Plese it zow that the brynggar here of cam to me for xs. viijd. whyche I shuld ow hys fadyr; trew it was at my laste departyng from hym, I owte hym somych, but sertaynly or I cam at Thetfford homewardes, I thowt of concyence he owte to have restoryd me as myche. I had my horsse with hym at lyvery, and amonge alle one of them was putte to gresse and to labur, so that he dyed of a laxe by the wey. I payed for hard mete ever to hym.

Plese it zow to delyver Kateryn vs., wyche I send zow in this bylle. I am not assartaynd how she is purveyde of mony towardes her jornay. Yf her fadyr cowde not acleymed jd. of me, I woold not se her dysporveyd, yf I myght, nor the poreste chyld that is belonggyng to hys loggeyng.

Modyr, my wyffe is boold to send zow a tokyn. I beseche zow pardon alle thyngges not done acordyng to dute. I beseche God send zow the accomplyshment of zour moste and woorchypfull desyers.

At Owby, the Saterday next before Candylmes. Zour umble son and servant, Edmond Paston.

[44.1] [From Paston MSS., B.M.] Fenn dates this letter 1479-80, suggesting that it must have been written very soon after Edmund Paston’s marriage with the widow of William Clippesby, as it seems to imply that he had not yet carried his bride to pay her duty to his mother. I do not, for my part, know the date of this marriage, and I suspect Fenn had no other clue to it than the fact that William Clippesby, the lady’s first husband, died on the 24th September 1479; but I presume his widow was still unmarried when she proved his will on the 18th May 1480 (see Blomefield, xi. 144). I consider, therefore, that the letter must have been written between the years 1481 and 1484, as Margaret Paston died in November of the latter year.

[976]
MONASTERY OF ST. FAITH[45.1]

1481
AUG.

Robertus filius domini Walteri de Mauteby militis insp[ex]sit cartas an[tiquas] . . . . concessas Deo et monasterio Sanctæ Fidis quinque quarteria salis annualis redditus . . e olim . . . . . . quinque wayes percipienda de salinis ma[r]issi de Mauteby secundum mensuram ejusdem [mari]ssi. Quam quidem concessionem prædictus Robertus ratificat . . . . . suum sub sigillo suo quid est[[45.2]]. And this deed sawe John Paston at the seid Seynt Feythes, mense Augusti Anno xxjo Regis E. [Q]uarti. And for this rent a . . the prior and the monkys there shewyd [to th]e seyd John, the same moneth and tyme, thes obitis foloyng tightled in the . . . . . they s[ay]d that they . . . . . whiche wold be knowyn and wachid. So the sayd . . . . the obbites . . . . . . . . . . bi Maltby xij. die mensis Aprilis. Et d’ns d’nii (?) Johannes de Maltb[y].

[45.1] [Add. Charter 17,252, B.M.]

[45.2] Here occurs a representation of a shield in the middle of the text of the MS.