[Sidenote: 1466(?) / NOV. 13 (?)]
I grete you wele and send you Goddis blissyng and myn; letyng you wete
that I send you be the berer herof xl_li._ of Ryall which I have
chevysshed and borwed for you, be cause I wuld not take that was leyd
ought for you at Norwich; for, as I am enformed be Mayster John Smyth,
the Chaunceller, and other that we ben all a cursed that we have thus
mynystred the dedis godes with ought licence or auctorite, and I wene we
spede all the wers there fore. At the reverence of God, gete you a
licens of my Lord of Caunterbery in dyschargyng of my conscyens and
yowris, to mynystre a certeyn summe of iij. or iiij^c marcs, enfourmyng
hym how that your lyffelod hath stond this ij. yer in such trobill that
ye myght right nought have of it, ner yet can take of it with ought ye
shuld hurt your tenauntis, thei have so ben vexid be on trew meanes
before this tymes, And ye have many grete materis on hand and may not
have to bere them ought, ner to save your ryght, withaught ye myght for
a tyme takyn of your faderis godes. And this I hope shall discharge owr
conscyens of that we have mynystred and spend be fore. For we have nomor
to acquite this xl_li._ and bere all other charges but the xlvii_li._
that your unkyll and ye is privy to, that was leyd up at Norwich. I wuld
ye were ware of large theftis and rewardis gevyng, as otheris folkis
avyse you to do, for though ye have nede thei wull not be right redy to
help you of ther owyn; and that ye may understand be that that thei have
taken a wey from you be for this tyme. I wuld not in no wyse ye shuld
put your self in no daunger to hym but as litill as ye may; for if ye
do, it shall be right wele remembred you her after. And be ware how ye
ben bownd in any obligacion to any creature but if it be leyd in
endifferent handis and trosty for yowr part. And remembre to gete the
obligacion that ye mad to the Duchesse of Suffolk; for though it be in
my Lord Chancelleris hande it is jepartows, be cause of perell of deth.
Item, understand wele the poyntis that ben in my cosyn Arblasteris
letter that arn wretyn in yowrs, and purvey redily ther for for your
owyn a vayll. Item, send me home answeris of sueche materis as arn now
sent you bethen (_sic_) mowth and wrytyng at this tyme as hastly as ye
can, or ells it shall hurt yow mor than ye or I can yet understand.
Item, me semyth, if ye shall not comyn home this Crystmesse, or if ye
shuld be at my Lady of Suffolk, it [were[221.1]] necessary to have
Playter there with you if ye shuld engroos any appoyntementis with here
at that tyme. For she is sotill and hath sotill councell with here; and
therfore it were wele do ye shuld have summe with you that shuld be of
your councell. If John Paston be with you at London desire hym to take
hede to yowris materis and in what case thei ben left at your departyng,
that if nede be he may help you to labore for such causes as Wykes shall
telle yow be mowth; and if he be not with yow, and ye wull I shall send
hym to you. Item, spare of[221.2] the xl_li._ as mych as ye may that ye
may perfourme by the mony that the Duchesse of Suffolk shuld have, in
cas that it may not be gadered of the lyvelode. Send home Wykes a sone
as ye can, and how ye will that I do in your materis and lyvelode at
home. God have you in His kepyng. Wretyn the Thursday next Sent Martyn.
Be your Moder.
[Footnote 220.1: [Add. MS. 34,889, f. 99.] This letter was written
before administration had been obtained of John Paston’s will;
presumably therefore in the year in which he died, 1466. It may be
observed, likewise, that in 1467 ‘my lord of Canterbury’ would
probably have been called ‘my lord Cardinal.’]
[Footnote 221.1: Omitted in MS.]
[Footnote 221.2: _of_ repeated in MS.]
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