Rith feithful and welbelovyd brother, Wiliam Wayte, I comaunde me to yow as the lord may to his tenant, praying you effectualy to recomaunde me to my singuler gode mayster and yours, excusyng me that I write not to hym, for I dar not envolde me in the same. And as for tydyngs her, I certifye you that all is nowght, or will be nowght. The Kyng borweth hes expense for Cristemesse; the Kyng of Aragon,[205.3] the Duc of Myleyn,[205.4] the Duc of Ostrich,[205.5] the Duc of Burgoyn[205.6] wolde ben assistent to us to make a conquest, and nothyng is aunswered, ner agreed in maner, save abydyng the grete deliberacon that at the last zall spill all to goder, &c.
The Chief Yistice[205.7] hath waited to ben assauted all this sevenyght nyghtly in hes hous, but nothing come as yett, the more pite, &c. On oyr and determiner[205.8] goth in to Kent, and Commissioners my Lord the Duc of York, Bouchier, my mayster,[206.1] that will not come there, de prodicionibus, &c., but Kent praeth hem to hang no men when thei come.
Other tydyngs as yett can I non tell you, save Ulveston is Styward of the Mydill Inne, and Isley of the Inner Inne, be cause thei wold have officz for excuse for dwellyng this tyme from her wyves, &c. Sir T. T.[206.2] lost hes primer at the Tour Hill, and sent his man to seche [fetch (?)] it, and a good felaw wyshed hit in Norffolk, so he wold fetch hit there, &c. Men ween that Norffolk men wer hardier thanne thei be.
God graunte, and at the reverence of God help too that an outas[206.3] and clamour be made upon the Lord Scalez,[206.4] preying hym for well of the cuntre, neyther susteyn ner help hym ner Heydon in no wyse, and that ye crye upon my mayster and yours that he obeye not the syrcorar [certiorari] as yett, as ye may se be hes lettre from my mayster, rudely and in hast be me endited, of which I pray excuse, &c. And pray Blake[206.5] to do Swafham men sey sum what to the matier.
I wote well T. and H.[206.6] wil not come there at this tyme, as it is verily reported, &c. Mitte sapientem, &c. Brayn and I shalbe with you on Saturday nest at evyn, with the grace of Jesu, to whom I be take you. In hast, at London, the ijde day of Januar. By J. Bockyng.
[205.1] [From Fenn, iii. 134.] The evidence on which this letter has been assigned to the year 1451 will be seen in a footnote.
[205.2] This is supplied by the Editor, there being no address in the MS. itself.
[205.3] Alfonso V.
[205.4] Francis Sforza, one of the most able and successful generals of the time. He was a soldier of fortune, of peasant origin, and succeeded to the Duchy of Milan by his marriage with Bianca Maria, natural daughter of Philip Maria, the preceding Duke, whose interests he had at one time opposed as general of a league formed by the Pope and the Venetian and Florentine Republics against the Duchy.
[205.5] Albert, surnamed the Prodigal, brother of the Emperor Frederic III.