No more at this time, but God have you in keeping. Written at London on Saint Audrey's [Etheldreda's] day, in the 17th year of Edward IV. 1 Tidings but (only) that yesterday my Lady Marchioness of Dorset, which is my Lady Hastings's daughter, had childed a son. Item, my Lord Chamberlain is come London, Monday, LETTER CCCXCVII.—(XLIV. vol. v. p. 189.) [THIS letter, or rather three letters in one, contains a curious display on the part of John Paston of what Sir John Fenn calls "good sense and address in managing a matter," "though some finesse appears." Perhaps the world now will be ill-natured enough to call it trickery, and indeed such is our opinion. Fenn chooses to assume that Sir Thomas Brews had failed in his promises, but this does not appear. His proposals, we have seen, were all conditional, and John Paston had been unable, from various causes, to comply with his terms. He now writes a short note to his mother, telling her that Dame Elizabeth Brews had been sick and not able till now to attend to business; that this day the matter had been communed, "but that other answer than she hath sent you in her letter closed herein can she not have of her husband." He therefore writes a letter in his mother's name which he begs her to have transcribed and sent to Dame Brews, together with "another letter to me, which I may show." In the first of these two he makes his mother say, "I am right sorry that John Paston is no more fortunate than he is in that matter, for, as I understand by your letter, my cousin your husband will give but an 100%, which is no money like for such a jointure as is desired of my son, though his possibility were right easy. But, madam, when I made that large grant in the manor of Sparham, that I have made to him and my 1 Cecily, second wife to Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, was daughter and heir of William Bonvile, Lord Bonvile and Harrington, by Katharine, daughter of Richard Nevile, Earl of Salisbury, who was now the wife of Lord Hastings, Lord Chamberlain, and governor of Calais. cousin your daughter, he told me of another sum that he should have with her than of an 1001. He hath before this been wont to tell me none untruth, and what I shall deem in this matter I cannot say, for methinketh if more than an 1007. were promised unto him by my cousin your husband, and you, that ye would not let to give it him, without so were that I or he abridged anything of our promise, which I wot well neither I nor he intend to do, if I may understand that his saying to me was truth, and that it may be performed; but wist I that he told me otherwise than my cousin your husband and ye promised him, in order to deceive me of Sparham, by my troth if he have it he shall lose as much by it, if I live, and that shall he well understand the next time I see him." He next alludes to his brother Sir John's refusal to alter the entail of Sparham, and makes his mother express her dislike to "become a daily petitioner of his, sith he hath denied me once mine asking; peradventure he had been better to have performed my desire." This is certainly a masterly stroke to excite at once the hopes and fears of the opposite parties. She is then made to proceed thus: "but, madam, ye are a mother as well as I, where(fore) I pray you take it none otherwise but well that I may not do by John Paston as ye will have me to do, for, madam, though I would he did well, Í have to purvey for more of my children than him, of which some be of that age that they can tell me well enough that I deal not evenly with them to give John Paston so large and them so little." John Paston here shows a most laudable interest in the welfare of his brethren, though it has not hitherto prevented his ex torting all he could for himself. In the letter addressed to himself, he makes his mother express herself thus :-"I understand well by my cousin Dame Elizabeth Brews's letter, which I send you herewith, whereby ye may understand the same, that they intend not to perform those proffers that ye told me they promised you, trusting that ye told me none otherwise than was promised you; wherefore I charge you on my blessing that ye be well aware how ye bestow your mind without ye have a substance whereupon to live, for I would be sorry to weet you miscarry, for if ye do, in your default, look never after help of me; and also I would be as sorry for her as for any gentlewoman living, wherefore I warn you beware in anywise.' The cant of "bestowing his mind " is truly disgusting. His own letter is dated from Salle in Norfolk, June 28, and those intended for his mother from Mauteby, June 29, 1477.] LETTER CCCXCVIII.