The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

in distayne‖. 98 However, it is not clear whether Lock went as a punishment or of his own
accord. According to Mildred Wretts-Smith, many Englishmen travelled to Russia
attracted by the higher wages offered there. 99 His new employer certainly considered him a
master craftsman, paying him 40 roubles annually, compared to 15 to 30 roubles a year for
other craftsmen. 100
Lock‘s unhappiness with the situation may have stemmed from his indebtedness to,
and frequent conflicts with, the English merchants of the Muscovy Company. His initial
complaint, outlined in a letter to Cecil of 20 May 1568, was that on arrival in Russia he had
been compelled to purchase ―a great deal of paltrye apparill‖ despite bringing over £26
worth of clothes from England. 101 Lock alleges that this gave the Russian Tsar the
impression of
her highnes to be a deceaving and decembling prince, in that her majesty
hath sent worthily commended by her highnes letters.... the verye
oughtcasts of all ...not so able to live as to have on there back a good
garment 102
Lock also criticised the dishonest business practices of the Muscovy company, especially
their ―gredy seking ...to bring certayne men that lyvid in Rusland into bondage‖, by which
―the queenes highnes and your honors of the concell have sustaynyd ... more dyshonor
than ever your shall recover ageyn by Rusland affayres‖. 103 Thus began an acrimonious
relationship between Lock and the English merchant community in Moscow that would
haunt his time in Russia.
Lock turned to his contacts at the English Court, Cecil and Leicester, to rescue him
from the situation. Appealing to Cecil‘s security interests, Lock first claimed that if he
could
98 Humfrey Lock, Dedicatory Epistle to Cecil, undated, BL, Sloane Papers 288, 23r–42v.
99 Mildred Wretts-Smith, ‗The English in Russia During the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century‘,
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 3, 1920, p. 100.
100 There is no accurate way to convert this amount into contemporary English pounds.
101 Humfrey Lock to Cecil, 20 May 1568, TNA, SP70/98 f. 62r.
102 Ibid.
103 Humfrey Lock to Cecil, 1 July 1568, Sp70/100 f. 4r.
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