Sir Marmaduke Constable to Ann, Lady Rokeby

226 Sir Marmaduke Constable¹ to Ann, Lady Rokeby, 17 December [before
        February 1531]         (No. 3, p. 183)

Madam, in my harty wyse I recommend me to you,^a and right so doth
my wife, and we ar very glad that ye be in good health & that I hear
you like so well with Mr Plompton; & I send you your indenture by
this berrer, which hath stayd your son² Newport;^b then I trust ye shall
hear more of him but good toward you, and when your prest at Boyton
had song out all your ten pound, he kepes him still at his cost, and will
kepe a prest sining at Boynton^c as long as he liues, which example ye
began. My coussin Portington,³ as I doth sopose, hath brought your
through⁴ to [. . .]^d Resby church,⁵ to be laid of your husband Rokesby
by this time. And our Lord preserue you long in good health. At
Everingham, this xvij of December.

Your owne asured              Marmaduke Counstable knt^e

Endorsed: To my good Lady Rokesby at Plompton

     ^a Marginal note: 3 letter. To the Lady Rooksby by Sir Mar: Constable fro. Eueringham.

     ^b Marginal note: Son Newport.

     ^c Marginal note: A priest singing at Boynton for his life.

     ^d to repeated.

     ^e Marginal note: Copied the 3 of June 1626.

     ¹ Of Everingham, App. III.

     ² Presumably Thomas Newport, Lady Rokeby?s son by a previous marriage, who sold
the manor to William Strickland in 1549, VCH, Yorks, East Riding, ii, 314.

     ³ A member of the Howdenshire family who held the manor of Speeton, near
Flamborough, VCH, Yorks, East Riding, ii, 102.

     ⁴ Thruff-stone = tombstone, Wright, Dialect Dictionary.

     ⁵ Rusby in Lines was Lady Rokeby?s childhood home.

                                                   LETTER VII.

                      To my good Lady Rokesby at Plompton.

    Madam, in my harty wise I recommend me to you, ad right so
doth my wife ; and we are very glad that ye be in good health, and
that I hear you like so well with Mr. Plompton. And I send you
your Indenture by this berrer, which hath stayd your son, New-
port; then I trust ye shall hear more of him, but good to-
ward you. And when your prest at Boynton had song out all
your ten pound, he kepes him still at his cost, and will kepe a
prest sining at Boynton, as long as he lives, which exsample ye be-
gan.a My coussing Portington,b as zI doth sopose, hath brought
your through ^c to Resby Church, to be laid of your husband
Rokesby by this time. And our Lord preserve you long in your
health. At Everingham, this xvii of December.

                                                              Your own asured,
                                                MARMADUKE COUNSTABLE, kt.^d

   ^a On a stone in Boyntonchurch was this inscription : Hic jacet Thomas Newport
et Elizabot, uxor ejus, filia et heres Joh'is Boynton, filli et heredis Do'i Rob'ti Boyn-
ton milites,qⁱ Thos's obiit xv^o. die November. A?. Dⁱ. M?CCCCXXIII. quorum ani-
mabus propitietur Deus. Amen. On another, Hic jacet Will's Newport, armiger,
qui obiit decimo die mensis Novembris, Anno. Do'. M.CCCCLXXX? cuious air propi-
tietur Deus. (Bointon church 14^th Nov. 1620. Dodsw. MSS. in Bib. Bodl, v.
CLX.)

    ^b In the 24th of Hen. VIII. 1532, Master Thomas Portington paid to the fabrick
of the collegiate church of St. John of Beverley 3d. 6s. for the free rent of three cot-
tages and one oxgang of land in Bentley, then in his tenure. (Scaum's Beverlac, p.
24.) Bentley adjoins Risby in the parish of Rwoley. Portington, from which this
family took their local suraname, is at no great distance in Howdenshire.

    ^c Thruff-stone, a tomb-stone, Sax. thruh. (Brockett's glossary.)

    ^d Sir marmaduke Constable, of Everingham, com. Ebor. kt. in right of his wife
Barbar, daughter and eventually sole heir of JohnSuthill of Everingham, esq. She
died 4 Oct. 32 Hen. VIII. 1543, and he 12 Sept. 1545.