Volume Vi Part 11 (1/2)
971
GEORGE, SERVANT TO WILLIAM PASTON, TO JOHN KYNG[41-1]
_To John Kyng of Therfeld, in Herdfords.h.i.+re._
[Sidenote: Date uncertain]
Right trusty and welbeloved frende, I comaunde me to you. And, Ser, I tolde my maister that ye wolde have ben with him or this; for which cause he mervaileth ye kepe nat your promyse. Wherfore I avise you to come and bryng my maister his money afore this fest of Cristma.s.se.
And, also, ye ar yerly behynde of a boore or els ten s.h.i.+llinges after the price of oon bore. And where ye be owyng your boore for ij. yerys, I wolde avyse you to delyver unto Ser William Storer the seid dute, or els I counceile you to send my maister a resonable somme of money with thies boores afore Cristma.s.se for your thanke, consideryng his kynde dealyng, as well in sufferaunce of your money as in your owne matier.
Writen at London, the xvj^th day of Decembre.
Be your frende, GEORGE,
servaunte to Mr. W. PASTON.[41-2]
[Footnote 41-1: We place this letter after the last for convenience. Its date is unimportant.]
[Footnote 41-2: The subscription is in a different hand from the letter itself, which is in a clerk's hand, very well written.]
972
JOHN, PRIOR OF BROMHOLM, TO JOHN PASTON[41-3]
_To my right worchipful maister, John Paston, Sqwyer._
[Sidenote: 1480-7]
Right worchipful maister, I recomaunde me un to yow, desiryng to knowe of youre welfare and prosperyte, wheche Jesu maynteyne and encreese to His pleser after youre hertys desyre, thankyng yow ever of youre good maisters.h.i.+p to me shewed at alle tymes withoute deserte on my behalve, prayng yow, and hirtely besechyng of youre goode contynuance. Please it yowre maisters.h.i.+p, for as moche as it [is] moved on to the my good maisters, the counsell of the d.u.c.h.e of Lancastr, that they be weelw.i.l.l.yng to make laboure on to my Sovereyn Lady the Qween at youre good instaunce for certeyn tymber toward my dortour at Bromholm, in wheche myn specyall desyre is to have viij. princypall beemys, everych on in length xj. zerds. I am not expeert in makyng of any supplicacion, besechyng youre maisters.h.i.+p to take it uppon you to do it make after your avyce, alegged all poverte, as youre worchipfull discrecion can moche better than I can enforme; and I remitte all to youre wysdam, ever besechyng you to calle this matyer to youre remembraunce. No more at this tyme, but the Holy Trinite mote have yow in His governaunce, and sende you longe lyf to endure to His pleser.
Wreten the xiiij^e day of Octobr.
Youre preest and chapeleyn,
JOHN, Priour of Bromholm.
[Footnote 41-3: [From Fenn, iii. 400.] On the date of this letter Fenn remarks as follows:--'John t.i.tleshale was prior of Bromholm from 1460 for about twenty years. This letter must have been written therefore either on the 14th October 1460, or on the same day in 1465, as Edward IV. married in that year, and J. Paston died in May 1466. If it was written in the former, the request [for timber] must have been to Queen Margaret; if in the latter, to Elizabeth, the Queen of Edward IV.' In these observations Fenn overlooks the possibility of the letter having been addressed to any other John Paston than the first of that name; and neither of the two years, which alone suit that supposition, has much internal probability. It is inconceivable that the letter could have been written in 1460, when Queen Margaret had retired into Wales after the battle of Northampton, and it is almost equally improbable that the date could have been 1465, when John Paston, the father, was in prison. We have very little doubt that the letter was addressed to John Paston the youngest, called of Gelston, long after his father's death, and after that of his brother Sir John also. John Tytleshale, who was Prior of Bromholm in 1460, was succeeded, at what date we are not informed, by John Macham; and after him John Underwood, Bishop of Chalcedon, suffragan of the Bishop of Norwich, was prior in 1509. The date of this letter, however, must lie between 1480 and 1487, in which latter year John Paston the youngest was created a knight for his services at the battle of Stoke.]
973
ABSTRACT[43-1]
[Sidenote: Not after 1481]
Appointment touching 'Ayeseldys wyff.' Her friends to labour for her acquittal of the felony, without letting of Wremmegey's wife, etc. 20 to be deposited 'in mene hand' by the friends of A's wife, to be delivered on her acquittal to Darby and other frends of W.'s wife. Also Master Yelverton shall have his 3 due to him from Ayseldys wife paid by both parties.
_Signed_--John Yelverton.