sense can be only partially reconstructed. A further 6 are less badly damaged, and 6 more at the end slightly affected. The bulk of the document, 28 folios, is in good condition. Although it is written throughout in the same hand, it is clearly not a complete work; not only does it end inconclusively, but there are several breaks in the sense. For instance f.39r and most of f.38v are blank, corresponding to a gap of about four years in the narrative. Marks in the text on folios 21v and 23r seem to indicate passages deliberately omitted, and there are a number of blanks where names and dates have not been filled in. These features suggest that it is a series of selected extracts from another work, but if this is so, the original does not appear to be extant. A further break in the sense between f.48v and f.49r also indicates that a leaf or leaves are missing.

MS 23 consists of eight closely written foolscap folios, in the handwriting of Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger. Although it is now bound together to present the appearance of a continuous work, there is a break in the sense between f.2v and f.3r, and it is in fact two separate fragments of an incomplete treatise. These fragments must represent the ‘broken papers’ described by George Wyatt in MS 17, and are the only extant parts of the elaborate militia scheme drawn up by the ‘consort’ of Sir Thomas Wyatt, Sir James Wilford, Leonard Digges and others. If, as George states, the ‘consort’ did ‘distribute amongst them selves the sundry parts of this busines’, these pages may represent a substantial part of Wyatt's own share. Since the final version was ‘faiere written out’ and then lost ‘in the ruin of him and his howse’ upon his attainder, the surviving pages must be part of a preliminary draft. The first two folios, which aim a direct exhortation at the Protector and Council, probably belong to the ‘epistle dedicatory’ mentioned in MS 10; the remaining six to the second section of the main document, the ‘order for raisinge and leviinge of an Army’. According to George, this section was ‘principaly propounded … out of Polibius and Vigetius’, that is out of the Histories and the Four books of martial policy, each of which had run through several editions in the first half of the sixteenth century. However, classical influences are not particularly obvious in this surviving part, which seems to be singularly free from slavish dependence on the ‘ancients’.

MS 10 consists of seven quarto folios, written on both sides in a small, neat secretary hand. It contains two complete essays, one in defence of Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder, and the other of his son. There is no general title, but this can be supplied from MS 24, which is an incomplete version of the first of these essays, together with a fragment of the second. MS 24 is written on similar paper, and in the same hand. It describes the work as

An answer unto 2 most lewde and false allegations … published in a certen slaunderous and seditious Booke written against the state by Saunders the Papist.

MS 4 consists of eight foolscap folios, five written on both sides, one partly written on one side only, and two blank. It was originally folded, and the endorsement on the back of f. 8 would have been on the outside of the packet so formed. It is the first half of a detailed and circumstantial account of the report made to a joint committee of both Whole Houses by the Duke of Buckingham and Prince Charles on 24 February 1624. The subject of the report was the recent failure of the negotiations for a Spanish marriage, which had been dragging on for about ten years. So great was the interest of members in this report that special precautions were ordered to ensure that no one who was not a bona fide member of parliament should be admitted, and these precautions are hinted at in the opening sentences. Because this meeting was not a formal session of either house, report of the proceedings had to be made in both the Lords and the Commons. The Lord Keeper's report, delivered on Friday, 27 February, is fully recorded in the Lords Journal, The substance is naturally much the same as the contents of this document, but the style is completely different. As befitted a formal relation, the Lord Keeper omitted the circumstantial details which make this account vivid and interesting; the direct speech, and the Prince's interjections and comments. The House of Commons received a similar report on the same day from Sir Richard Weston and Sir Francis Cottington, both of whom had been personally involved in the negotiations. The version of this report printed in the Commons Journal is very sketchy and disjointed, being taken from the hasty jottings of MS Tanner 392.