Mastresse Annes, I am prowd that ye can reed Inglyshe; wherfor I prey yow aqweynt yow with thys my lewd [uncouth] hand, for my purpose is that ye shalbe more aqweyntyd with it, or ellys it shalbe ayenst my wyll; but yet, and when ye have red thys byll, I prey yow brenne it or kepe it secret to yoursylff, as my feythefull trust is in yow.
[300.2] [From Fenn, ii. 294.] The Mrs. Anne to whom this letter was addressed seems to have been a Mrs. Anne Haute, to whom Sir John was for a long time engaged. That it was written before the year 1469 will appear probable on referring to Margaret Paston’s letter written on Easter Monday (3rd April) in that year, in which she wishes to know for certain if he be engaged; and we have therefore little difficulty in referring it to the year 1468, when Sir John was over in Flanders at the marriage of the Princess Margaret to Charles of Burgundy. Mrs. Anne appears to have been a lady of English extraction, who was either born abroad or had passed most of her life on the Continent. She was, moreover, related to Lord Scales, and is therefore not unlikely to have been the daughter of one William Haute of Kent, who married at Calais, in 1429, the daughter of a certain Richard Wydeville. (See Excerpta Historica, p. 249.) But she could speak and even read English; and Sir John, who was now returning homewards to England, designed in this letter to open a correspondence with her. He appears, however, not to have despatched it, as the original remained among the papers of the Paston family; or else perhaps it was returned to him on the breaking off of the engagement.
[688]
THOMAS HOWES TO CARDINAL BOURCHIER[302.1]
To my moste honorabyl Lord Cadenall, and Archibushop of Caunterbury.
1468
OCT. 10
Moste reverent and my ryght good Lord, I recomaund me to your gracyous Lordshyp yn my moste humble wyse. Please your Lordshyp to wete that my Lord Norffolk councell hath now late mevyd Sir Wylliam Yelverton, Knyght, and me to be preferryd for to purchasse the maner of Castre, and certeyn other lordshypps that wer my Maystyr Fastolf, whom God pardon, owt excepted the maner of Gunton that yowr Lordshyp desyryth to purchasse, and othyr certeyn maners that my Mastyr Fastolf frendys hafe desyred to be preferryd. And be cause the pretens bargayn that John Paston yn hys lyffe surmytted, bye colour of which he entended to hafe all my Mastyr Fastolf londes in Norffolk and Suffolk for nought, savyng the hygh reverence of your astate, was not juste ne trew; and be cause that I wyth othyr of my Master Fastolf executors may have wher of to dyspospose yn cheryte full dedys to do for hys sowle; I have condescended the rather that my seide Lord of Norffolk shall be preferryd to the purchasse of the seyde maner of Castre, and othyr maners that may be sparyd to th’encresse of hys lyfelode yn thys land; and thys covenantys to be engroced upp wythynne shorth tyme, as by all Halowaunce, in case yowr Lordshyp be agreed and plesyd wyth all; wher uppon I wold beseche yowr nobyll Lordshyp to lete me wete your good plesur and avice yn thys behalfe.
And be cause my seyd Lord Norffolk ys so nere of blode to yowr hyghnesse knyghted, that meevyd me to be the more wyllyng to condescend to the forseyd purchasse, and so trustyng your Lordshyp wold be ryght well pleased wyth alle. Wretyn at Norwich the x. day of Octobyr, anno viij. R. E. iiijti. Yowr pore chapleyn, T. Howys.
[302.1] [From Fenn, iv. 298.]
anno viij. R. E. iiijti.
text has “iiijt” alone, without punctuation: corrected from Fenn