_To hys worschepfull mayster, John Paston the Eldest, Esquier._
[Sidenote: 1461 / MAY 10]
Ryght worschepfull and my synguler mayster, I recomaunde me to you. If
it plese your maysterschepe to wete, the cause of my wryghtyng is thys.
I have understande be comunyng with othyr credybell men that many and
the more part of the feffeys of the landys late Sir John Fastolf, and
also thei that pretende to ben executores of the seyd Sir John, purpose
them to sell to my Lord of Suffolk, thow he recuver not be tayle, or to
othyr myghty lordys, a gret part of the landys of the seyd Sir John, to
the entent that ye schal not have them; upon wech sale thei wole make
astate and entre and put you to your accion, and thow ye recuver in the
lawe, as I am enformyd, ye schall recuver of hard and but a part, the
qwech schuld be dere of the sute. Qwer it semyth to me, yt wer
necessarye to you to se remedy for thys mater, and eyther putt it in
award or elles that my Lord of Wa[rwick], the qwech is your good Lord,
may meve that the Kyng, or hym sylf, or my Lord Chawmbyrleyn or sum
othyr wytty me[n], may take a rewle betwexe you and your adversaryes;
for yf ye may not holde the forseyd landys ther schal growe [great]
losse bothe to the dede and to you, and men schal putt you in defawte
therof; your frendys schal be sory. It is [better to] bere a lyttell
losse than a gret rebuke. Your mater hangyth longe in the audyens. Yf ye
hadde ther your entent your ad[versaries should] cese the rather.
I beleve veryly yf ye do your part to have pees, God of Hys gret grace
schal graunte it to you, the q[wech give] you the speryte of wysdam to
gyde you on to Hys pleser. Amen.
We desyre to se your maysterschep in Norffolk; your pr[esens] there be
necessarye.
From Norwych the x. day of May.
Your clerk,
[JOHN] SMYTH.
[Footnote 271.3: [From Paston MSS., B.M.] This letter was
evidently written in the beginning of Edward IV.’s reign; and as
it appears by No. 458 that Paston had already been dispossessed
of Caister, not indeed by the Duke of Suffolk, but by the Duke
of Norfolk, as early as the 5th June 1461, we may presume that
this letter, dated in May, belongs to that year. The margin of
the letter is slightly mutilated, but the words which are lost
are obvious, and have been supplied in brackets.]
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