John Paston to Sir John Paston

793

JOHN PASTON TO SIR JOHN PASTON¹

. . . . the very valew of Sporlewood passyth not C. mark
of no manys mony that I can spek with, and to be payid by
dayis as the byll that Jwde shall delyv[er] . . . rehers;
and ther ayenst ye shold loose iijli. of the ferme of the maner
yerly, whych standyth by undyr wood; and yet the fense must
stand yow over on xij. mark by the lest wey; but, by God,
and I wer as ye, I wold not sell it for C. mark more then it is
woorthe. Syr John Styll recomandyth hym to your good
mastyrsheppe, and seyth pleynly if ye wyll he wyll com up to
yow and awayte on yow whersoever ye be, coort or othyr. By
Seynt Mary, he is owyng more mony than I wend; for he is
owyng for a twelmonthe and a quarter at thys Crystmas, savyng
for hys boord, xijd. a wek for iij. quarters; and he seythe
pleynly that ye and R. Calle both bad hym syng styll for Syr
John Fastolf as he dyd before; but I have bodyn hym that he
shall get hym a servyse now at thys Crystmas; and so he shall,
withowt that ye send hym othyr wyse woord, or ellys that ye
or I may get hym som benefyse or fre chapell, or som othyr
good servyse whych I praye yow enqwer for.

     Item, and ye werk wysly your mater myght com in with
othyr maters of the lordes in ther apoyntmentes with the Kyng,
but it wold be labord to a porpose this Crystmas whyll ye have
leyser to spek with your mastyr. Item, myn aqweyntans with
the Lord Revers is none othyrwyse but as it hathe ben alweys;
savyng and he go no to Portygall to be at a day upon the
Serasyns, I porpose and have promysyd to be ther with hym;
and that jorney don, as Wykys seythe, farwell he. He por-
posyth to go forward a bowt Lent, but Fortune with hyr
smylyng contenans strange of all our porpose may mak a
sodeyn change. I ensuer yow he thynkyth all the world
gothe on ther syd ayen; and as for my comyng up at the
begynnyng of thys next term, with owt ye send me othyrwyse
woord that I myght do yow som good when I wer com, by my
feyth I com not ther, for it shold put yow to a cost, and me to
a labor and cost bothe; but [if] ye send for me I com streyght,
thow I tery the lesse whyll ther, and so I shall withowt I may
do yow som good. By my feythe I porpose to make up my
byllys clere, and send yow the copyse as hastyly as I can.
Yonge Wyseman othyrwye callyd Foole, told me that Sir W.
Yelverton is abowt to make a bargayne with the Dwches of
Suffolk or with my Lord of Norfolk, whyche he may get fyrst,
for the maner of Gwton. I reseyve all yet, God hold it.

     I praye yow recomand me to my brodyr Molyenewx, and
all othyr good felaws.

                                                                                               J. P.

     ¹ [From Paston MSS., B.M.] This seems to be only a portion of a letter, begin-
ning in the middle of a sentence. Probably it was a second leaf added to a more
lengthy epistle. It is written on one side of a slip of paper and is in the hand of John
Paston the younger. It is endorsed ‘John Paston’ in that of his brother Sir John, to
whom it was doubtless addressed. The date must be towards the end of the year
1471, as it appears by the letter immediately following that Lord Rivers embarked for
Portugal that year on Christmas Eve.

1471

1471