Volume Vi Part 33 (1/2)
1049
THE EARL OF OXFORD TO SIR JOHN PASTON[140-1]
_To the right wors.h.i.+pfull and my right intierly welbelovyd counceillor, Sir John Paston, Knyght._
[Sidenote: About 1491(?) / OCT. 20]
Right wors.h.i.+pfull and right intierly welbelovyd counceillor, I comaund me to you. And where as I late have receyved your writing, wherby I ... ... the demeanyng of Richard Barkeley and his s.h.i.+pp as other, I have ta ... ... . . of hym to be redy at all tymes to answer to all suche thynges as can be l ... ... ... he demeanyng. I woll therfor that ye suffre hym, his men and s.h.i.+ppys, ... ... . . d as for a last of hering and an half, whiche I undirstond by hy ... ...
of his, I woll that ye delyver hit to the countroller of my howshold. A ... ... . o put undyr suertie all suche hering so takyn or revid by the carveyll of ... ... . any other. And G.o.d kepe you.
Wretin at Melford, the xx. day of Octobre.
And where as I am enformyd that ye take hym nat for my servaunt, and so he ys noysed in the contrey ther, I woll that hit be knowin that I take hym as my servaunt, and so will do as long as I know no cause of the contrary.
OXYNFORD.
[Footnote 140-1: [From a MS. in the Bodleian Library.] The MS. of this letter is mutilated, but it is perfectly intelligible, as it is the first of three relating to the same subject, of which Fenn has printed the second in his fifth volume. The date of the matter referred to is, however, uncertain, and I follow the example of Fenn in a.s.signing the correspondence conjecturally to the year 1491, in which we have other letters from the Earl, as Admiral, to Sir John, as his Vice-Admiral.]
1050
THE EARL OF OXFORD TO SIR JOHN PASTON[141-1]
_To the right wors.h.i.+pfull and my right intierly welbelovyd councellour, Sir John Paston, Knyght._
[Sidenote: About 1491(?) / OCT.]
Right wors.h.i.+pfull and right intierly welbeloved councellour, I comaund me to you. And where as I undirstond, by your writing to me delyverid by this berar, the roborye and dispoyling of certayn Corvers of Holond and Selond, done by the s.h.i.+pp callyd _the Foole_, wherof Robert Spenser was maister, aswell in herryng, vitayle, and takelyng, as ye be enfourmyd by iij. personnys of the same s.h.i.+ppe, and of th'entent and disposicion of the master and feleshyp of the same, whiche shewe, as ye write, that Barkeley, aswell with that s.h.i.+pp as with a prise that he hathe bought, late takyn of the Frenchemen, were disposid and determenyd to do myche harme, wherupon ye have indevorid you to breke the same; how be hit that the seid Barkeley hath be late with me, and found suertie in a C_li._ to answer to all suche demeanyng, when he shall be callyd; and therupon I wrote to you to suffre hym, his men, and s.h.i.+ppis to departe at libertie; yet nevyrtheless, concidering your large writing, I can nat be content in my mynde to suche tyme as I may here bothe you and Barkeley to geder; willing therf[or that ye do] kepe the s.h.i.+ppys and goodes in suertie, and to be with me your selfe ... ... . . well may, bringyng with you suche iij. personnys as have ... ... ... certaynte of this mater; and so I have wretin to Barkeley ... . . se to answer to the same. And G.o.d kepe you.
Wretin ... ... . of Octobre.
Also yf the be eny of the d.u.c.h.emen ... ... . . any sute for ther G.o.de, that ye then cause one of ... ... . to shewe and clayme ther owne.
OXYNFORD.
[Footnote 141-1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] _See_ preliminary note to last letter.]
1051
THE EARL OF OXFORD TO SIR JOHN PASTON[142-1]
_To the right wors.h.i.+pfull and my right welbeloved counceilour, Sir John Paston, Knyght._
[Sidenote: About 1491(?) / OCT. 28]
Right wors.h.i.+pfull and right welbeloved counceilour, I comaunde me to you. Certifieint you that I wolde have be right glad to have had you, the iij. persones that enformed you of Berkeleys demenyng, and Berkeley togeder, to th'entent that I myght have had ripe knowleche of their demenyng, to have shewed the Kynge at my comyng unto His Grace.
Nevertheles, sith I understand by your late wrytyng, to me brought by the seid Berkeley the xxviij. day of this present monthe, beryng date the Monday next before Seynt Symond Day and Jude, that ther is nat so grete defaute in the same Berkeley as ye by your former writinges to me sent wend [_thought_] ther had be, and that the defaute, if eny be, is in one Spenser, maister of the s.h.i.+ppe belongyng to the seid Berkeley, and that ye thynke also that such suretee as I have take of the same Berkeley is sufficient inogh, better or more than nedeth for that cause, and that in your mynde ye thynke he woll be of G.o.de guydyng and demenyng in tyme comyng; I woll and desire you that ye delyver hym his s.h.i.+ppes, men, and goodes, accordyng to my first wrytyng to you sent in that behalve. And Almyghty G.o.d kepe you.
Writen at my castell of Hedingham, the xxviij. day of Octobre.