Paston Letters

“ William Paston was educated at Cambridge, and a letter from him to his father, written about 1495, has been printed among the ‘Paston Letters.’ It shows that at the time he had been forced to leave the university on account of the ravages of the sweating sickness. He was bred to the law, the borough of Yarmouth acknowledging his services on one occasion by giving him a present; but he is chiefly known as a courtier. In 1511 he was a commissioner of array for Norfolk. ”

“ We will make all other men beware by him how they shall disobey our writing. A servant of ours hath made a complaint of him. I cannot think that he hath informed us all truly. Yet not for that we will not suffer him to disobey our writing; but sithence he disobeyeth our writing, we may believe the better his guiding is as we be informed.’208.2
These terrible words were reported to John Paston by his brother Clement, then in London, who urged him to come up from Norfolk in all possible haste, and to be sure that he had some very weighty excuse for having neglected the previous messages. ”

“ But if we go back to an 118 earlier time, the Paston letters afford ample evidence that every man who had property to protect, if not every well-educated woman also, was perfectly well versed in the ordinary forms of legal processes. Sir John Fastolf had a great deal of property to take care of, and consequently had much more occasion to make use of legal phraseology than other people. ”

“ Exceptions have sometimes been taken to the earliest collection of genuine private letters, not official communications written in or inspired by Latin—which we possess in English. "The Paston Letters" have been, from opposite sides, accused of want of literary form and of not giving us interesting enough details in substance. ”

“ The correspondence reveals the Pastons in a great variety of relations to their neighbours, friendly or hostile; and abounds with illustrations of the course of public events, as well as of the manners and morals of the time. Nothing is more remarkable than the habitual acquaintance of educated persons, both men and women, with the law, which was evidently indispensable to persons of substance.
In addition to the editions of the Paston Letters already mentioned, see F. Blomefield and C. Parkin, History of Norfolk (London, 1805–1810) , and the article in Dict. Nat. Biog. ”

“ A weak king surrounded by turbulent nobles was incapable of discharging the duties of government, and only the strong man armed could hope to keep his goods in peace. A lawyer like his father, Paston spent much time in London, leaving his wife to look after his business in Norfolk; and many of the Letters were written by Margaret to her husband, detailing the progress of affairs in the county. It is during the lifetimes of John Paston and his eldest son that the Letters are most numerous and valuable, not only for family matters, but also for the history of England. ”

“ The source from which we learn most of these particulars is a letter of William Lomner to John Paston written when the news was fresh. The writer seems to have been quite overpowered by the tragic character of the event, and declares he had so blurred the writing with tears that he fears it would not be easy to decipher. Indications of genuine human feeling like this are so rare in letters of an early date that we are in danger of attributing to the men of those days a coldness and brutality which were by no means so universal as we are apt to suppose. ”

“ As a formal address it is found frequently in the Paston Letters (15th century) , but used loosely and interchangeable with other styles; thus John, Viscount Beaumont, is addressed alternately as “my worshipful and reverent Lord” (ii. 88, ed. 1904) and as “my right honorabull Lord” (ii. 118) , while John Paston, a plain esquire, is “my right honurabyll maister.” ”

“ In this Index segment of the Paston Letters, unambiguous errors in punctuation and typography have been silently corrected or regularized. Other errors are marked with mouse-hover popups, and are listed again at the end of their entry. The word “invisible” means that there is an appropriately sized blank space, but the letter or punctuation mark itself is missing. ”

“ In point of fact, Sir John Paston, when he wrote these words, had already heard of the landing of Queen Margaret and her son in the west, so that another conflict was certainly impending. His brother John, recovering from his wounds, but smarting severely in pocket from the cost of his surgery, looked forward to it with a sanguine hope that Edward would be defeated. ‘With God’s grace,’ he writes, ‘it shall not be long ere my wrongs and other men’s shall be redressed, for 262 the world was never so like to be ours as it is now. ”

