The certificate for Elizabeth Newson, Kent, 17 July 1650
Honored S[i]r
The necessity of a poore widdowe late the wife of Will[ia]m Newsom (a gunner of this Castle & imployed for the reduceing the Castles in the Downes hath been [illegible] and there slayne leaveing her & three small children) hath been soe sadly repr[e]sented to mee that I could not but recom[m]end her Condition to your considera{tion} with my earnest desires that you would please to improve what powers is comitted to you for the releife of widdowes and fatherlesse in like cases for granting her some certayne allowance for her & her childrens necessary subsistance without which as I am informed they wil be brought to extreme penury, The concession hereof I doubt not will appeare to be not only an acte of Justice & mercy but an encouragement to others to adventure their lives for the State in hope of the like releife for theirs, & will alsoe engage
Your aff[ec]t[ionat]e freind and servant
Al[gernon] Sydney
<Dover Castle>
<July the 17.>