[Sidenote: 1454 / JULY 20]
Rygth worshipfull Sir, and my rygth good maister, I recomend me to you.
Lyke you to wete I have spoken wyth my lord Chaunceler[328.2] and put the bylle by for hym and all the lordis upon Wednesday at after non last past, wenyng to me to have an answer upon Thursday. And my lord Chaunceler told me that they sped no partycler mater yet syn they cam, nor han no leyser to attend swych maters. I have spoken to my Lord Wylchyre,[328.3] and he promysed to help forth that he can, and my Lord Beauchamp[328.4] bothe. Fenyngley cam but on Thursday at evyn. Item, Sir, I have do made a new bylle whyche I purpose to delyver to the kyng.
And, Sir, the lordes merveyle sore of the entre that was made by the straunge man or my lord entred; they thynk that was a straunge werk and a sotyll. Item, I spake to my Lord Chaunceler how my maister[328.5] and ye and your frendis were pute owte of the comyssyon of pees; neverthe les he hath not graunted yet non newe. And as for the questyon that ye wylled me to aske my lord, I fond hym yet at no good leyser. Item, Sir, after the lordys seying, the Councell schuld breke up on Monday next comyng. And as for the Archebysshop of York[329.1] is heyll and mery, &c. Wretyn the xx. day of July.
By your man and servaunt,
THOMAS PLAYTER.
[Footnote 328.1: [Add. MS. 34,889, f. 217.] The reference to Lord Wiltshire proves the date of this letter to lie between 1449 and 1460, and it would seem to be 1454 when the 20th July was a Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday being spoken of as past dates and Monday as a future one.]
[Footnote 328.2: Richard, Earl of Salisbury.]
[Footnote 328.3: James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde.]
[Footnote 328.4: John, Lord Beauchamp.]
[Footnote 328.5: Sir John Fastolf.]
[Footnote 329.1: William Booth was Archbishop of York from 1452 to 1464. If the letter had been earlier Cardinal Kemp would have been Archbishop of York, and would have been called 'Cardinal of York.']
254
WILLIAM PASTON TO JOHN PASTON[329.2]
_To his wurchypfull Brodyr, John Paston._
[Sidenote: 1454 / [JULY]]
Ryth wurchypfull broder, I recomande to yow; and as for tedyng, my Lord of Yorke hathe take my Lord of Exsater[329.3] in to hys awarde. The Duke of Somerset[329.4] is styll in prison, in warse case than he was. Syr Jon Fastolf recomande hym to yow, &c. He wyll ryde in to Norfolke ward as on Trusday, and he wyll dwelle at Caster, and Skrop[329.5] wyth hym.
He saythe ye ar the hartyest kynysman and frynd that he knowyts. He wolde have yow at Mawdeby dwellyng.
I had gret cher of Byllyng be the way, and he told me in cownsayle wathe he sayd to Ledam.
Ledam wulde a do hys wyse to a mad a complent to Pryothe[329.6] in the scher-howse of yow, and Byllyng consallyd hym to leve, and tolde Ledam ye and he wer no felawys, and sayd to Ledam, 'That is the gyse of yowr contre men, to spend alle the good they have on men and lewery gownys, and hors and harnes, and so beryt owth for j wylle [_bear it out for a while_], and at the laste they arn but beggars; and so wyll ye do.
I wylde ye schull do wyll, be cause ye ar a felaw in Grays In, wer I was a felaw. As for Paston, he ys a swyr [squire] of wurchyp, and of gret lyvelode, and I wothe he wyll not spend alle hys good as [_at?_] onys, but he sparyt yerly C. mark, or j. C. _li._ [100]; he may do his ennemy a scherewd turne and never far the warse in hys howsholde, ner the lesse men abowthe hym. Ye may not do so, but if yt be for j. [_one_] sesun.
I consayll yow not to contenu long as ye do. I wulle consalle yow to seke reste wyth Paston.'
And I thankkyd Byllyng on yowr behalfe.
God have yow in hys kepyng.
Be yowr por Brodyr,
WYLLYAM PASTON.
Meche odyr thyng I can telle an I had lesur. Recomande me to my suster Margeth [and] my cosyn Elizabeth Clyr, I pray yow.
[Footnote 329.2: [From Fenn, i. 72.] The date of this letter is fixed by the fact referred to in Note 3, and by Sir John Fastolf's going into Norfolk, which, though delayed a little later than is here projected, certainly did take place in 1454.
