Son, I must prey zow to have a dosseyn men in harnes, with bowys and wepyn convenyent for them, that I may feche my stres ageyn. The schrevys man wasse here wythe me, and [j. of] yowyres, he seyth he ys, and he hatth mad me feythful promes that he wol be wyth me ageyn on Monday, qwerfor I prey zow harttyly, son, and reqwere zow that zowyr men may be wyth me on Monday, as my werry tros ys in zow, qwo sknowyth blyssyd Jesu, Hom haff zow and zowyr in Yss keppyng. Be zowyr trew modyr, Dam Elysabethe Brewysse.
[102.2] [From Paston MSS., B.M.] Fenn dates this letter ‘about 1487.’ It cannot be earlier than June of that year, and may be a few years later. But the date is unimportant. This letter appears to be a holograph. The next is written by a scribe.
[1018]
DAME ELIZABETH BREWS TO SIR JOHN PASTON[103.1]
To my right worshipfull son, Sir John Paston, Knyght, be this delyverd.
1488(?)
Right worshipfull son, I recommaund me unto you and to my lady my doughter your wyfe, and I send you both Cristes blyssyng and myne. And, son, I thank you hertely for my son, William Brews; and I moste pray you for the reverens of Jesu to help hym for your tenauntes and myne, or els John Dynne will owver rewle them. And, son, God thank you, ye helpyd ons Whyte of Metfeld, and so I must beseche you nowe to do, and that it wold pleas you to gyffe credans unto the Priour of the Wyhte Freres, for I have shewed unto hym my mynd; and as ye do, I hold me content.
And, son, we ladys and jentil women in this contrey that is wedows, be sore trobyld with the Bysshop of Chester,[104.1] and haskith of us more than we may pay, and that knowith All myghty Jesu, Who have you in His blyssed kepyng. Be your moder, Dame Elizabeth Brews.
[103.1] [From Paston MSS., B.M.] The date of this letter is nearly as indefinite as that of the last, but it certainly lies between the year 1487, when Sir John Paston was knighted, and 1489, when William Brews died. If the latter part of the letter refers to the levying of a subsidy, in which the Bishop of Chester may have been one of the King’s agents, the date is probably about the end of the year 1488. Sir Thomas Brews, the writer’s husband, died in 1482.
[104.1] The Bishops of Coventry and Lichfield were often called Bishops of Chester before the foundation of the modern Bishopric of Chester by Henry VIII. John Hales or Halse was Bishop of Coventry from 1459 to 1490.