“ We cannot close the record of Sir John Paston’s life without a certain feeling of regret. The very defects of his character give an interest to it which we do not feel in that of his father or of his brother John. He is a careless soldier, who loves adventure, has some influence at court, mortgages his lands, wastes his property, and is always in difficulties. Unsuccessful in love himself, he yet does a good deal of wooing and courting disinterestedly in behalf of a younger brother. ”

“ And I wyse, madam, I am ryght sory that John Paston is no more fortunate then he is in that mater; for, as I undyrstand by your lettyr, my cosyn your husbond wyll geve but an Cli., whyche is no money lyek for syche a joyntore as is desyred of my son, thow hys possybylyte wer ryght easy. But, madam, when I mad that large grant in the maner of Sperham that I have mad to hym and my cosyn your doughter, he told me of an other some that he shold have with hyr then of an Cli. He hathe befor thys be wont to tell me none untrowthe ”

“ The family, indeed, seem at first to have built rather extravagant expectations upon the new turn of affairs, which John Paston felt it necessary to repress in writing to his mother. ‘As for the offices that ye wrote to my brother for and to me, they be for no poor men, but I trust we shall speed of other offices meetly for us, for my master the Earl of Oxford biddeth me ask and have. I trow my brother Sir John shall have the constableship of Norwich Castle, with £20 of fee. ”

“ Sir James Gloys.
But the influence of this spiritual adviser over their mother was by no means agreeable to the two eldest sons. John Paston speaks of him in a letter to his brother as ‘the proud, peevish, and ill-disposed priest to us all,’ and complains grievously of his interference in family affairs. ‘Many quarrels,’ he writes, ‘are picked to get my brother Edmund and me out of her house. We go not to bed unchidden lightly; all that we do is ill done, and all that Sir James and Pecock doth is well done. ”

“ If the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that your browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8) . You may also need to change the default font.
The Gairdner edition of the Paston Letters was printed in six volumes. Each volume is a separate e-text ”

“ Thus John Paston the youngest was sent to be brought up in the family of the Duke of Norfolk; and so 324 common was this practice, so necessary was it esteemed to a young gentleman’s education, that, as we have seen, his father was reproached for keeping his elder brother at home and unemployed. In a new household, and especially in that of a man of rank, it was considered that a youth would learn something of the world, and fit himself best for the place he was to fill in it. ”

“ But the duke must not expect him to show his title to one who tried to oust him by violence. On this point John Paston was resolute. ‘Let my lord of Norwich wit that it is not profitable, nor the common weal of gentlemen, that any gentleman should be compelled by an entry of a lord to show his evidence or title to his land, nor I will not begin that example ne thraldom, of gentlemen nor of other. ”

“ In these days, when the Academicians are no longer regarded as a sacred body, it is hard to realise the commotion that these letters made in art circles, whether professional or amateur. The identity of the 'English Student' was soon discovered, and 'from that moment,' writes Haydon, 'the destiny of my life was changed. ”

“ JOHN PASTON TO ——34.2 1479-80
Sir, I pray yow that ye will send sum chyld to my Lord of Bukingham place, and to the Crown, wich as I conseive is called Gerardes Hall, in Bred Stret, to inquere whedir I have any answer of my letter sent to Caleys, whech ye know off; and that ye will remembre my brotheris ston, so that it myth be mad er I cumm ageyn, and that it be klenly wrowgth. ”

“ Perhaps they might be effectually befriended by their cousin Lomner, who seems to have adhered to Edward, and who had promised them his good offices, if required. But on the whole the Pastons did not look despondingly upon the situation, and rather advised their cousin Lomner not to commit himself too much to the other side, as times might change. ‘I beseech you,’ writes Sir John Paston to his mother, ‘on my behalf to advise him to be well aware of his dealing or language as yet; for the world, I ensure you, is right queasy, as ye shall know within this month. The people here feareth it sore. ”

