I grete you wele, and send you Goddis blyssyng and myn. Desyryng you to send me word how that your brother doth. It was told her that he shuld have be ded, which caused many folkis and me bothyn to be right hevy. Also it was told me this day that ye wer hurt be affray that was mad up on you be feles disgysed. Ther fore, in any wyse send me word in hast how your brother doth and ye bothyn; for I shall not ben wele at eas till I know how that ye do. And for Goddis love lete your brother and ye be ware how that ye walken, and with what felesshep ye etyn or drynkyn, and in what place, for it was seid here pleynly that your brothere was poysoned. And this weke was on of Drayton with me and told me that there were diverse of the tenauntis seid that thei wost not what to do if that your brothere came home; and ther was on of the Duk of Suffolkis men by, and bad them not feryn, for his wey shuld be shorted and [i.e. if] he shuld come there. Wherfore, in any wyse be ware of your self, for I can thynk thei geve no fors what to do to be wenged and to put you from your entent, that thei myght have her wyll in Ser John Fastolffis land. Thy[nke][126.2] what gret sor[ow][126.2] it [shu]ld[126.2] be to me and any . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I had lever ye had never know the lond; remembre it was the distruccion of your fadre; trost not mych up on promyses of lordis now a days that ye shuld be the suerer of the favor of there men. For there was a man, and a lordis sone, seid but late, and toke it for an exampill that Sir Robert Harecourt had the good will of the lordis after ther comyng in, and yet within shorte tyme after here men kylled hym in hys owyn place. A mannes deth is litill set by now a days. Therefore be ware of symulacion, for thei wull speke ryht fayr to you that wuld ye ferd [fared] right evyll. The blissid Trynyte have you in his kepyng. Wretyn in gret hast the Saterday next after Sent Andrewe.
Lete this letter be brent whan ye have understond it. Item, I pray you send me iiij. suger lofis, ich of them of iijli., and iiijli. of datis if thei be newe. I send you xs. be the berer hereof; if ye pay more I shall pay it you ageyn whan ye come home. And forgete not to send me word be the berere hereof how ye don; and remembre the bylles and remembrauns for the maner of Gresham that I wrote to your brother for. Be your moder.
[126.1] [Add. MS. 34,889, f. 211.] This letter may be of the year 1471, when it would seem by [No. 791] that the two brothers, Sir John and John, were both together (in London, no doubt) about St. Andrew’s Day. If so, it was written just two days after that letter, on the receipt of unpleasant news, which was evidently false.
[126.2] Mutilated.
[793]
JOHN PASTON TO SIR JOHN PASTON[127.1]
1471
. . . . the very valew of Sporlewood passyth not C. mark of no manys mony that I can spek with, and to be payid by dayis as the byll that Jwde shall delyv[er] . . . rehers; and ther ayenst ye shold loose iijli. of the ferme of the maner yerly, whych standyth by undyr wood; and yet the fense must stand yow over on xij. mark by the lest wey; but, by God, and I wer as ye, I wold not sell it for C. mark more then it is woorthe. Syr John Styll recomandyth hym to your good mastyrsheppe, and seyth pleynly if ye wyll he wyll com up to yow and awayte on yow whersoever ye be, coort or othyr. By Seynt Mary, he is owyng more mony than I wend; for he is owyng for a twelmonthe and a quarter at thys Crystmas, savyng for hys boord, xijd. a wek for iij. quarters; and he seythe pleynly that ye and R. Calle both bad hym syng styll for Syr John Fastolf as he dyd before; but I have bodyn hym that he shall get hym a servyse now at thys Crystmas; and so he shall, withowt that ye send hym othyr wyse woord, or ellys that ye or I may get hym som benefyse or fre chapell, or som othyr good servyse whych I praye yow enqwer for.
Item, and ye werk wysly your mater myght com in with othyr maters of the lordes in ther apoyntmentes with the Kyng, but it wold be labord to a porpose this Crystmas whyll ye have leyser to spek with your mastyr. Item, myn aqweyntans with the Lord Revers is none othyrwyse but as it hathe ben alweys; savyng and he go no to Portygall to be at a day upon the Serasyns, I porpose and have promysyd to be ther with hym; and that jorney don, as Wykys seythe, farwell he. He porposyth to go forward a bowt Lent, but Fortune with hyr smylyng contenans strange of all our porpose may mak a sodeyn change. I ensuer yow he thynkyth all the world gothe on ther syd ayen; and as for my comyng up at the begynnyng of thys next term, with owt ye send me othyrwyse woord that I myght do yow som good when I wer com, by my feyth I com not ther, for it shold put yow to a cost, and me to a labor and cost bothe; but [if] ye send for me I com streyght, thow I tery the lesse whyll ther, and so I shall withowt I may do yow som good. By my feythe I porpose to make up my byllys clere, and send yow the copyse as hastyly as I can. Yonge Wyseman othyrwye callyd Foole, told me that Sir W. Yelverton is abowt to make a bargayne with the Dwches of Suffolk or with my Lord of Norfolk, whyche he may get fyrst, for the maner of Gwton. I reseyve all yet, God hold it.
I praye yow recomand me to my brodyr Molyenewx, and all othyr good felaws. J. P.
[127.1] [From Paston MSS., B.M.] This seems to be only a portion of a letter, beginning in the middle of a sentence. Probably it was a second leaf added to a more lengthy epistle. It is written on one side of a slip of paper and is in the hand of John Paston the younger. It is endorsed ‘John Paston’ in that of his brother Sir John, to whom it was doubtless addressed. The date must be towards the end of the year 1471, as it appears by the letter immediately following that Lord Rivers embarked for Portugal that year on Christmas Eve.