_To my rygte reverent and worchepfull fadyr, John Paston, dwellyng in
Castyr, be thys delyveryd._
[Sidenote: 1464 / MARCH 1]
Ryth reverent and worchepfull fadyr, I recomand me on to yow, besechyng
yow lowly of your blyssyng, desyryng to here of yowyr wellfar and
prosperyte, the whyche I pray God preserve on to Hys plesans, and to
yowyr hertys desyir; besechyng yow to have me excusyd that ye had no
wrytyng fro me syth that I departyd frome yow; for so God me helpe,
I send yow a lettyr to London anon aftyr Kandylmas, by a man of my
Lordys; and he forgat to delyver yt to yow, and so he browt to me the
lettyr ayen; and sythe that tyme I kowd get no messenger tyll now.
As for tydyngs, syche as we have here I send yow. My Lord and my
Lady[96.1] ar in good hele, blyssyd be God, and my Lord hathe gret
labore and cost here in Walys for to take dyvers gentyllmen here whyche
wer consentyng and helpyng on to the Duke of Somersettys goyng; and they
were apelyd of othyr se[r]teyn poyntys of treson, and thys mater. And
bycause the Kyng sent my Lord woord to keep thys contre, is cause that
my Lord terythe here thus longe. And now the Kyng hathe geve my Lord
power, whedyr he wole do execusyon upon thes gentyllmen, or pardon hem,
whedyr that hym lyst; and as fertheforthe as I kan undyrstand yet, they
shall have grase. And as sone as thes men be come in, my Lord is
perposyd to come to London, whyche I supose schall be within thys
fortnyght. The menys namys that be apechyd ar thes, John Hanmer, and
Wylliam hys sone, Roger Pulyston, and Edward of Madok; these be men of
worchepe that schall come in.
The Comenys in Lancasher and Chescher wer up to the nombyr of a x. m^l.
[10,000] or more, but now they be downe ayen; and one or ij. of hem was
hedyd in Chestyr as on Saterday last past.
Thomas Danyell[96.2] is here in Chesscher, but I wot not in what plase,
he hathe sent iij. or iiij. letyrys to Syr John Howard, syne my Lord
come hedyr.
And othyr tydynggs her we none here, but that I supose ye have herd
before; I supose veryly that it schall be so nye Esterne[96.3] er ever
my Lord come to London, that I schal not move [q. _mowe_? _i.e._ be
able] come home to yow before Estern; wherfor I besech yow, that ye wole
wyche save [_vouchsafe_] that one of your men may send a byll to myne
oncyll Clement, or to som othyr man, who that ye wole, in youyr name,
that they may delyver me the mony that I am behynd of this quarter syn
Crystmas, and for the next quarter, in parte of that some that it plesid
yow to grant me by yer; for by my trowthe, the felawchep have not so
myche mony as we wend to have had be ryth myche; for my Lord hath had
gret costs syn he came hedyr. Wherfore I besech yow, that I may have
this mony at Estern, for I have borowyd mony that I must paye ayen after
Estern: and I pray to Allmyty God have yow in kepyng.
Wretyn in the Castyll of the Holte, in Walys, the fyrst day of Marche.
Your sone and lowly servant,
JOHN PASTON, the yongest.
[Footnote 95.3: [From Fenn, i. 284.] ‘The Duke of Somerset’s
going’ here referred to cannot well be his flight to Scotland in
1462 (_see_ No. 512), though the time of year at which this letter
is dated would agree very well with that supposition; for it
appears by Letter 511 that John Paston, the father, was at that
time residing in the Temple and not at Caister; nor indeed have we
distinct evidence of his being at the latter place before 1464.
Moreover, in the beginning of 1463, Somerset had just made his
peace with King Edward and been received into favour, but early in
1464 he rebelled again. There can be little doubt, therefore, that
this year is the true date.]
[Footnote 96.1: John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Elizabeth, his
wife.]
[Footnote 96.2: This gentleman had a reversionary grant of the
constableship of Rising Castle in 1448, 27 Hen. VI. He married
Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Howard, and sister of Sir John,
afterwards Duke of Norfolk. He is said to have been attainted in
the 1 Edw. IV., but fully restored both in blood and possessions
in the 14th of the same King. He was esquire of the body to Henry
VI.--F.]
[Footnote 96.3: In 1464 Easter Day fell on the 1st of April.]
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