“ The king and queen went on pilgrimage to Canterbury; and never, it was said, had there been so many pilgrims at a time.266.2 ‘It is the most universal death that ever I wist in England,’ says Sir John Paston; ‘for by my trouth I cannot hear by pilgrims that pass the country that any borough town in England is free from that sickness. God cease it when it pleaseth Him! Wherefore, for God’s sake let my mother take heed to my young brethren, that they be in none place where that sickness is reigning, nor that they disport not with none other young people which resorteth where any sickness is ”

“ Sir John Paston, apparently, had been caught napping as usual, and knew nothing of the transaction. His mother wrote to him in dismay on the 5th June. Young Heydon had already taken possession. ‘We beat the bushes,’ said Margaret Paston, ‘and have the loss and the disworship, and other men have the birds. My lord hath false counsel and simple that adviseth him thereto. And, as it is told me, Guton is like to go the same way in haste. And as for Hellesdon and Drayton, I trow it is there it shall be. ”

“ Cousin Paston, in my most herty wyse I recomaund me unto you, and thank you for many kindnesses of tyme past, and also for that ye have bene so good maister unto my sarvaunt William May, and now at his comyng to me ye have at your greate coste sent him to me dressed in suche wise as is veray necessary for me to have men appareled; for the whiche your kindnesse I think myselfe right muche beholden to do you pleasure and it moght lye in my power, which I wuld right gladly do, as knoweth our Lord, whom I beseche to send you moche harte pleasure. ”

“ If it was so, the prediction was verified before another twelvemonth had passed away.
How matters went during the winter we have very little indication, except that Paston’s friend John Wykes, an officer of the king’s household, A.D. 1465. Feb. 7. writes to Margaret Paston on the 7th February from London, ‘that my master your husband, my mistress your mother, my master Sir John, Mr. William, Mr. 218 Clement, and all their men, were in good health when this letter was written, thanked be Jesu ”

“ Margaret Paston survived her son Sir John five years, and died in 1484, in the reign of Richard III.310.3 In her very interesting will, made two years before her decease, a number of bequests of a religious and charitable kind show how strongly she felt the claims of the poor, the sick, and the needy, as well as those of hospitals, friars, anchoresses, and parish churches. From the bequests she makes to her own family, it appears that not only John Paston, her eldest surviving son, but his brother Edmund also, was by that time married, and had children. ”

“ In some places, indeed, where the contents of a letter are of very little interest, it has been thought sufficient merely to give an abstract instead of a transcript, placing the abstract in what is believed to be its true place in the series chronologically. ”

“ I praye yow sende me worde howe bothe he and Pytte quytte them, by the report off some indyfferent trewe man that was ther, iff they quytte them weell, I wolde love them the better, wherffor the next daye afftr the syte of thys letter, I praye yow wryght ageyn, and sende it by the next passage.
Item, I sende a lytell praty boxe herwith, whyche I wolde that Juddy sholde delyver to the woman that he wetyth off, and praye hyr to take it to the man that she wetyth off; that is to seye, as moche as ye knowe all well i now, but ye maye nott make yow wyse in no wyse. ”

“ And as for ane hors to lede hys gere, me thynke it were best porvaye one atte Camberage, lesse than [unless] ye canne gytte onye carreours from thens to Oxynforth more hastyly; and I mervell that the letters come not to me, and whether I may laye the defaute to the fauder or to the son therof. And I wold Water schuld be copilet with a better than Holler son is, there as he schalbe; howe be it I wold not that he schuld make never the lesse of hym, by cause he is his contre man and neghbour. ”

“ They are not, to any but an excessively "high-browed" and high-flying person, uninteresting: but the chief point about them is their solidity and their satisfaction, in their own straightforward unvarnished way, of the test we started with. When Margaret Paston and the rest write, it is because they have something to say to somebody who cannot be actually spoken to. And that something is said.
ascham
The next body of letters—Ascham's—which seems to call for notice here is of the next century. It has not a few points of appeal, more than one of which concern us very nearly. ”