1467(?)
JAN. 29
My right especiall good mayster, I recomand me to yow, thankyng you right hertely of your gentell letter late send to me. And as to Pynchester mater, &c., I wulde I were youre nygh kynnesman, yef hit plesed God, and than shuld I know yef hit shuld greve your herte asmeche as hit dothe other of my kynne and frendes to see me thus cowardly hurte and maimed[267.2] by Pynchester, causeles; and of myn entente in that mater, Wylliam Rabbes shall telle you more. All so I beseche yow to recomand me to my Lordes good grace, as to hym whom of erthely estates, next my dewte, I moste love and drede, and that shuld he well knowe and hit lay in my power, praying you hertely to declare his Lordship such mater as Wylliam Rabbes shall enfourme yow, and to send me my Lordes answere.
All so in asmoche as I understode by yow that money shuld cause you conclusion in your mater this next terme, and ye wull be at London on Monday at nyght or Tewsday by none, I truste that I have studyed such a mene that, up on surete as ye may make, to gete yow an Cli. or CC. mark to be lante un to yow for an halfe yere, with oute any chevysshaunce or losse of good by yow, as Wylliam Rabbes shall telle you more, &c.
And as to Ovyde ‘De Arte Amandi,’ I shall send hym you this next weke, for I have hyt not now redy; but me thenkeyth Ovide ‘De Remedio’ were more mete for yow, but yef [unless] ye purposid to falle hastely in my Lady Anne P.[268.1] lappe, as white as whales bon, &c. Ye be the best cheser of a gentell woman that I knowe, &c. And I pray you to recomaunde me to my Lord of Oxford,[268.2] and to my goods Maysters Nedeham, Richemond, Chyppenham, Stavely, Bloxham, Stuard, and Ingulton in speciall, and all other good masters and frendes in generall, &c. And, sir, Maystres Gaydade recomand me [? her] to yow and said bessyng fare for charite, and she said me she wuld fayne have a new felet, &c.
Wreten at London, this xxix. day in Janyver. With herte and servyse your, T. D.[268.3]
[267.1] [From Fenn, iv. 172.] The precise date of this letter is by no means certain. Fenn dates it merely between 1463 and 1469; but if it be ‘my Lady of Oxford,’ and not ‘my Lord,’ who is spoken of near the end (see page 268, footnote 2), it may be many years later. The Earl of Oxford was committed to the Tower in the latter part of the year 1468. In 1470 he took part in the brief restoration of Henry VI., and on the return of Edward IV. he was obliged to quit the country. If the Earl, therefore, is alluded to as living in England, the date cannot well be later than 1468. Probably it is about the year 1467. In that year the 29th January fell on a Thursday, which would allow a reasonable time for the writer to suggest to Sir John Paston the expediency of his being in London on Monday or Tuesday following.
[267.2] The words ‘and maimed’ are inserted from the right-hand copy in Fenn. They are not in the left-hand copy, having been overlooked, apparently, by the transcriber.
[268.1] Who my Lady Anne P. was I cannot tell. The expression ‘as white as whale’s bone’ is rather a strange one.
[268.2] The modern version in Fenn reads ‘my Lady of Oxford,’ but ‘my Lord of Oxford’ is right.
[268.3] Fenn says this subscription is explained by ‘T. Daverse’ being written under the direction, as he believes, in the hand of the receiver.