John Russe to John Paston

580

JOHN RUSSE TO JOHN PASTON¹

To the right worshypfull sir, my right honourabyll
maister, John Paston, at London.

RIGHT worshipfull sir and my right honorabyll maister,
          I recomaund me to you in the most humble wise.
          And please youre maistir ship to wete that my mais-
tresse hathe dyverse tymes spokyn to me to helpe to purvey a
merchaunt for sum of youre malt; but in good feyth I can
gete no man that wyll geve at the most more than xxijd. for a
quarter, for soo men selle dayli at the moste, and sumtyme
xxd. a combe. My maistresse is right hevy therfor, but I can
not remedy it; if ony good marchaunt were there, after my
sympil conseyt it were good to take hym, for the yeer passith
faste and the [feldes]² be right plesaunt to wards, &c. Sir, at
the reverence of Jesu, laboure the meanys to have peas; for
be my trowth the contynwaunce [of this] trobill shall short the
dayez of my maistresse, and it shall cause you to gret losse,
for serteyn she is in gre[t hevi]nesse as it apperith at . . .
. . . . . . . . ll covertly she consederith the gret
decay of youre lyflode, the gret detts that hange in detours
hands and h . . . . . . . . . . . . . [she
speaket]h not thus to me, but I conceyfe this is cause of here
gret hevynesse; me semyth of ij. hurts the leste is mos[t] .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . well the dayli
contynewyng maleyse of youre insessiabyll enemyes, how they
contryve and seke occacions to . . . . . . . informyd,
more wyll doo every foot of grownd withinne fewe dayez, and
rather to geve it awey for nowght tha[n] . . . . . . it.
Where as they many tymes have meovyd a trety and never it
taketh to noo conclucion, and as they have seyd in youre d .
. . . . . Sir, after my sympyll conseyt it were well
doon to agree to a trety, and be that ye shuld knowe ther
desyre and the uttir . . . . . . . the lond were
dubyll the valwe that it is. Worsestyr shewyth hem presedents
what every maner cost at the fyrst byeng, and ther . . .
. . . . . rekne the bargeyne shuld avayle you foure
tymes mor than it shall; and in thys they be gretly blyndyd;
my maister the parson hathe . . . . to rellesse in serteyn
londs whiche he refus[eth to] doo, but I conseyve, and ye
drawe not to a conclucion thys terme that he wyll be as redy
to rellesse . . . . men, truste ye thys for serteyn; and
soo he [told] me serteynly. He hathe be meovyd to revoke
Maister Roberd Kente and to take the avoket or proctor [that]
Maister Yelwirton hathe. What it myght hurtyn if he soo
dede I knowe not, but they have made gret labour to hym
therfor. He gaf me a gret reb[uke] . . . . the bill
that was put in ayens Elyse Davy and otheris, to whiche I
answeryd hym as me thowght and soo in maner made my
peas, &c. Maister . . . . was here and in presence of
men of the most substance in Jeremuth he be havyd hym to
you wards in full goodly termys, soo God helpe . . . .
and after my conseyt he wyll not be redy to relesse in ony of
the londs. A man of hyse teld me secretly that Maister
Yelwyrton and otheres blamyd hym and seyd . . . . to
hym be cause he was so redy be hym self to agree to trete and
make hyse peas with yow, neyther he seyd to me to trete nor
the contrary nor had but langwage to me as he had to othyr.
I askyd my maister the parson if he undyrstod that Maister
Yelwyrton yaf ony favour to my Lord of Suffolk in Drayton,
and he seyd he supposyd Maister Yelwyrton was not cler of
that mater, but Mayster Jenney was in nowyse pleasyd with
all, &c. Sir, as for the wytnesse that were desyred to be redy
whan nede requirith in thys mater, R. Calle can avertise youre
maistirshyp. Sir, at the reverence of Jesu consedre how many
yeers it is past that my good lord and maister deseasyd and
how lytill is doon for . . . . of the grete substaunce
that he hade it is hevy to remembre; ye sey the defaute is not
in yow after your conseyt, but I can here no . . . . in
that of youre openyon, for thys I knowe for serteyn and it had
pleasyd you to have endyd be the meanys of trety, ye had
ma[de] . . . peas to the gret well of the dede with the
forthe part of the mony that hathe be spent, and as men sey
only of very wylful[nesse of your] owyn person. For the
mercy of God remembre the onstabylnesse of thys wold hou
it is not a menut space in comparyson to ever . . . .
. . . leve wylfullnesse whyche men sey ye occupye to
excessifly. Blyssyd be God ye had a fayre day laste whiche
is noysyd cost yow . . . . to iiij. lords, but a newe
mater anewe cost and many smale growe to a gret summe,
and summe mater on recurabyll, formen seyd . . . . is
lyk to stonden in a perplextif if ye take not a conclucion in
haste, and if it were doo it were hard to have recovery; but
as my [maister] the parson seyd, thys terme they wyll prove
if ye wyll agree to trete, and if ye refuse they all wyll do the
uttirmest. I conseyve well [your] maistirshyp hathe a conseyt
that if a man of good will meove yow or remembre you to
trete, that that man, what soo ever he be, shuld be meovyd be
youre adversaryez to meove you in that mater, and soo in that
it hertyth you gretly that they shuld seke to you for peas.
Be my trowth, sir, there was nor is no man, savyng onys, as
I teld you, Maister Jenney spake to me, that ever I knewe wold
seke or feythefully desyre to have peas with yow, savyng
because of the exspence of the good so onprofitably in the
lawe, and that is the prynsypal cause of meovyng of ther
peas, &c. I wold well God helpe me soo it grevyth me to
here that ye stonde in no favour with jentylmen nor in no
gret awe with the comowns. Ye truste the jury of Suffolk;
remembre what promyse Daubeney hade of the jury and what
it avaylid; it is a dethe to m[e] to remembre in what prosperite
and in what degre ye myght stonde in Norfolk and Suffolk
and ye had peas and were in herts ease, and what worshyp my
maisters your sones and my maistresse youre douters myght
have be preferryd to if ye had be in reste. A day lost in idyll
can never be recoveryd, &c. Sir, I beseke youre maistershyp
for yeve me that I wryte thus boldly and homly to you; me
thynkyth my hert . . . . not be in ease but if I soo
doo, for ther was, nor never shal be, no mater that ever was
soo ner myn herte, that knowy[th God,] whom I beseke for
Hese infenyt mercy preserve you and my maistresse and all
youres from all adversyte and graunt yow . . . . herts
desyre. Wretyn at Jernemuthe the vj. day of may.

                                                        Your contynw[al bedesman]
                                                        and servaunt, JOHN [RUSSE].

     ¹ [From Paston MSS., B.M.] As this letter refers to the Duke of Suffolk’s claim
to the manor of Drayton, the date must be 1465. The original MS. is mutilated to
some extent in both margins.

     ² The tops of the letters f, l, d visible.

MAY 6

1465

MAY 6

1465

MAY 6

1465

MAY 6