_To the right worshypfull sir, my right honourabyll maister, John
Paston, at London._
[Sidenote: 1465 / MAY 6]
Right worshipfull sir and my right honorabyll maister, I recomaund me to
you in the most humble wise. And please youre maistir ship to wete that
my maistresse hathe dyverse tymes spokyn to me to helpe to purvey a
merchaunt for sum of youre malt; but in good feyth I can gete no man
that wyll geve at the most more than xxij_d._ for a quarter, for soo men
selle dayli at the moste, and sumtyme xx_d._ a combe. My maistresse is
right hevy therfor, but I can not remedy it; if ony good marchaunt were
there, after my sympil conseyt it were good to take hym, for the yeer
passith faste and the [feldes][133.2] be right plesaunt to wards, &c.
Sir, at the reverence of Jesu, laboure the meanys to have peas; for be
my trowth the contynwaunce [of this] trobill shall short the dayez of my
maistresse, and it shall cause you to gret losse, for serteyn she is in
gre[t hevi]nesse as it apperith at . . . . . . . . . . . ll covertly she
consederith the gret decay of youre lyflode, the gret detts that hange
in detours hands and h . . . . . . . . . . . . . [she speaket]h not thus
to me, but I conceyfe this is cause of here gret hevynesse; me semyth of
ij. hurts the leste is mos[t] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . well the
dayli contynewyng maleyse of youre insessiabyll enemyes, how they
contryve and seke occacions to . . . . . . . informyd, more wyll doo
every foot of grownd withinne fewe dayez, and rather to geve it awey for
nowght tha[n] . . . . . . it. Where as they many tymes have meovyd a
trety and never it taketh to noo conclucion, and as they have seyd in
youre d . . . . . . Sir, after my sympyll conseyt it were well doon to
agree to a trety, and be that ye shuld knowe ther desyre and the uttir
. . . . . . . the lond were dubyll the valwe that it is. Worsestyr
shewyth hem presedents what every maner cost at the fyrst byeng, and
ther . . . . . . . . rekne the bargeyne shuld avayle you foure tymes mor
than it shall; and in thys they be gretly blyndyd; my maister the parson
hathe . . . . to rellesse in serteyn londs whiche he refus[eth to] doo,
but I conseyve, and ye drawe not to a conclucion thys terme that he wyll
be as redy to rellesse . . . . men, truste ye thys for serteyn; and soo
he [told] me serteynly. He hathe be meovyd to revoke Maister Roberd
Kente and to take the avoket or proctor [that] Maister Yelwirton hathe.
What it myght hurtyn if he soo dede I knowe not, but they have made gret
labour to hym therfor. He gaf me a gret reb[uke] . . . . the bill that
was put in ayens Elyse Davy and otheris, to whiche I answeryd hym as me
thowght and soo in maner made my peas, &c. Maister . . . . was here and
in presence of men of the most substance in Jeremuth he be havyd hym to
you wards in full goodly termys, soo God helpe . . . . and after my
conseyt he wyll not be redy to relesse in ony of the londs. A man of
hyse teld me secretly that Maister Yelwyrton and otheres blamyd hym and
seyd . . . . to hym be cause he was so redy be hym self to agree to
trete and make hyse peas with yow, neyther he seyd to me to trete nor
the contrary nor had but langwage to me as he had to othyr. I askyd my
maister the parson if he undyrstod that Maister Yelwyrton yaf ony favour
to my Lord of Suffolk in Drayton, and he seyd he supposyd Maister
Yelwyrton was not cler of that mater, but Mayster Jenney was in nowyse
pleasyd with all, &c. Sir, as for the wytnesse that were desyred to be
redy whan nede requirith in thys mater, R. Calle can avertise youre
maistirshyp. Sir, at the reverence of Jesu consedre how many yeers it is
past that my good lord and maister deseasyd and how lytill is doon for
. . . . of the grete substaunce that he hade it is hevy to remembre; ye
sey the defaute is not in yow after your conseyt, but I can here no
. . . . in that of youre openyon, for thys I knowe for serteyn and it
had pleasyd you to have endyd be the meanys of trety, ye had ma[de]
. . . peas to the gret well of the dede with the forthe part of the mony
that hathe be spent, and as men sey only of very wylful[nesse of your]
owyn person. For the mercy of God remembre the onstabylnesse of thys
wold hou it is not a menut space in comparyson to ever . . . . . . .
leve wylfullnesse whyche men sey ye occupye to excessifly. Blyssyd be
God ye had a fayre day laste whiche is noysyd cost yow . . . . to iiij.
lords, but a newe mater anewe cost and many smale growe to a gret summe,
and summe mater on recurabyll, formen seyd . . . . is lyk to stonden in
a perplextif if ye take not a conclucion in haste, and if it were doo it
were hard to have recovery; but as my [maister] the parson seyd, thys
terme they wyll prove if ye wyll agree to trete, and if ye refuse they
all wyll do the uttirmest. I conseyve well [your] maistirshyp hathe a
conseyt that if a man of good will meove yow or remembre you to trete,
that that man, what soo ever he be, shuld be meovyd be youre adversaryez
to meove you in that mater, and soo in that it hertyth you gretly that
they shuld seke to you for peas. Be my trowth, sir, there was nor is no
man, savyng onys, as I teld you, Maister Jenney spake to me, that ever I
knewe wold seke or feythefully desyre to have peas with yow, savyng
because of the exspence of the good so onprofitably in the lawe, and
that is the prynsypal cause of meovyng of ther peas, &c. I wold well God
helpe me soo it grevyth me to here that ye stonde in no favour with
jentylmen nor in no gret awe with the comowns. Ye truste the jury of
Suffolk; remembre what promyse Daubeney hade of the jury and what it
avaylid; it is a dethe to m[e] to remembre in what prosperite and in
what degre ye myght stonde in Norfolk and Suffolk and ye had peas and
were in herts ease, and what worship my maisters your sones and my
maistresse youre douters myght have be preferryd to if ye had be in
reste. A day lost in idyll can never be recoveryd, &c. Sir, I beseke
youre maistershyp for yeve me that I wryte thus boldly and homly to you;
me thynkyth my hert . . . . not be in ease but if I soo doo, for ther
was, nor never shal be, no mater that ever was soo ner myn herte, that
knowy[th God,] whom I beseke for Hese infenyt mercy preserve you and my
maistresse and all youres from all adversyte and graunt yow . . . .
herts desyre. Wretyn at Jernemuthe the vj. day of may.
Your contynw[al bedesman]
and servaunt, JOHN [RUSSE].
[Footnote 133.1: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] As this letter refers to
the Duke of Suffolk’s claim to the manor of Drayton, the date must
be 1465. The original MS. is mutilated to some extent in both
margins.]
[Footnote 133.2: The tops of the letters f, l, d visible.]
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