—(XLV. vol. v. p. 197.) [THIS and the following letter contain more of the family disputes about money, and new attempts to get assistance from the widow's property. In this Sir John is the actor; he acquaints his mother that he has no means of paying a debt due to one Kokett, about which she had written to him, because of his expenses for the surety of the manor of Caister, "and the matter between Anne Hawte and me;" he also announces that Sporle is mortgaged for four hundred marks (2661. 138. 4d.) to Townshend, to be paid within three years, or the manor to be forfeited, which, if it should happen " ye were never like to see me merry after, so God help me." He then coolly adds:-"Ye gave me once 201. towards it, and ye promised as much, which I received, and since of my money of said manor growing that came to your hands was received by you again the said 407., which, when Kokett should be repaid was 66 not your ease to depart with; nevertheless ye may yet, when you liketh, perform your said gift and promise, and this sum owing to Kokett is not so much; nevertheless I suppose that ye be not so well purveyed, wherefore if it please you at your ease hereafter to perform your said gift and promise, so that I may have it within a year, or two, or yet three, I should per case get your obligation again from Kokett an he pleased, wherefore I beseech you that I may have an assignment of such debts as be owing you payable at leisure of such money as is owing for the wood at Bassingham or elsewhere; for so God help me I should else wilfully undo myself." Respecting his brother John he says "I have granted him as much as I may; I would I were at one communication atween them for his sake;" but adds that the period of his return home is uncertain. Dated Thursday, Aug. 7, 1477.] LETTER CCCXCIX.-(XLVI. vol. v. p. 201.) [THIS is Margaret Paston's reply to the previous letter, at which she seems to have been justly indignant. Without any greeting, she begins at once upon the business, and says I put you in certain that I will never pay him [Kokett] a penny of that duty that is owing to him, though he sue me for it, not of mine own purse, for I will not be compelled to pay your debts against my will; and though I would, I may [can] not; wherefore I advise ye to see me saved harmless against him for your own advantage in time coming; for, if I pay it, at long way ye shall bear the loss. And whereas ye write to me that I gave ye 201., and promised other 201., that is not so, for I wot well if I had so done ye would not assigned me by your letters of your own hand-writing, the which I have to show, that I should refrain [retain] again the same sum of William Peacock, and of your farmers, and buyers of your wood of Sporle; and take this for a full conclusion in this matter, for it shall be none otherwise for me than I write here to you." She then reproaches him for his improvidence, for having again SO simply" mortgaged Sporle, and says it makes her doubt, "what your disposition will be hereafter for such livelihood as I have been disposed before this time to leave you after my decease; for I think verily that ye will be disposed hereafter to sell or set to mortgage the land that ye should have after me your mother, as gladly and rather than that ye have after your father." She concludes thus: "And as for your brother William, I would ye should purvey for his finding, for as I told you the last time ye were at home, I would no longer find him at my cost and charge; his board and his school-hire is owing since St. Thomas's day afore Christmas; and he hath great need of gowns and other gear, that were necessary for him to have in haste. I would ye should remember it and purvey them, for as for me I will not. I think ye set but little by my blessing, and if ye did you would have desired it in your writing to me: God make you a good man to his pleasance." The brother William here mentioned was at this time at Eton, and Sir John had the management of the property left for the education and support of his younger brothers. This letter is dated from Mauteby, Monday, Aug. 11, 1477.] We have in this letter several anecdotes of a public nature, relative to the wars in France, and particularly concerning the hostilities committed by the French king on the possessions of the heiress of Burgundy. Unto the right worshipful Sir John Paston, Knight. MASTER PASTON; after all due recommendation and hearty desire to hear of your good hele (health), please it you to weet I have spoken with Sir John of Middylton as well as I could and it had been for myself for his hobby that ye desired, and told him he might well forbear him now in as much as Mrs. Jane was dead, and that it is a great cost for him to keep more horse than he needeth; and he answered me that he would sell him with good will, but there should no man buy him under 107. Flemish; and I offered him in your name 10 marks, for he would not hear of none other ambling horse that ye might give him therefore. And