_To oure trusti and welbelovid John Paston, Squier._
_The Duc of Norffolk._
[Sidenote: 1450(?) / OCT. 16]
Right trusti and welbelovid, we grete you well. And forasmoche as oure
unkill of York and we have fully appoynted and agreed of such ij.
persones for to be knightes of shire of Norffolk as oure said unkill and
we thinke convenient and necessarie for the welfare of the said shire,
we therfor pray you, in oure said unkill name and oures bothe, as ye
list to stonde in the favour of oure good Lordshipp, that ye make no
laboure contrarie to oure desire. And God have you in his keping.
Wreten at Bury Seynt Edmondis, the xvj. day of Octobr.
[Footnote 184.1: [Douce MS. 393, f. 92.] This letter and that
which follows clearly refer to the same matter. The time of year
and the part taken by the Duke of York in the election are
circumstances which in themselves create a pretty strong
presumption in favour of the year 1450. And this presumption
almost becomes a certainty, when we observe that the date of
this letter--16th October--was a Friday in that year; for the
meeting of York and Norfolk is stated in the next letter to have
been on a Thursday and Friday, and this letter would doubtless
have been written as soon as a decision had been come to between
the two Lords.]
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