[Footnote 138.2: [From Fenn, i. 174.] The only years during the
married life of John and Margaret Paston (except when their
eldest son was a mere child), in which the Sunday preceding
Ascension Day fell some time before the 10th of May, were 1456
and 1459. In the former year the King could not either have been
or have intended to be at Leicester on the 10th of May. In 1459
the Privy Seals show that he was at Northampton on the 14th,
18th, and 19th of May, and it is quite possible he may have been
at Leicester on the 10th. In 1464 Edward IV. was at Leicester in
May, and the Sunday before Ascension Day was the 6th of May; but
it is not probable this letter was written in that year, for two
reasons. In the first place, Margaret Paston could hardly have
hoped for an answer from her husband--who may be presumed to
have been in London--in time to have sent his son to be at
Leicester on the 10th; secondly, Letter 375, which is evidently
of the same year as this, would probably have been signed ‘John
Paston, K.’ (_i.e._ Knight).]
[Footnote 139.1: To be mean, _i.e._ to be a mediator. Fenn has
not apprehended the phrase, which he has modernised ‘to
bemoan.’]
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