also my lord desired to have bought him for the Lord Schauntrell 2 that is chief captain of St. Omers; and he would (for) no less let my lord have him than 10%., and so my lord bought another, and gave him the said lord, for he thought this too dear; never 1 Between 57. and 67. English, apparently a great price for a hobby. Ponton de Santrailles. A nobleman of this name was taken prisoner by the Duke of Bedford, before Beauvais, aud was exchanged for Lord Talbot when he was captured at the battle of Pataie. theless he will not sell him to no man under that money that he set him on, and so ye may buy your pleasure in him and ye list; for otherwise he will not do for you as I conceive. And as for tidings in these parts, the French king lieth at siege at St. Omers, on the one side of the town, a mile off, but he hath no great ordnance there; and they of the town skirmish with them every day, and keep a passage half a mile without the town; and the French king hath brenned (burnt) all the towns and fair abbeys that were that way about St. Omers, and also the corns which are there. And also, as it is said for certain, the French king hath brenned Cassell, that is my old Lady of Burgundy's jointure, and all the country thereabout, whereby she hath lost a great part of her livelihood; and that is a shrewd token that he meaneth 5 well to the king our sovereign lord, when he intendeth to destroy her. 3 A town situated about 10 miles N.E. of S Omers. 4 Margaret, sister to Edward IV. Moreover, Sir Philip de Creveker 1 hath taken them that were in Fynes within this four days to the number of fourteen persons, and the remanent were fled, and he had them to the French king, and he hath brenned all the place, and pulled down the tower and a part of the wall, and destroyed it. And as it is said, if the French king cannot get St. Omers, that he intendeth to bring his army through these Marches into Flanders, wherefore my lord hath do broken (caused to be broken) all the passages except Newham Bridge, which is watched, and the turnpike shut every night. And the said French king within these three days railed greatly of (on) my lord to Tyger Poursuivant, openly before two hundred of his folks; wherefore it is thought here that he would feign a quarrel to set upon this town if he might get advantage. came with him but four hundred horse, and I can hear of no more that be coming in certain; and in money he bringeth with him an hundred thousand ducats, which is but a small thing in regard for that he hath to do; wherefore I fear me sore that Flanders will be lost; and if St. Omers be won, all is gone in my conceit; nevertheless they say there should come great power after the emperor's son, but I believe it not because they have been so long of coming. And I pray you to recommend me unto Sir Terry Robsart, and that it please you to let him know of your tidings, and our Lord have you in his keeping. At Calais, the Sunday next after the Assumption. LETTER CCCCI.-(XLVII. vol. v. p. 207.) [WILLIAM PEACOCK, the agent or steward at Mauteby, writes to his master Sir John Paston of several matters connected with his employment. The first seems to be the collecting of evidence for some matter in which Sir John was only partly interested, for he calls it "Pickering's matter," and in this he appears to have been very unsuccessful, for on applying to a certain friar in Pickering's name, his messenger received for answer, that if he (the friar) "had a bushelfull of evidence, he should none have of them, for he (Pickering) had set the land in trouble, nor [This is the Count of Crevecoeur, rendered so celebrated by Walter Scott's novel of Quentin Durward."] 2 [Furnes in West Flanders.] 3 Maximilian, son of the emperor Frederick, married Mary, daughter and heir of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.-She was the richest heiress of her time, and had been promised by her father to many princes, and amongst the number to this prince, whom she now chose for herself.-She was about 19 years of age at the time of her marriage, in August, 1477, and lived only five or six years after it. he could have no sight of none.' Peacock then proceeds to remind his master of his right of wreck at Winterton. This right of wreck, a right still inherent in many manors, seems at this time to have been very extensive; as from the quantities of timber, &c., alleged to have been stolen, the wreck in this case must have been almost the entire ship and cargo. Peacock says "these are the men's names of Winterton, Robert Parker of West-Somerton, John Loneyard of Winterton, Thomas Woodknape of the same, William Wrantham and John Curteys of the same Winterton, that 4 A ducat of gold is worth about 10s.—Of silver, nearly 5s. 5 Sir Terry Robsart, knight, of Sidistern, in Norfolk, by the marriage of his daughter Lucy to Edward Walpole, Esq., became an ancestor to the Earls of Orford. 