I would not it failed for no good, but (that) it proved well and took to a good conclusion.

And whereas I have understood lately, by certain well-willers to you ward, which have moved me, that in case the said ward might be had that ye desire an alliance should take atwixt a daughter of yours and the said ward; of which motion I was right glad to hear of, and will be right well willing and helping that your blood and mine might increase in alliances; and if it please you that by your wisdom and good conduct that ye would help bear out this matter substantially against my party contrary and evil-willers that I might have mine intent, I ensure you ye and I should appoint and accord in such wise as ye should hold you right well pleased both for the increasing of your lineage and also of mine; and I pray you beware whom ye make of your counsel and mine in this matter, and that it may be well bore out ere ye come thence, and in a sure way; and if I had

LETTER LXXI.-(LVI. vol. iii. p. 231.)

On the back of the letter is written in an ancient hand, "The said Jo. Paston allyed to St Jo. Fastolf by his wife, vidz. Mrgarett Mauteby, p'ut patt. infra." We have in this letter an instance of the desire of acquiring the wardship of rich minors, in order to make advantageous marriages for the families of those who were so fortunate as to obtain the care of them. Who the ward was is not here mentioned, but the young lady alluded to, and whom T. Howys, in pleasantry, I suppose, used to call his wife, must have been either Anne or Margery, daughters of J. Paston, the elder of whom could not have been at this time more than ten years old. [There is little doubt but that the ward was the J. Fastolf mentioned in preceding letter. Thomas Howys was an agent for Sir J. Fastolf and the present letter is dated from Caister. See letter xxix. p. 20.]

To the worshipful Sir, and my good master, John Paston, at London, in haste.

WORSHIPFUL and reverend Sir, and my good master, I recommend me to you in as diligent wise as on my part appertaineth, and please you to weet that my master was right well pleased with your faithful labour in fulfilling the patent for the ward of A. B. C. and he will faithfully labour as ye have advised him by writing of John Bocking; and (to) put my master in more courage, I moved to him upon mine head, that in case be the child were wise, that then it were a good marriage between my wife your daughter and

1 This relates to the money due to Sir John Fastolf from the Duke of Bedford, as his share of the ransom paid by the Duke of Alençon, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Verneuil in 1424. See Letter xci. p. 70, and the notes thereto.

2 Thomas Bourchier was elected from the see of Ely to the archiepiscopal dignity in April this year.

him; and, Sir, my master was glad when he heard that mean, considering that your daughter is descended of him by the mother's side; and, Sir, I have inquired after the said child, and no doubt of but he is likely and of great wit, as I hear by report of sundry persons; and it is so, as I am credibly informed, that Jeffrey Boleyn maketh great labour for marriage of the said child to one of his daughters; I would well to him, but better to you; wherefore that ye diligently labour for expedition of this matter, that in case ye can

3 Henry Lord Cromwell.

4 Sir Jeffrey Boleyn was Lord Mayor of London in 1457, and at this time had two daughters, Isabel, afterwards married to William Cheyney, Esq. and Anne, afterwards the wife of Sir Henry Heydon, of Baconsthorpe, Knt. This Jeffrey was great grandfather to Queen Anne Boleyn, the Queen of Henry VIII.

LETTER LXXII.-(XVII. vol. i. p. 81.)

This short, though curious letter, conveys to us a very particular account of the king's disorder from himself; he mentions his total loss of memory, which, from the circumstances here related, appears to have commenced about October 1453, and to have continued till Christmas, 1454. From this letter, likewise, we may form a true judgment of this king's character and disposition as to charity, devotion, and meekness. To my well-beloved cousin, John Paston, be this delivered.

LETTER LXXIII.-(LVII. vol. iii. p. 233.)

Though Sir John Fastolf knew the meaning of these scornful words mentioned in this letter, we at this distance of time shall find a difficulty in explaining them. They seem to signify, that Sir John was a gascon, (a boaster,) and that it was necessary to beware of him, as those who eat at his table were often deceived by him to their cost. At the time that this spirited letter was dictated by him and written by his secretary, he was nearly eighty years of age; we see, however, the youthful ardour of the veteran soldier rekindling at the insulting language used in his absence to defame his character.

