Volume Iv Part 56 (1/2)
[Sidenote: 1468 / JULY 22]
Rythe it is so that I may not, as oft as I wold, be ther as [_i.e._ where] I might do my message myselff, myn owne fayir Mastresse Annes, I prey yow to accept thys byll for my messanger to recomand me to yow in my most feythfull wyse, as he that faynest of all other desyreth to knowe of yowr welfare, whyche I prey G.o.d encresse to your most plesure.
And, mastresse, thow so be that I as yet have govyn yow bot easy [_i.e._ little] cause to remembyr me for leke of aqweyntacion, yet I beseche yow, let me not be forgotyn when ye rekyn up all yowr servaunts, to be sett in the nombyr with other.
And I prey yow, Mastresse Annes, for that servyse that I owe yow, that in as short tyme as ye goodly may that I myght be a.s.sarteynyd of yowr entent and of your best frends in syche maters as I have brokyn to yow of, whyche bothe your and myn ryght trusty frends John Lee, or ellys my mastresse hys wyff, promysyd befor yow and me at our fyrst and last being togedyr, that as sone as they or eyther of theym knewe your entent and your frendys that they shold send me woord. And if they so do, I tryst sone aftyr to se yow.
And now farewell, myn owne fayir lady, and G.o.d geve yow good rest, for in feythe I trow ye be in bed.
Wretyn in my wey homward on Mary Maudeleyn Day at mydnyght.
Your owne,
JOHN PASTON.
Mastresse Annes, I am prowd that ye can reed Inglyshe; wherfor I prey yow aqweynt yow with thys my lewd [_uncouth_] hand, for my purpose is that ye shalbe more aqweyntyd with it, or ellys it shalbe ayenst my wyll; but yet, and when ye have red thys byll, I prey yow brenne it or kepe it secret to yoursylff, as my feythefull trust is in yow.
[Footnote 300.2: [From Fenn, ii. 294.] The Mrs. Anne to whom this letter was addressed seems to have been a Mrs. Anne Haute, to whom Sir John was for a long time engaged. That it was written before the year 1469 will appear probable on referring to Margaret Paston's letter written on Easter Monday (3rd April) in that year, in which she wishes to know for certain if he be engaged; and we have therefore little difficulty in referring it to the year 1468, when Sir John was over in Flanders at the marriage of the Princess Margaret to Charles of Burgundy. Mrs. Anne appears to have been a lady of English extraction, who was either born abroad or had pa.s.sed most of her life on the Continent. She was, moreover, related to Lord Scales, and is therefore not unlikely to have been the daughter of one William Haute of Kent, who married at Calais, in 1429, the daughter of a certain Richard Wydeville. (See _Excerpta Historica_, p. 249.) But she could speak and even read English; and Sir John, who was now returning homewards to England, designed in this letter to open a correspondence with her. He appears, however, not to have despatched it, as the original remained among the papers of the Paston family; or else perhaps it was returned to him on the breaking off of the engagement.]
688
THOMAS HOWES TO CARDINAL BOURCHIER[302.1]
_To my moste honorabyl Lord Cadenall, and Archibushop of Caunterbury._
[Sidenote: 1468 / OCT. 10]
Moste reverent and my ryght good Lord, I recomaund me to your gracyous Lordshyp yn my moste humble wyse. Please your Lordshyp to wete that my Lord Norffolk councell hath now late mevyd Sir Wylliam Yelverton, Knyght, and me to be preferryd for to purcha.s.se the maner of Castre, and certeyn other lordshypps that wer my Maystyr Fastolf, whom G.o.d pardon, owt excepted the maner of Gunton that yowr Lordshyp desyryth to purcha.s.se, and othyr certeyn maners that my Mastyr Fastolf frendys hafe desyred to be preferryd. And be cause the pretens bargayn that John Paston yn hys lyffe surmytted, bye colour of which he entended to hafe all my Mastyr Fastolf londes in Norffolk and Suffolk for nought, savyng the hygh reverence of your astate, was not juste ne trew; and be cause that I wyth othyr of my Master Fastolf executors may have wher of to dyspospose yn cheryte full dedys to do for hys sowle; I have condescended the rather that my seide Lord of Norffolk shall be preferryd to the purcha.s.se of the seyde maner of Castre, and othyr maners that may be sparyd to th'encresse of hys lyfelode yn thys land; and thys covenantys to be engroced upp wythynne shorth tyme, as by all Halowaunce, in case yowr Lordshyp be agreed and plesyd wyth all; wher uppon I wold beseche yowr n.o.byll Lordshyp to lete me wete your good plesur and avice yn thys behalfe.
And be cause my seyd Lord Norffolk ys so nere of blode to yowr hyghnesse knyghted, that meevyd me to be the more wyllyng to condescend to the forseyd purcha.s.se, and so trustyng your Lordshyp wold be ryght well pleased wyth alle. Wretyn at Norwich the x. day of Octobyr, anno viij.
R. E. iiij^{ti}.
Yowr pore chapleyn,
T. HOWYS.
[Footnote 302.1: [From Fenn, iv. 298.]]
[[anno viij. R. E. iiij^{ti}.
_text has ”iiij^t” alone, without punctuation: corrected from Fenn_]]
689
ABSTRACT[303.1]
[_Circa_ 1468.] Long declaration in English (on a paper roll) by Thomas Howes, 'for the discharge of his conscience,' impugning the authenticity of the will nuncupative, said to have been made by Sir J. Fastolf on the day of his death, and propounded by John Paston and the said Thomas in opposition to an earlier will propounded by Sir W. Yelverton and W. Worcetyr; containing details intended to prove that the alleged will was fabricated by Paston. Amongst other things, Howes says that at Paston's desire he did, a year before Fastolf's death, move Fastolf that Paston might buy three of his manors and live in his college, 'and the seyd Fastolf, mevyd and pa.s.syoned gretely in his soule, seyd and swar by Cryst ys sides, ”And I knewe that Paston woolde by ony of my londes or my G.o.des he shulde nevyr be my feffe, nother myn executor.” Albeyt he seyde that he wolde suffer that the said Paston for terme of hys lyf shall have a loggyng yn a convenyent place yn the seyd maner of Castre withoute denyance of ony havyng intrest yn the seyd maner.
[Footnote 303.1: [From a MS. in Magdalen College, Oxford.] This Abstract is derived from Mr. Macray's Report on the Muniments of Magdalen College, printed in the Fourth Report of the Historical MSS. Commission.]
690