6 Edmund Bedyngfeld married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Scott, comptroller of Calais, and was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Richard III. He was highly in favour with Henry VII., who paid him a royal visit at Oxburgh, in Norfolk; which fine seat he built.-He died in 1496. carried off your several ground twenty-two cartsfull of stuff, eight score bow-staves, three score and seven wainscoats, fourteen hundred clepalde, five barrels of tar, four couple of oars, and great plenty of wreck of the ship, as ye shall understand the truth after this.' The rest of the letter is of minor matters: he informs Sir John that the "herrings that should into Essex, are there by the grace of God," the cost having been 47. 3s. 4d. beside other costs; this sum must have purchased a very large quantity of herrings at this time, the price of a horse-load being stated to be 4s. 6d. in Letter lxxv. (vol. i. p. 57). Fenn guesses they were for winter provisions, but Paston had no residence in Essex. Swans are also promised to be sent into Essex by the Lady-day following; and he complains that "I sold yet no barley, nor none can above fourteen pence the comb." The letter is written at Mauteby on Sunday, November 30, 1477.] LETTER CCCCII.—(LXXXII. vol. ii. p. 257.) [John Paston is at length married, and to Margery Brews; who is living, not with her parents according to one of the proposed arrangements, but at Oxnead, one of the residences of the family, and part of the jointure of Agnes Paston, her husband being at this time in London. It is a pretty simple letter, very characteristic of a young wife. Sir John Fenn queries whether the date assigned to it is right, or whether "our Lady's day" and "Saint Thomas's day" may not mean the visitation of the Virgin Mary, July 2, and the translation of St. Thomas à Becket, July 7, 1478. We think the present date right from the following circumstances; the next letter is from her husband, mentioning her removal to the house of her father and mother on account of her situation, and is dated Jan. 21, 1477-8; and though Sir John does not write till August, 1478, to congratulate his brother on the birth of an heir, yet he complains of the delay which had taken place in informing him of the event.] To my right reverend and worshipful husband, John Paston. RIGHT reverend and worshipful husband, I recommend me to you, desiring heartily to hear of your welfare, thanking you for the token that ye sent me by Edmund Perys, praying you to weet that my mother sent to my father to London for a gown cloth of mustyrddevyllers to make of a gown for me; and he told my mother and me when he was come home, that he charged you to buy it after that he was come out of London. pray you, if it be not bought, that you will vouchsafe to buy it and send it home as soon as ye may, for I have no gown to wear this winter but my black and my green a lyer,3 I 1 [Wainscoats were planks (probably oak) for lining the walls of rooms; clepaldes or clapboards were boards cut ready for making casks.] The 2 This word occurs more than once in these letters, but the meaning of it I cannot ascertain to my own satisfaction; though perhaps it refers to some place in France where the cloth was manufactured. following, however, appears the most satisfactory explanation: Musterdevelers-mustyrddevyllers, moitie, or (as sometimes anciently and erroneously spelt) mestier de velours, French, a half-velvet; or mestis de velours, a bastard-velvet. Mestoyant is also an old French word, signifying between both. On the present occasion, a proper allowance must be and that is so cumbrous that I am weary to wear it. As for the girdle that my father behested (promised) me, I spake to him thereof a little before he yed (went) to London last, and he said to me that the fault was in you that ye would not think thereupon to do make it (to have it made), but I suppose it is not so, said it but for a skeusacion (an excuse); I pray you, if ye dare take it upon you, that ye will vouchsafe to do make it against ye come home, for I had never more need thereof than I have now, for I have waxed so fetys (prettily) that I may not be girt in no bar of no 4 made for the imperfections of female spelling, in an age of unsettled orthography. [In vol. i. p. 83, the word is spelt musterdevelers. In Rymer's 'Fœdera,' in a list of articles shipped from England for the use of the King of Portugal and the Countess of Holland in 1428, two pieces of mustrevilers and two pieces of russet mustrevilers are enumerated.] 3 Qu. grenouilliere, frog-colour? 4 The same very natural thought occurs in the ancient ballad of Child Waters.' See Percy's Collection, 3rd edit. vol iii. p. 53. 'My girdle of gold that was too longe, |