See another letter of William Paston further on, dated 6th September.]
[Footnote 329.3: Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. On the 24th July the Duke of York was charged by the Privy Council to convey him to Pomfret Castle. --_See_ Nicolas's _Privy Council Proceedings_, vi. 217.]
[Footnote 329.4: Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, who was committed to the Tower in the end of the year 1453. --_See_ p.
290, Note 1.]
[Footnote 329.5: Stephen Scroope, Sir John Fastolf's ward, son of Lady Fastolf, by her former husband.]
[Footnote 329.6: John Prisot, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.]
255
WILLIAM PASTON TO MARGERY PASTON[330.1]
_To his rythe worchypfull and harthy wellebelovyd suster, Margere Paston, dwellyng in Norwyche._
[Sidenote: [1454] / AUG. 10]
Rythe harthely well belovyd suster, I recomand me, &c. And I have received zowre letteres. And as for my nevewes, they lerne rythe well bothe, and there gownys and there gere schall be mad for hem a cordyng the enthenthe of zowre letter, and all oder thynggis that behovyth on to here profythe harddely to my powere. And, Suster, God zelde zow for zowre labore fore me, for gaderyng of my mony. And I pray, as sone as ze receyvyth, send it heder be some trusty man; and that it plese to calle ther on, &c. My suster and my broder recomand hem to zow bothe, and I may say to zow in counsayll sche is op on poyn of mariage, so that moder and my broder sett frendely and stedfastely there on, leke as I wothe well ze wolld, and it lay in zow as it dothe in hem, &c. I pray zow do zoure parthe to kall theron. It were to long to wrythe on to zow all the maner of demenyng of this mater; and therfor I have spoke to Wyllyam Worseter and to Wethewell to tell it zow holly as it is. I wothe ryth well zow (_sic_) good labore may do moche; and send me word how ze here as hastely as ze may. Item, Howard spak of a mariage betwex his sone and my neece Margery, zowr dother: it wer well do such materes wer nawthe sclawfully laboryd; it is wurchypfull, &c. Send me word, and Gog (_sic_) have zow in His kepyng. Wretyn at London on Sent Lawrens day in hast.
Be zowre brodyre,
WYLLYAM PASTON.
Item, send zow a letter directyd to Wollysby. I pray zow lethe it be delyvered hym as hastely as ze may; and if ze come to this contre I am leke to se zow, and we schall make rythe mery I trust.
[Footnote 330.1: [Add. MS. 33,597, f. 5.] This letter is in the handwriting of William Paston, son of the judge; but the 'Margery' Paston to whom it is addressed seems to be his brother John's wife, Margaret. His nephews, John Paston's sons, were at school in London. His sister Elizabeth, who was married to Robert Poynings in 1458, is here said to be upon the point of marriage, but no doubt this refers to the negotiations of the year 1454, as the eldest of John Paston's sons must have been sixteen in 1458. St. Laurence's day, on which the letter was written, is the 10th August.]
256
RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, TO JOHN PASTON[331.1]
_To our right trusty and welbeloved John Paston, Esquire._
_The Duc of York._
[Sidenote: 1454 / AUG. 19]
Right trusty and welbeloved, we grete yow hertily wel. And of your benivolence, aide, and tendre love by yow, at th'instance and at the reverence of us, to our right trusty and welbeloved in God, the prior and convent of the hows of Our Lady of Walsingham, of our patronage, in suche matres as they had adoo for certain lyvelood by tham claymed to belonge unto the seid hows, favorably and tendrely shewed,--as hertily as we can we thank yow, and desire and pray yow of your good continuance; and as far as right, lawe, and good conscience wol, to have in favorable recommendacion suche personnes as been or shal bee committed to take possession and saison, in the name and to the use of our ful worshipful nepveu, th'erl of Warrewic, in and of the manoirs and Lordeships of Boules and Walcots,[332.1] with th'appertenauntes in Litel Snoring in the countee of Norffolk, as our grete trust is unto yow. And God have yow in His keping.
Yeven undre our signet at our castel of Sandhall the xix. day of August.
R. YORK.
[Footnote 331.1: [From Fenn, i. 92.] This and the following letter could hardly have been written in any year except 1454 or 1455, when the Duke of York was in power. In the former year he is very likely to have been at his own castle of Sandal on the 19th August, seeing that on the 24th July he was commissioned to convey the Duke of Exeter to Pomfret Castle.]