_To my right wurshipfull maister, John Paston._
[Sidenote: 1454 / MARCH 20]
Right wurshipfull and myn especiall good maister, I recomaund me to you
with all service and prayer to my power. And like it you to wete that
how be a full straunge acte is passid agayn me in the Higher House
before the Lords, wherof I send you a copie. Neverthelesse I hope to God
that it shal not passe in the Comon House; but me is be falle the most
sorwfull infortune that ever por man had, standyng in suych case as I
do, for my Lordis the Cardenale and of Oxenford haf imprisoned my wif in
the countour, and how thei shal guyde hir forth, God knoweth. Which
standith to nygh myn hert, if Godds will were; but wel I know that by
thes vengeable malics don to hir and me thei wole [not?] be content,
for Ingham lithe beside that to take awey my wyves doughter out of
Westminster to make an end of my wif if he can, and also to arest my
servauntz, that I drede that she nor I shal haf no creature to attend us
ne help us; and suych malice haf I never herd of herbeforne. And it is
told me that beside that thei wole dispoil, if any good thei can fynde
of myn in Norwich or Norffolk, and imprisone my servauntz there.
Wherfore I lowly beseche your maistership, for our Lords mercy, that ye
vouchsauff to socour theym in this necessite; and if ony entree be made
or shuld be made upon myn wifes place in Norwich, that ye vouchsauff to
socour my servauntz, and do ther inne after your wisdam for Crists love
and seynt charite.
Beside this, a frend and kynnesman of myn, oon Robert Clement of Betele,
hath writen to me that he is arestid, and like to be imprisoned bi a
writte of dette, take agayn hym upon an obligacion of C_li._ [£100] in
which he and I and other wer bounde to my Lorde of Oxenford xiiij. yeer
agone, wherof I haf many acquitaunces. Wherfore I pray your good
maistership to send to the Shirreve that my said kynnesman may ben
easid, and no retourne made ageyn hym, but that he may answer the next
tyme bi attourney; for truly that writte was take oute in the end of the
terme aftir I was arestid, and aftir it was aperid to.
I pray your maistership, for Godds sake, to be not displesid, ne wery to
do for me in these materes of your charite, for I had lever gif the said
Robert suych good, litell if it be, as I haf, than he wer undone for me,
or ony man ellis that ever ded for me. And I hope, if God vouchsaf that
the mater may come to reson, to sauf hym harmles, and all other with
Godds mercy, ever prayng you of your maistership and socour for Godds
love, who ever kepe for his mercy.
Wretyn in Flete, the Wednesday the second weke of Lent.
Mor over, in augmentyng of my sorwe, I wend my wif shuld a dyed sith,
for aftir she was arestid she laboured of hir child, that she is with
all, waityng either to dye or be delyvered, and she hath not gon viij.
weks quykke. What shal be falle Almighti God knoweth, and shull dispose
mercifully.
Aftirward my wif was sum dele easid bi the labour of the Wardeyn of
Flete, for the cursed Cardenale had sent hir to Newgate. God forgif his
sowle. Now she is take to baile til Tuesday. The Cardenale is dede, and
the Kyng is relevid.[306.1]
[Footnote 304.1: [From Fenn, iii. 174.] This letter is without a
signature, and the writer was unknown to Fenn; but a comparison
with the letter which follows (now printed for the first time)
leaves no doubt that it was written by Thomas Denyes, whom we
have already met with as a dependant of the Earl of Oxford
(_see_ Letters 123, 124, and 132). The date is fixed by the
reference to the death of Cardinal Kemp in the postscript.]
[Footnote 306.1: This last sentence must have been added a few
days after the date of the letter, for Cardinal Kemp died on the
22nd of March 1454. Wednesday in the second week of Lent was the
20th March.]
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