But ffor conclusion, as I her seye, he lyepe the wallys, and wente to the dyke, and in to the dyke to the chynne; to whatt entent I can nott telle; some sey, to stele awey, and some thynke he wolde have drownyd hymselffe, and so it is demyd.
No mor, but I ame nott sertayne whether I shall come home in haste or nott.
Wretyn at London, the daye nexte Seynt Bartelmewe,[3.1] anno E. iiijti xviijo. John Paston, K.
[1.1] [From Fenn, ii. 270.]
[1.2] Joan, sister to Henry, Duke of Buckingham, was the second wife of Sir William Knevet, Knight, of Bokenham Castle, in Norfolk.—F.
[1.3] Elizabeth, widow of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.—F.
[1.4] Agnes Paston, grandmother to Sir John, presented Thomas Everard to the Rectory of Oxnead in 1475, and in 1479, she again presented William Barthulmew, so that the Duke of Suffolk either did not attempt to disturb her right; or at least did not succeed, if he endeavoured to do it.—F. It will be seen by No. 935 that before presenting William Barthulmew she presented Dr. Richard Lyncoln.
[2.1] A word at this time, implying a friend, or intimate acquaintance, who really slept in the same bed. See Steevens’ Shakspeare, Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 2.—F.
[2.2] John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, had been for several years a prisoner in the Castle of Hammes, in Picardy. He became a favourite of Henry VII. and died in the reign of Henry VIII.—F.
[3.1] St. Bartholomew’s Day is the 24th August. ‘The day next St. Bartholomew’ should be the 25th, unless the writer meant to say ‘next before.’