I dar not be know of thys bille, but ye may question and vele of the disposicion of thys maters of otheres, and then I undrstand yff I wryt justlye or no; and ye, as of your mocion for my maister worshyp and profyt, exortyng hym, the stuard, Shypdam, and Spyrlyng to take a labour and a peyn that thys be reformed.
I pray yow, and require yow kepe thys mater to your sylf. Yowr, Botoner.
As for nouveltes none comth,[118.1] but yt ys seyd the sege shall com to Calix. The Erle of Warwyk[118.2] ys yhyt at Caunterbury with the Archbyship,[118.3] and the Erle younger brothere[118.4] maryed to Sir Eadmund Yngylthorp doughter uppon Seynt Marks Day. The Erle of Worcestr[118.5] broght aboute the maryage. The Queen and the Kyng at Herford,[118.6] the Lordes Bokyngham,[118.7] Shrewsbury,[118.8] and otheres ther. And now it ys seyd Herbert[118.9] shall com ynne, and apper at Leycester before the Kyng and the Lordes, hys lyfe graunted and godes, so he make amendys to theym he hath offended. Manye be endyted, som causelese, which makyth Herbert partye streng, and the burgeys and gentlemen aboute Herford wille goo wyth the Kyng wyffe and chylde, but a pease be made or the Kyng part thens, for ell[es] Herbert and hys affinite wille acquyt them, as it ys seyd.
The Erle of Warwyk hath had the folks of Caunterbury and Sandwych before hym, and thanked hem of her gode herts and vytaillyng of Calix, and prayeth hem of contynuaunce.
I sende a bille of the namys endyted to my maister and yow, to see and laugh at theyr Wellsh names descended of old pedegris. Our Lord be with yow.
Wryt hastly at London, the fyrst day of May. Botoner.
[116.1] [From Fenn, iii. 298.] That this letter was written in the year 1457 appears pretty clear from its agreement with the last, in which Botoner speaks of the expediency of getting the accounts of Fastolf’s household audited, and mentions that his master was sending him up to London. A further confirmation of the date may be found in the dates of the Privy Seals of the 35th year of Henry VI., which show that the King was at Hereford during April, though he had removed to Worcester on the 4th of May.
[117.1] The left-hand copy in Fenn reads ‘neide,’ but the modern version ‘never,’ which is clearly the true reading.
[118.1] So in Fenn, but qu. ‘couth.’—See [p. 41].
[118.2] Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.