[Footnote 333.1: [From Fenn, iii. 318.] This and the next letter
were certainly written on the same day, but the precise year may
be questioned. From a comparison of the two together, with
William Barker’s letter of the 3rd Nov. following (No. 265),
I am inclined to think all three belong to the year 1454, when
Sir John Fastolf had just come to settle for the rest of his
days in Norfolk. Sir John Fenn, I think rightly, considers this
first letter to have been written between jest and earnest; and
this tone may be very well explained by the supposition, that on
Fastolf’s settlement at Caister, Worcester expected to have had
some position of importance assigned to him in his master’s
household. That such would be his fortune was probably the
expectation of others as well as himself, and apparently John
Paston had written to him in the belief that Worcester’s
influence with Sir John might occasionally be of value to him.]
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