_Amicabili magistro nostro, Johanni Paston, armigero._
[Sidenote: 1461 / JAN. 31]
Ful reverend and worshipful, after all dewe reverence and
recommendacion, your pore Preste besecheth humble it plese your good
maystirship to understande be this simple bylle that on the Friday next
after the Feste of the Conversion of Seynt Poule laste paste I was at
your place at Castre to a tolde yow what answer I hadde of Sir Thomas
Howis, parson of Blofeld; and in as moche as ye wer not at hoom, I tolde
it to my mastras your wyfe; and God thanke her of her jentilnes, she
made me grete cher, and mor over a vysed me to sende yow a bille ther of
to Lundon. This was his answer, whan I had talked to hym as I cowde in
lyke wyse as ye averted me to do. He answered a geyn in these wordes,
‘Nere is my kyrtyl, but nerre [_nearer_] is my smok.’ And this was his
menyng that ye schulde be mor ner us and tender to us than he, and that
ye schulde rather owe us good wyl than he, and that we schulde labour
rather to yowr maystirship than to hym; and also that good that he had
to dispose he had be sette it, and of passel he tolde me he had
delyvered the Abbot of Langele fourescor li., wher of, as he seyd to me,
ye grutched and wer in maner displesed, not withstandyng ye seyd a geyn
to hym ye shulde geve as moche. And he seyd to me ye named the places
wher; and therfor he avysed me to labour effectualy to your good
maystirship, for ye mych [_might_] helpe us[251.1] wele. For he seyd ye
had moche good of the dede to dispose, what of your fader, God blisse
that sowle, what of Berney, and what now of his good Mayster Fastolfe.
And as for Sir John Fastolfe, on hoose soule Jesu have mercy! he seyd to
me ye had of his good four, four, and four mor than he in these same
termes with owte ony summe.
And after all oder talkyngs he tolde me he shulde be with yow at Lundon
hastyly, and that he wolde sey good worde to yow to releve our poor
place. Sir, I beseche bethe not displesed, for truly and I woste to have
your hevy maystership therfor, I had lever it had bene on thoght. And is
this that whan Sir Thomas Howes and ye be saunne at Lundon, we myght be
so in your good grace, that our place myght be broder to Langele, for
that shulde glade us mor than the commission that the Bysshop of Norwich
sente us on Thrusday laste paste to gader the dymes, for that is a
shrewde labour for us, a grete coste and a shrewe juparde.
Over mor that hy and myghty celestial Prince preserve yow body and
sowle, and sende yow coumforte of the Holy Goost wele to performe all
your hertis desir in all your materes to his plesaunce, and your
wurship, and solace to alle your welle wyllers.
Wretyn at Bromholm, on the Saturday next after the Feste of the
Conversion of Seynt Poule laste paste.
From your Preste and Bedeman,