De testibus et testimoniis theses L

...the most distinguished College of Jurists of Basel has seen fit to admit me into their number and society of Doctors. For since the ancient custom of the illustrious Academy of Basel binds candidates for the law to dedicate the theses they publicly defend for the Doctorate in both laws to some patron or friend, you may infer how much I value your friendship and how much I desire to become worthy of it from the fact that, having set aside many others, I have chosen you primarily to whom to dedicate my Propositions. Therefore, since I wished for you to be a participant in the honor that has come to me—which is the most pleasant thing that has happened to me in my life—you will be acting in a manner unworthy of your human and generous spirit if you do not preserve for me, intact and perpetual, the goodwill you embraced some years ago. For to be praised by a praised man will be pleasant to no one as much as it would be distressing and useless to me if my long absence from England had diminished your friendship toward me even slightly. For I have always considered you to be a person from whose sole recommendation great fruit of both praise and utility could flow to me, if you deem it worthy to honor with your patronage the knowledge I have acquired and will acquire in Italy, Germany, France, and other regions where I intend to remain for another two years. But this over-long entreaty of yours shows a certain suspicion and diffidence; therefore, I shall rest upon the goodness of the opinion I have long held regarding your kindness, and I shall exert all my strength toward this end: that you might not think me changed by the interval of either place or time. And because to be loved by men who are cultivated in the virtues in which you excel, although many desire it, happens to few, I shall consider that I have lost as much of my fame and reputation as you have detracted from your love toward me. Farewell. Given at Basel, August 15, 1581.