_To the rite worshipful esqwyr, John Paston, be this presentid._
_Jesus, Maria, Johannes Baptista. Franciscus, cum Sanctis omnibus,
assistant vobis vestris in laboribus. Amen._
[Sidenote: 1460 / OCT. 24]
Worschipful and most interely bitrustid mayster and specyal frend, after
dute of al lowly recomendacyon, ze schal conceyve that I certefye zow
for trewthe. I comonyd late with a worschipful and a wele namyd, a good
thrifty man of this cuntre, whiche told me in secrete wyse that he herd
Doctor Aleyn seyn after the Parlement of Covintre[242.3] that yf the
Lords that tyme reynyng and now discessid myte haf standyn in governans,
that Fortesku the justise, Doctor Moreton, Jon Heydon, Thorp and he,
schuld be made for evir; and yf it turnyd to contrary wyse, it schuld
growe to her fynal confusyon and uttyr destruccyon; for why, the
parlyows [_perilous_] writing and the myschevous inditing was ymaginid,
contrivid, and utterly concludid by her most vengeable labour, &c., and
her most malicyows conspiracye ayens the innocent lords, knytis,
gentilis, and comonys, and alle her issu perpetuel, &c. And as I wrote
last to zour maysterschip the text of Jeremias cº 8º _Vere mendacium
operatus est stilus mendax scribarum_; it folwith in the same place,
_Confusi sunt sapientes, perterriti et capti sunt; verbum Domini
projecerunt, et sapientia nulla est in eis. Propterea dabo mulieres
eorum exteris; agros eorum hæredibus alienis, &c._ I wolde myn Lord
Chaunceler and my specyal Lord Erl, utinam Duke, of Warwyk, with al her
trewe affinyte, schuld remembre this text, which is Holy Scripture, &c.,
as I wold do by for the Kyng and hise Lords at the Cros;[243.1] for the
principil of this text hath be contynued in dayly experiens sithe bifore
the Parlement of Bury;[243.2] but the conclusyon of this text came never
zet to experiens, and that is gret rewthe. Consideret discretio vestra
singulorum annorum curricula, et percipietis tunc perplurima exempla de
dominorum fidelium atque communium morte satis injuriosa multiformiter
lamentanda discurrendo per singula. Ex paucis scit discretio vestra
perpendere plura, &c. Et ubi ego semel in ecclesia Pauli palam prædicavi
hunc textum, _Non credas inimico tuo in æternum_ (Ecc. 12º), et quidam
hujus regni doctor et episcopus, utinam non indignus, asseruit eundem
textum Scripturæ Sacræ non incorporatum, quid doctor Nicholaus de Lira
super eundem textum dicit, contra audietis, _Non credas, &c._, id est,
Nunquam credas ei quem probasti inimicum, &c. Sequitur in textu:--_Sicut
æramentum æruginat malicia illius_, id est, rubiginem odii servat
interius, licet contrarium ostendatur exterius. Ideo in textu
sequitur:--_Etsi humiliatus vadat corvus_ [_curvus_], tibi magnam
reverenciam exhibendo, _affirma, abice_ [_abjice_] _animum tuum ab illo,
nullo modo credendo ei, et custodi te ab illo. Non statuas illum penes
te_ (id est, ipsum tibi familiarem exhibendo); _ne conversus stet in
loco suo_ [should be _tuo_] te supplantando; _et in novissimo agnoscas
verba mea esse vera_, sed nimis tarde. Sequitur: _Quis miserebitur
incantatori a serpente percusso_, &c.; et qui comitatur cum viro iniquo
et obvolutus est in peccatis ejus? _Una hora tecum permanebit; si autem
declinaveris non supportabit. In labiis suis indulcat inimicus, et in
corde suo insidiatur, ut subvertat te in foveam. In oculis suis
lacrimatur inimicus, et si invenerit tempus non saciabitur sanguine. Si
incurrerint tibi mala [invenies] eum illic priorem_, &c. In finem rogo,
videte textum et postillatores super eodem, ex quibus potestis plane
considerare episcopum modernum aliquando Scripturam Sacram ignorare, &c.
Utinam dominorum fidelium provida discrecio amicorum dileccionem
sapienter sic pensaret quod inimicorum dileccionem nequaquam sic amaret,
ut inimicis mortalibus confidenciam exhiberet; quare ut prius sic
replico Jesu Sirach sanum et salubre consilium, _Non credas inimico tuo
in æternum_. Sapienti, non insipienti scribo. Plura habeo vestræ
reverentiæ scribere quæ jam non expedit calamo commendare. Uxor Johannis
Berney de Redham jam infra triduum peperit filium, &c. Magistra mea uxor
vestra sana est cum filiis vestris et filiabus ac tota familia.
Conventus noster inter cæteros habet statum vestrum specialissime
recommendatum in missis ac orationibus, consuetisque suffragiis; et cum
jam sitis in parliamento præsenti pro milite electo, uti vobis consulo
verbis Pauli Apostoli, _Labora sicut bonus miles Jesu Christi_;[244.1]
et alibi, Job utendo verbis, _Militia super terram est vita hominis_
(Job 7). _Viriliter igitur agite et confortetur cor vestrum quia
speratis in Domino_ (in Psalmo).[244.2] _Quis_, inquit Sapiens,
_speravit in Domino et confusus est, et permansit in mandatis Dei et
derelictus est?_[244.3] quasi diceret, nullus.
Ex Norwico feria sexta post festum Sancti Lucæ Evangelistæ.
[_Not Signed._]
[Footnote 242.2: [From Fenn, iii. 386.] This letter was clearly
written after the battle of Northampton in 1460, by which the
state of parties at the Parliament of Coventry in 1459 was
exactly reversed.
With regard to this and other letters of Dr. Brackley, the
original editor, Sir John Fenn, has expressed a misgiving that
he may in some instances have misread the contractions used in
the Latin words. This was certainly the case in the present
letter, in which misreadings have been corrected, and some
passages supplied from the MS.]
[Footnote 242.3: Held in December 1459.]
[Footnote 243.1: Paul’s Cross.]
[Footnote 243.2: In 1447.]
[Footnote 244.1: 2 Tim. ii. 3.]
[Footnote 244.2: Psalm xxx. (xxxi.) 24.]
[Footnote 244.3: Eccles. ii. 11, 12 (v. 10 of our English
version).]
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