[241.2] Thomas, Lord Roos. He fled to Scotland with Margaret of Anjou after the battle of Towton in 1461, and was beheaded at Newcastle after the battle of Hexham in 1464.

[242.1] The Lords of the Duke of York’s party.

[426]
FRIAR BRACKLEY TO JOHN PASTON[242.2]

To the rite worshipful esqwyr, John Paston, be this presentid.

Jesus, Maria, Johannes Baptista. Franciscus, cum Sanctis omnibus, assistant vobis vestris in laboribus. Amen.

1460
OCT. 24

Worschipful and most interely bitrustid mayster and specyal frend, after dute of al lowly recomendacyon, ze schal conceyve that I certefye zow for trewthe. I comonyd late with a worschipful and a wele namyd, a good thrifty man of this cuntre, whiche told me in secrete wyse that he herd Doctor Aleyn seyn after the Parlement of Covintre[242.3] that yf the Lords that tyme reynyng and now discessid myte haf standyn in governans, that Fortesku the justise, Doctor Moreton, Jon Heydon, Thorp and he, schuld be made for evir; and yf it turnyd to contrary wyse, it schuld growe to her fynal confusyon and uttyr destruccyon; for why, the parlyows [perilous] writing and the myschevous inditing was ymaginid, contrivid, and utterly concludid by her most vengeable labour, &c., and her most malicyows conspiracye ayens the innocent lords, knytis, gentilis, and comonys, and alle her issu perpetuel, &c. And as I wrote last to zour maysterschip the text of Jeremias cº 8º Vere mendacium operatus est stilus mendax scribarum; it folwith in the same place, Confusi sunt sapientes, perterriti et capti sunt; verbum Domini projecerunt, et sapientia nulla est in eis. Propterea dabo mulieres eorum exteris; agros eorum hæredibus alienis, &c. I wolde myn Lord Chaunceler and my specyal Lord Erl, utinam Duke, of Warwyk, with al her trewe affinyte, schuld remembre this text, which is Holy Scripture, &c., as I wold do by for the Kyng and hise Lords at the Cros;[243.1] for the principil of this text hath be contynued in dayly experiens sithe bifore the Parlement of Bury;[243.2] but the conclusyon of this text came never zet to experiens, and that is gret rewthe. Consideret discretio vestra singulorum annorum curricula, et percipietis tunc perplurima exempla de dominorum fidelium atque communium morte satis injuriosa multiformiter lamentanda discurrendo per singula. Ex paucis scit discretio vestra perpendere plura, &c. Et ubi ego semel in ecclesia Pauli palam prædicavi hunc textum, Non credas inimico tuo in æternum (Ecc. 12º), et quidam hujus regni doctor et episcopus, utinam non indignus, asseruit eundem textum Scripturæ Sacræ non incorporatum, quid doctor Nicholaus de Lira super eundem textum dicit, contra audietis, Non credas, &c., id est, Nunquam credas ei quem probasti inimicum, &c. Sequitur in textu:—Sicut æramentum æruginat malicia illius, id est, rubiginem odii servat interius, licet contrarium ostendatur exterius. Ideo in textu sequitur:—Etsi humiliatus vadat corvus [curvus], tibi magnam reverenciam exhibendo, affirma, abice [abjice] animum tuum ab illo, nullo modo credendo ei, et custodi te ab illo. Non statuas illum penes te (id est, ipsum tibi familiarem exhibendo); ne conversus stet in loco suo [should be tuo] te supplantando; et in novissimo agnoscas verba mea esse vera, sed nimis tarde. Sequitur: Quis miserebitur incantatori a serpente percusso, &c.; et qui comitatur cum viro iniquo et obvolutus est in peccatis ejus? Una hora tecum permanebit; si autem declinaveris non supportabit. In labiis suis indulcat inimicus, et in corde suo insidiatur, ut subvertat te in foveam. In oculis suis lacrimatur inimicus, et si invenerit tempus non saciabitur sanguine. Si incurrerint tibi mala [invenies] eum illic priorem, &c. In finem rogo, videte textum et postillatores super eodem, ex quibus potestis plane considerare episcopum modernum aliquando Scripturam Sacram ignorare, &c. Utinam dominorum fidelium provida discrecio amicorum dileccionem sapienter sic pensaret quod inimicorum dileccionem nequaquam sic amaret, ut inimicis mortalibus confidenciam exhiberet; quare ut prius sic replico Jesu Sirach sanum et salubre consilium, Non credas inimico tuo in æternum. Sapienti, non insipienti scribo. Plura habeo vestræ reverentiæ scribere quæ jam non expedit calamo commendare. Uxor Johannis Berney de Redham jam infra triduum peperit filium, &c. Magistra mea uxor vestra sana est cum filiis vestris et filiabus ac tota familia. Conventus noster inter cæteros habet statum vestrum specialissime recommendatum in missis ac orationibus, consuetisque suffragiis; et cum jam sitis in parliamento præsenti pro milite electo, uti vobis consulo verbis Pauli Apostoli, Labora sicut bonus miles Jesu Christi;[244.1] et alibi, Job utendo verbis, Militia super terram est vita hominis (Job 7). Viriliter igitur agite et confortetur cor vestrum quia speratis in Domino (in Psalmo).[244.2] Quis, inquit Sapiens, speravit in Domino et confusus est, et permansit in mandatis Dei et derelictus est?[244.3] quasi diceret, nullus.

Ex Norwico feria sexta post festum Sancti Lucæ Evangelistæ. [Not Signed.]

[242.2] [From Fenn, iii. 386.] This letter was clearly written after the battle of Northampton in 1460, by which the state of parties at the Parliament of Coventry in 1459 was exactly reversed.

With regard to this and other letters of Dr. Brackley, the original editor, Sir John Fenn, has expressed a misgiving that he may in some instances have misread the contractions used in the Latin words. This was certainly the case in the present letter, in which misreadings have been corrected, and some passages supplied from the MS.