To my right trusty and well-beloved RIGHT trusty and well-beloved cousin, I commend me to you; and please you to weet that I am advertised that at a dinner in Norwich, where as ye and other gentlemen were present, that there were certain persons, gentlemen, which uttered scornful language of me, as in this wise with more, saying, "War the gosune, war, and go we to dinner, go we where? to Sir John Fastolf's and there we shall

well pay therefore.” What their meaning was I know well to no good intent to me ward; wherefore, cousin, I pray you, as my trust is in you, that ye give me knowledge by writing what gentlemen they be that had this

cousin, John Paston, in goodly haste.

report with more; and what more gentlemen were present, as ye would I should and (it) were my duty to do for you in semblable (similar) wise. And I shall keep your information in this matter secret; and with God's grace so purvey for them as they shall not all be well pleased. At such a time a man may know his friends and his foes asunder, &c.

Jesu preserve and keep you, written at Caister, the 7th day of February, in the 33rd year of King Henry VI.

LETTER LXXIV.—(LVIII. Vol. iii. p. 237.)

[This letter is from John Martin, abbot of St. Benedict's, in the parish of Ludham, Norfolk, dated March 17, 1454-55, containing an invitation to J. Paston to dinner,

written, not in the style of a scholar or an ecclesiastic, but in the polite manner of a man of the world and gentleman.]

LETTER LXXV.—(LIX. vol. iii. p. 239.)

We have often seen Margaret Paston in the character of the attentive, careful, and obedient wife; we here view her as the tender and disconsolate one. Her sorrow for her husband's displeasure at her "simpleness " is expressed in the most artless and affectionate manner; could he "bere hevynesse in his hert ayens her" after this letter?

To my right worshipful husband, John Paston, be this delivered in haste.

RIGHT worshipful husband, I recommend me to you, beseeching you that ye be not displeased with me, though my simpleness caused you for to be displeased with me; by my truth it is not my will neither to do nor say that should cause you for to be displeased, and if I have done (it), I am sorry thereof, and will amend it; wherefore I beseech you to forgive me, and that ye bear none heaviness in your heart against me, for your displeasure should be too heavy to me to endure with.

I send you the roll that ye sent for, ensealed, by the bringer hereof; it was found in

your trussing coffer. As for herring, 2 I have bought an horse-load for 4s. 6d. I can get none eels yet; as for bever 3 there is promised me some, but I might not get it yet.

1 [Clothes chest.]

2 These herrings and eels were for their Lent provision, and this letter was probably written in 1454, when the first Sunday in Lent was March 10.

3 [Bever is generally explained as a meal between dinner and supper; the term is still used among farming labourers in Essex for the luncheon between breakfast and dinner; but it cannot be used in any such sense here, nor can it be used for beverage. drink.]

This letter appears to have been written by the earl's secretary, and signed in the same hand, "Ric Erle Warwyke;" it has no date, but was most probably written before the civil wars openly broke out between the houses of York and Lancaster. It is in the plural style, as we and our, &c.

To our right trusty and well-beloved friend, Sir Thomas Todenham.1

RIGHT trusty, and well-beloved friend, we greet you well, heartily desiring to hear of your welfare, which we pray God preserve to your heart's desire; and if it please you to hear of our welfare, we were in good health at the making of this letter, praying you heartily that ye will consider our message, which our chaplain, Master Robert Hopton, shall inform you of; for, as God knoweth, we have great business daily, and have had here before this time, wherefore we pray you to consider the purchase that we have made with one John

1 Sir Thomas Todenham, born in 1399, was the second son of Sir Robert Todenham, but, by the death of his elder brother, became his heir, and resided at Oxburgh in Norfolk. Whilst under age, in 1417, he married Agnes, daughter of John Wodehouse, Esq., and in 1436, after a full hearing of the cause at Lynn, before the Chancellor of Norwich, the Prior of Lynn, &c., he was divorced from her, on proof, and on her own confession, of adultery; and had power to marry again. She had before this left him, and was at the time of her conviction a nun professed, at Crabhouse, in Wiggenhall, in Norfolk. The close of his life was still more unfortunate, for in February, 1461, 1 E. IV. John, Earl of Oxford, Aubrey, his son and heir, this Sir Thomas Todenham, John Clopton, John Montgomery, and William Tyrrel, Esqrs., were arrested by John Earl of Worcester, Constable of England, on suspicion of having received letters from Margaret, queen of Henry VI.; and being convicted in court before the said Earl of Worcester, were all beheaded (ex

