Volume Vi Part 21 (1/2)
1002
THE DUKE OF NORFOLK TO JOHN PASTON[85-1]
_To my welbelovyd frend, John Paston, be thys byll delyveryd in hast._
[Sidenote: 1485 / AUG.]
Welbelovyd frend, I c.u.mmaunde me to yow, letyng yow to undyrstond that the Kyngs enmysse be a land, and that the Kyng wold hafe set forthe as uppon Monday but only for Howre Lady Day;[85-2] but for serten he gothe forward as uppon Tewsday, for a servant of myne browt to me the sertente.
Wherfor, I pray yow that ye met with me at Bery,[85-3] for, be the grace of G.o.d, I purposse to lye at Bery as uppon Tewsday nyght, and that ye brynge with yow seche company of tall men as ye may goodly make at my cost and charge, be seyd that ye have promysyd the Kyng; and I pray yow ordeyne them jakets of my levery, and I shall contente yow at your metyng with me.
Yower lover,
J. NORFFOLK.
[Footnote 85-1: [From Fenn, ii. 334.] This letter must have been written in August 1485, some days after the landing of the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., at Milford Haven.]
[Footnote 85-2: The a.s.sumption of Our Lady, 15th of August.]
[Footnote 85-3: Bury St. Edmund's in Suffolk.]
THE PASTON LETTERS
_Henry VII._
1003
DAME ELIZABETH BROWNE TO JOHN PASTON[86-1]
_To my ryght worchepfull and hertly beloved nevew, John Paston, Sqwyer._
[Sidenote: 1485 / SEPT. 23]
Right worchepfull, and my ryght hertly beloved nevew, I recomand me to yow. And wher as ye desier me to send yow woord whether my brodyr John Paston, your fadyr, was with my fadyr and hys, whom G.o.d a.s.soyle, duryng hys last syknesse and at the tyme of hys dissease at Seynt Brydis, or nowght.
Nevew, I a.s.sarteyn yow upon my feythe and poore honore that I was xiiij., xv. yer or xvj. yer old, and[86-2] at Seynt Brydis with my fadyr and my modyr when my fadyrs last syknesse took hym, and tyll he was dissea.s.sid; and I dare depose befor ony persone honorable that when my fadyrs last siknesse tooke hym, my brodyr your fadyr was in Norffolk, and he came not to London tyll aftyr that my fadyr was dissea.s.sid, and that can Sir William Cootyng[86-3] and Jamys Gressham record, for they bothe were my fadyrs clerkys at that tyme. And I remembre and wot well that Jamys Gressham was with my fadyr at Seynt Brydys duryng all hys siknesse and at hys dissea.s.se, and thys wyll I wyttnesse whyle I leve for a trowthe, as knowith G.o.d, Whom I beseche to preserve you and yours.
And, nevew, I prey yow recomand to my neese your wyff, whom I wold be glad to se onys a yen in London, wher thys bylle was wretyn, signed with myn hand, and sealed with my seale [the Thursday next befor Whyghtsonday, the second yer of Kyng Richard the Thred],[87-1] the xxiij. daye of September the first yer of the reyngne of Kyng Herry the vij^{th}.
Your loveing awnte,
EL[IZA]BETH BROWNE.
[Footnote 86-1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] The MS. from which this letter is printed is not in the handwriting of Dame Eliz. Browne.
It is a corrected draft in the handwriting of John Paston, with the address at the head.]
[Footnote 86-2: The words 'xiiij. ---- old, and' are an interlineation, J. P. apparently did not know his sister's exact age at the time and wished her to supply it.]