The Paston Letters
Chapter 208 : Item, ye must purvey anewe atorny in thys contre. As for me, for our maters and clamor

Item, ye must purvey anewe atorny in thys contre. As for me, for our maters and clamore is to gret, and our purse and wytte to slendyr, but I wyle rubbe on as long as I maye bothe with myn owne, and other menys that wyle do for me tyll better pese be.

Wretyn thys Sat.u.r.daye, at Norwcyche.

J. P.

[Footnote 65-1: [From Fenn, iv. 416.] It appears by the contents that this letter was written about Christmas after the siege of Caister. An appeal of murder was a process sued by the nearest relative of a person killed. It was quite independent of any prosecution for murder by the Crown, and no royal pardon was of any avail against it; but the appeal had to be brought within a year and a day of the fact.]

[[... at Norwyche.

_text has "Norwcyche": corrected from Fenn_]]

741

JOHN PASTON TO SIR JOHN PASTON[66-1]

[Sidenote: 1470 / MARCH 1]

Ryght worchepfull Syr, I recomand me to yow aftyr the old maner, sertyfyng yow that I have comonyd with my modyr for your coming hom, but I can not fynd by hyr that she wyll depert with eny sylvyr for your costis, for she and hyr cwrate[66-2] alegge mor poverte then ever wa.s.se.

Item, as for your clok at Harcortis it wyll be nye Estern er it be redy, for ther is stolyn owt of hys chaumbyr some of the ger that belongyd therto, and that must have leyser to be mad ayen. Item, the caryer forgat your byll behynd hym, but it was delyveryd all to gedyr, but it shall be browght yow and the wyndas with the teles by the next caryer, as myn orangys shall com to me I tryst. Dame Elyzabet Calthorp is a fayir lady and longyth for orangis, thow she be not with chyld. Item, I pray yow that ye wyll make aqwetance on to the person of Mawtby[66-3]

and to John Seyne as executors to John Dawbeney, for they wyll take non admynystracyon of hys goodis tyll they be aqwetansyd of youre and my modyr. Ye maye do it well j nough, so G.o.d help me; for I wot well ye owt hym mony, and he nat yow, if so be that he wer trewe when he dyid, and I wot well we fond hym nevyr on trew in hys lyve; but hys frendys and othyr of the contre putt grett defawt in me that ther is no thyng don for hym, seying that he myght do no more for us but lose hys lyfe in your servyse and myn; and now he is half forgotyn among us. Wherfor I pray yow let thys be sped.

Item, as for Doctor Pykenham, J. Pampyng can tell yow he is not in Norwyche. When he comyth I shall spek with hym and send yow hys answer.

Item, as for myn oncyll Wylliam, I have grant to have a byll of hym what every thyng lythe for; but all thyng is not yet in rest ayen that was remevyd for the chyrchyng of my Lady Anne. As sonne as I have the byll I shall send it yow and hys answer, whyche he wyll fyrst have plegyd owght, and also whethyr he purposyth to do as he seyd by my graundamys lond.

Item, Gefrey Spyrlyng hathe ofte spokyn to me to send to yow for to undyrstand how ye will deell with hym for hys place in Norwyche, for he seythe that he had lever have your good mastyrs.h.i.+p ther in then eny othyr manys good lordshep; for and ye wyll be hys good mastyr he wyll swe no ferther, or ellys he must.

Item, a for (_sic_) for myn old reknyng, I shall make it up in hast and send it yow for your bettyr remembrance, for as me thynkyth by your wrytyng ye have nye forgetyn it; but I am rype j now in it for myn owne dyscharge. Item, I pray yow, take in to your a ward a short murry jornade[67-1] of myn whyche Jacobyn, Wykis woman, hathe lest that she be flyttyng and that it be exchetyd. Item, I pray yow send me swyr tydyngis of the world in hast.

As for the bysheop of Wynchestyr, W. Wyrceteyr told my modyr that he had takyn charge x. dayis or then Pampyng cam hom; but he wenyth that the bysshop wyll be a yenst yow, in so myche that [he[67-2]] avysyd my modyr to consell yow that ye sholl labor to my Lord Cardynall[67-3] that the seyd byshop shold not be amytted to take admynystracyon. No mor, &c.

Wretyn at Norwyche the fyrst daye off Marche.

J. P.

I pray, get us a wyfe somwher, for _Melius est nubere in Domino quam urere_. (ca^o primo.)[67-4]

Noveritis universi per presentes me J. P. mylitem remisisse, &c. Roberto Cotteler personae ecclesiae de Mawtby in comitatu Norfolk et Johanni Seyne de Rollysby in eodem comitatu, executores testamenti et ultimae voluntatis Johannis Dawbeney armygeri, nuper defuncti, omnimodas acciones, tam reales, &c. quos versus eundem Robertum sive Johannem Seyne habui, habeo, &c., racione alicujus debyti dicti Johannis Dawbeney, jam defuncti, mychi dicto J. Paston debite (_sic_) a principio mundi usque in diem, &c. In cujus, &c. Datum, &c.

