For ye will be resonabill, I trust to God, Whech hafe yowe ever in Hys mercyfull kepyng, &c. Be yowr cosyn, Dame Elizabeth Brews,
otherwes schall be called be Godds grace.
[266.1] [From Fenn, ii. 208.] It is clear from internal evidence that this letter was written between the 7th and the 12th of February, and the fact that St. Valentine’s Day (the 14th) fell on Friday, proves the year to have been 1477. Besides which, we have distinct references to the matter further on in the dated correspondence.
[897]
MARGERY BREWS TO JOHN PASTON[267.1]
Unto my ryght welebelovyd Voluntyn, John Paston, Squyer, be this bill delyvered, &c.
1477
FEB.
Ryght reverent and wurschypfull, and my ryght welebeloved Voluntyne, I recomande me unto yowe, ffull hertely desyring to here of yowr welefare, whech I beseche Almyghty God long for to preserve un to Hys plesur, and yowr herts desyre. And yf it please yowe to here of my welefar, I am not in good heele of body, nor of herte, nor schall be tyll I her ffrom yowe;
For there wottys no creature what peyn that I endure,
And for to be deede, I dare it not dyscure [discover].
And my lady my moder hath labored the mater to my ffadur full delygently, but sche can no mor gete then ye knowe of, for the whech God knowyth I am full sory. But yf that ye loffe me, as I tryste verely that ye do, ye will not leffe me therefor; for if that ye hade not halfe the lyvelode that ye hafe, for to do the grettest labur that any woman on lyve myght, I wold not forsake yowe.
And yf ye commande me to kepe me true wherever I go,