Swyffhcote (Southcote), Esquire, of Lincolnshire of 887. by the year, whereupon we must pay the last payment the Monday next after St. Martin's Day (11th of November), which sum is 4581. wherefore we pray you with all our heart, that ye will lend us ten or twenty pounds, or what the said Master Robert wants of his payment, as we may do for you in time for to come, and we shall send it you again afore New Year's Day with the grace of God, as we are a true knight.3

cept Clopton) on Tower Hill, on the 22d of Febru. ary, 1461.

2It is to be wished that this letter had mentioned the sum already paid, as we could then have exactly determined the purchase money for an estate of 881. a-year in those days.

His promise for the repayment of the money at the time fixed is by his knighthood, a sacred promise in that age of chivalry. Sir Thomas was a man of large property, and rich in money likewise. [Mr. Hallam, in his 'View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages,' iii. 452, is inclined to think this application was one of many addressed by the Earl of Warwick to his adherents for the purpose of raising a considerable sum, and thus ensuring their adhesion. But we think the particularity of the detail as to the purpose for which he required it, and the promise of so speedy a repayment, is against the supposition. The scarcity of coin, upon which we have before remarked, seems to us a sufficient cause, without searching deeper.]

This letter is written by the secretary, and signed by the Earl himself; it has no date of the year, but was certainly written before 1460, for in that year the Earl presented Richard Cheyne to the rectory of Little Snoring, which was an appurtenant to the manors, and which, when this letter was written, had been lately purchased. This and the preceding letter, though they contain nothing curious in themselves, yet deserve a place in this collection, as being perhaps the only private letters extant of this nobleman, who, from his great power and authority, was called the King Maker; and from his large possessions and magnificent style of living, the great Earl of Warwick. He was the son and heir of Richard Nevile, Earl of Salisbury, and married Anne, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who on the death of Anne Countess of Warwick (the only child of her brother Henry Duke of Warwick) in her infancy, became heir to the honours and inheritance of her family. Richard, in right of his lady, assumed the title of Earl of Warwick, and in 1449 obtained a confirmation of it from Henry VI. In 1460 he succeeded his father as Earl of Salisbury, and was killed in the battle of Barnet, on Easter-day 1471. [They also incidentally show, what we have previously remarked on, the great scarcity of money; and also the desire, not yet extinct, of the aristocracy to add to their landed property, doubtless as a means of extending their influence.]

To the worshipful and my right trusty friend, John Paston, Esquire.

WORSHIPFUL and my right trusty and wellbeloved friend, I greet you well, and forasmuch as I have purchased of the worshipful and my well-beloved friend, Prior of Walsingham, two manors in Little Snoring with the appurtenances in the county of Norfolk, which manors be cleped (called) Bowle's and Walcote's.

I desire and heartily pray you that ye will show to me, and my feoffees in my name, your good will and favour; so that I may by your friendship the more peaceably enjoy my aforesaid purchase.

And moreover I pray you to give credence in this matter to my well-beloved chaplain

1 The Earl of Warwick lodged at his house in the Grey Fryers when he came to London, by the king's desire, in February, 1458, to meet the lords of the opposite party on amicable terms.

Thomas Hunt was prior from 1437 to 1474.

Sir John Southwell, bearer of this my letter.

And in the same matter to be my faithful friend, as my great trust is in you; wherein ye shall do to me a singular pleasure, and cause me to be to you right good lord, which some time shall be to you available by the grace of God, who preserve you and send you welfare.

Given under my signet at Middleham,3
the 23d day of August.
Richard Earl of
Warwick,

Middleham,

R. WARWICK.

23d of August, before 1460. 38 H. VI.

3 The lordship of Middleham in Yorkshire came to the family of Nevile by the marriage of Robert de Nevile with Mary, the daughter and co-heir of Ralph Fitz-Randulph.