In 1596, the English courtier Thomas Lake was asked to arrange the dispatch of a letter on behalf of Queen Elizabeth I to an unidentified female correspondent. Lake’s role was to deliver the letter to Robert Cecil, Elizabeth’s secretary of state, who would pass it on to the lady. A messenger was soon on his way, but not long afterwards Lake received important information that required him to call the letter back, as he explained to Cecil:

After I had dispatched the messenger to your Honour this morning it pleased Her Majesty to send me word that she would have the letter to Madam opened again if I had made it up, and folded in a small plight like those of her own hand, and so sealed. Wherefore I beseech your Honour to return it hither if it be not already delivered that it may [be] ordered as she hath directed.

Elizabeth wanted to make sure that the letter bore a specific appearance when folded. Lake was to open and refold the letter in her preferred fashion (‘in a small plight’). 

How surprised should we be that the queen of England was so particular about the shape and size of