As for the yer of the Kyng, let it be set in, but as for the daye and the monyth let it be owt, for the day must be aftyr probate of the wyll and the admynystracyon takyng. I pray you, let thys be sped in all hast possybyll; and as for your obligacyon and syche ger as belongyth to yow, I shalbe swyr of it er they have the aqwetance.

Item, as for owyr afrayis her, J. Pampyng can tell yow; but and they get me, ye loose a brodyr, _quod juratum est_.

It is good to do by the comandment of your mastyr whyll I am so well boryn owte; thys my lord of Norffolk galantis send me woord dayly _ad confortandum stomac.u.m_. Ye must spek with your mastyr and comon some remedye hastyly, or be G.o.d I enswyr yow, whyll owyr Dwk is thus cherysheid with the kyng, ye nor I shall not have a man unbetyn or slayn in thys contre, nor our sylfe nowthyr, as well ye as I, _quod juratum est_ onys ayen. The Dwke, the Dwches and ther consell ar wrothe that ye make no meanys to them your sylfe.

Item, I send yow Townysendis endentwre by John Pampyng.

[Footnote 66-1: [Add. MS. 34,889, f. 192.] This letter may be dated 1470, by comparing the postscript with the beginning of No.

742, which seems to have been written in answer to it. John Daubeney was killed at the siege of Caister in 1469. _See_ Nos.

725, 733.]

[Footnote 66-2: James Gloys.]

[Footnote 66-3: Robert Cutler or Cotteler. _See_ next page.]

[Footnote 67-1: Halliwell gives 'jornet' as 'a kind of cloak'; 'murrey' was a dark red colour.]

[Footnote 67-2: Omitted in MS.]

[Footnote 67-3: Cardinal Bourchier.]

[Footnote 67-4: The reference is as inaccurate as the quotation.

The text referred to is 1 Cor. vii. 9: 'Melius est enim nubere quam uri.']

742

SIR JOHN PASTON TO JOHN PASTON[68-1]

_To John Paston, Esquier, beyng at Norwyche, be thys letter delyveryd._

[Sidenote: 1470 / MARCH]

I comande me to yow, letyng yow wete, &c.[68-2]

Item, as for Mestresse Kateryn Dudle, I have many tymes recomandyd yow to hyr, and she is noo thynge displeasyd with itt. She rekkythe not howe many gentylmen love hyr; she is full of love. I have betyn the mater for yow, your onknowleche, as I told hyr. She answerythe me, that sche woll noon thys ij. yer, and I beleve hyr; for I thynke sche hathe the lyffe that sche can holde hyr content with; I trowe she woll be a sore laboryng woman this ij. yer for mede of hyr sowle.

And Mestresse Gryseacresse is sure to Selenger, with my Lady of Exestre, a fowle losse.

Item, I praye yow speke with Harcort off the Abbeye, for a lytell clokke, whyche I sent hym by James Gressham to amend, and that ye woll get it off hym, and it be redy, and sende it me; and as for mony for hys labor, he hathe another cloke off myne, whyche Sir Thomas Lyndes, G.o.d have hys sowle! gave me; he may kepe that tyll I paye hym. Thys klok is my Lordys Archebysshopis, but late not hym wete off it, and that itt [be] easely caryed hyddre by yowr advyse.

Also as for orenges, I schall sende yow a serteyn by the next caryer.

And as for tydynge the berer hereoff schall infforme yow; ye most geve credence to hym.

As for my goode spede, I hope well. I am offryd yit to have Mestresse Anne Haulte, and I schall have help i nowe, as some say.[69-1]

Item, it is soo that I am halffe in purpose to com home with in a monythe her afftr, or abowt Med Lente, or beffor Esterne, ondyr yowr coreccon, iff so be that ye deme that [my] modre wolde helpe me to my costys, x. mark or ther abowt; I praye feele hyr dysposicion and sende me worde.

Item, I cannot tell yow what woll falle off the worlde, for the Kyng verrely is dysposyd to goo in to Lyncoln schyr, and men wot not what wyll falle ther off, ner ther afftre; they wene my Lorde off Norffolke shall[69-2] brynke x.^ml. men.

Item, ther is comen a newe litell Torke, whyche is a wele vysagyd felawe, off the age off xl. yere; and he is lower than Manuell by a hanffull, and lower then my lytell Tom by the schorderys, and mor lytell above hys pappe; and he hathe, as he seyde to the Kynge hymselffe, iij.

or iiij. sonys, chyldre, iche one off hem as hyghe and a.s.se lykly as the Kynge hymselffe; and he is leggyd ryght i now, and it is reportyd that hys pyntell is as long as hys legge.

Item, I praye yow schewe, or rede to my moodre suche thynges as ye thynke is for her to know, afftre yowr dyscression; and to late hyr undrestond off the article off the trete between Syr Wylliam Yelverton and me.