To my ryght worschipful husbond, John Paston.
1484(?)
DEC. 24
Ryght worschipful husbond, I recomaund me onto you. Plese it you to wete that I sent your eldest sunne to my Lady Morlee[78.2] to have knolage wat sports wer husyd in her hows in Kyrstemesse next folloyng aftyr the decysse of my lord, her husbond; and sche seyd that ther wer non dysgysyngs, ner harpyng, ner lutyng, ner syngyn, ner non lowde dysports, but pleyng at the tabyllys, and schesse, and cards. Sweche dysports sche gave her folkys leve to play and non odyr.
Your sunne dede hese heyrne [errand] ryght wele as ye shal her aftyr this. I sent your yonger sunne to the Lady Stabylton,[79.1] and sche seyd acordyng to my Lady Morlees seyng in that, and as sche hadde seyn husyd in places of worschip[79.2] ther as sche hathe beyn.
I pray you that ye woll asur to your some man at Caster to kepe your botry, for the mane that ye lefte with me woll not take upon hym to breve[79.3] dayly as ye commandyt. He seyth he hath not usyd to geve a rekenyng nothyr of bred nor alle [ale] tyll at the wekys end; and he seyth he wot well that he shuld not condenyth [give satisfaction] and therfor I soposse he shall not abyd, and I trow ye shall be fayne to purveye another man for Symond, for ye har never the nerer a wysse man for hym.
I ham sory that ye shall not [be] at hom be for Crystemes. I pray you that ye woll come as sone as ye may. I shall thynke myself halfe a wedow, because ye shal not be at home, &c. God have you in Hys kepyng.
Wretyn on Crestemes Evyn. By yor, M. P.
[78.1] [From Fenn, ii. 330.] Fenn supposes with great probability that this letter was written in 1484, the year of Margaret Paston’s death. No earlier date is possible, seeing that even in 1484 John Paston’s eldest son was only in his seventh year, and he had at the date of this letter two sons capable of being sent on messages; so that, if anything, we should be inclined to put it later. But we know of no later death in the family that could have occasioned the writing of such a letter, and the time of Margaret Paston’s death and of the proving of her will agree very well with Fenn’s hypothesis. From the calendar prefixed to an old MS. missal in the possession of the late Mr. C. W. Reynell, I found that she died on the 4th November 1484. Her will was proved at Norwich on the 18th December following.
[78.2] Widow of William Lovel, Lord Morley, who died the 26th of July 1476.—F.
[79.1] Sir Miles Stapleton died in 1466. His widow Catherine seems to have married in the following year Sir Richard Harcourt of Ellenhale (Blomefield, ix. 321), but, according to a practice not uncommon at that time, she may have retained the name of Lady Stapleton.