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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour §tre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. by errata Tied to lent une pelure, faqon d 1 1 z 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 \i' T PASTON LEHERS *< , Paper read before the Hamilton Associatiott, Hamilton, Canada, 1 April igth, 1888, by. ; H. B. WITTON. Member of the Amerloan OrlenUl Society. HAMILTOII: NrKCTATOB PKIHTIMU OOmAMT. iOHH. tf. _ rr** ' , T t- •i,.-i / } . i '«fe ril 1 THE PASTON LETTERS. Scenes Krom Englislri Life During the Wars of tine KOvSes. ( F .ad by H, H. H'ition before the Hamilton Association J if. ■• (I !l These famous papers compri»e the corre- epondence and documonta of the Pastons, a family who lived many yeara in the county of Norfolk, on the eastern coast uf England The sumptuous edition of this work, edited by Gairdner and published in Arber's annotated reprints, contams altogether 1,086 Paston let- ters and papers. They were written between the years 1419 and 15C6, one of the stormiest periods of Engli.^h history. During the inter- vening 86 years, from the first to the last of these letters, some of the most striking events in the life of the English nation took place. England had fi"e sovereigns during these years. Henry V. ruled three years, a third of his whole reign. Henry VI. was king 39 years and Edward "VI. 22 years. Then follow- ed the mere shadow of a reign of Edward V., who was murdered in the tower, and the two years' reign of Richard III., and then 20 of the 24 years during which Henry VII. was king of England. The wars of the Roses — the struggle between the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster— for the English crown, were waged at intervals for nearly half the eighty-six years covered by the Paston letters. Comines, the French chronicler of the times, says the calamities of these wars were chiefly confined to the soldiers who fought in them, and that the campaigns were of short duration, so that including the fourteen or fifteen engagements of the whole struggle, the time of actual warfare was not more than two years, he that as it may, the strife was a deadly one. In it Englishmen caused each other's blood to flow like water. ICighty princes of the blood met a violent death, and half the nobility were swept away by fratricidal hands. The headsmen, with his axe and block, was a grim destroyer more to be dreaded than the warrior with his armor. An act of the first parliament under Edward IV. imposed penalties of treason against Henry the deposed king, Margaret the queen, and their son, and against two dukes, ten earls, and no less than one hundred and thirty knights, priests and esquires. Under acts of attainder passed by parliament, it is said that, including the whole period of the wars of the roses, nearly one-fifth of the land of the king- dom was forfeited to the crown. At tL • time of these wais, some of the great English nobles lived in almost regal state. The power behind the throne was becoming as great, or greater, than that on the throne. The name " king-maker," given to the P^arl of Warwick, shows the dependent power of the king on that of the subject had, in one case at least become a recognized fact. At the dif- ferent English mansions of Warwick thirty thousand people were fed daily ; and when he was in London so great v/as the number of re- tainers and guests at his town house that "six oxen were eaten at a breakfast." He attended parliament with an immense retinue of liveried servants, and it required but a sign for thou- sands of soldiers to rally under his banner. But these ambitious nobles " builded better than they knew." In smiting each other in their fury they dealt deadly blows at the whole feudal system. This was no sir all bless- ing, for the feudalism which augmented the power of the nobles till it menaced the throne, also doomed the toiling masses of Englishmen to be bondmen, almost without hope. Resides the wars of the nobles, England was also distracted in those times by popular out- breaks. The Kontifih uprising, under Cade's leadership, from its proximity to the capital, was the most serious of these revolts. For a time London was in considerable peril, and it took hard fighting to quell the tumult Cade's attack on the city occa^tioned. The character of the Paston letters is domes- tic, not political. Nevertheless they now and again throw vivid gleams of indirect light on what was going on in the great world of politics. Here and there eye-witnesses of, and participants in, famous doings of that age write to members of the Paston family very graphic accounts of what they saw and did. "The collection also contains interesting historical papers that chanced to fall into the hands of the Pastons. The thousand letters show more than 200 correspondents of all ranks and conditions of life, kings and queens, priors and friars, nobles and farmers. But most of the letters are be- tween members of the Paston family and relate chiefly to matters of family interest. Their irBe*s}sJiibi,e', ciiarrn ^ the* Irtebse'y i^^^lietl'c pifCjue the:^,!?!.^^ Tjf Ji^nglijb t^life 'and manners in'tite fifl:eefltK century. ':•'"' ' ' . ' . Before any ijarticiilar letters^ of the collection engage our atjtention, i^ .m'ay 'be \i^ell to learn 1 ) % The Paston Letters. Bomethinf^r more aboi *he PaHton family, and the Homewhat Htrai)^«. viciHHituduH of thoir manuHcriptH, an narraUci by Mr. (Jairdner in hiH intereHtiiif; preface. Robert I'aHton, the head of the Panton family, at the time of CharleH the St^cond, vr&n made, by that monarch, I'^ari of Yarmouth. Ilia Hon had no ma'e ixi^ie and the title be- came extinct. The HBCond Karl of Yarmouth lacked the thrift of the Panton^, and became HO reduced in ctrcuniHtancnH that ho Hold the family papors to Peter Le Neve, a Norfolk antiquary and Norroy king-at-arma In 172'J Le Neve died, leavini; Iuh manuHcripts by v ill to Dr. Tanner, and to Martin— honcHt Tom Martin — of Palgrave, Sulfjlk. Soon after Le Neve died, Mirtin became a wid >wer. In a short time he married Le Nbvc'h wivlow, with whom he lived nearly 40 yearn. Through thin second marriage he became poHseHsed of a Itirgu number of Le Neve'a MSS., left in the poHsea- Bion of tne widuv. Martin, who was paBsionately devoted to antiquarian studies, and said ho could live con- tented on bread and water in order to follow them up, died in 1771. His whole c«llection of antiquarian papers and objects was sold for 1*030 to a Mr. Worth, a cheiniat at Di^-s. Some of the trivial portions of Martin's collection, Worth sold locally ; the printed books he sold at Norwich, and some of the MSS. a ere sold at two auctions in London, in 1773 and 1774. Worth died in 1774. He had not sold the Paston MSS.. which were bought from his executors by John Fenn. Fenn arranged his treasured Paston MSS. with preat care, and pub'ixhed them, both in the original spelling and in a modernized version ; and with fac- similes of the signatures, seals and water- marks of the paper on wliich they were writ- ten. Two volumes were published in 1787, two in 1789, and a posthumous volume wan issued m 1823 by his nephew, Sergeant Frere. Of the two volumes first published, the first editiim was sold in a week, and was highly praised. H.irace Walpole at the time writes : " What antiquary would be answering a letter from a Mviptr coimtess, when he may read one from Eleanor Mowbray, Duchess of Norfolk ? To nie these letters make all others not worth reading." The most competent authorities boar testi- mony to the scrupulous care taken by Fenn m the performance of his work as editor. On the title page Fenn named his book : " Or- ignal letters written during the reiffns of Henry VI., Edward IV. and Richard III., by persons of rank or consequence, containing many curious anecdotes, elucidating public matters, likewise private manners." George III. was much inteiested with the Paston letters, and knighted Fenn early in 1787, the year of their first publication. Gaird- ner says, on being knighted, Fenn " i;here and then presented his majesty with three bound volumes of MSS., which were the originals published in his first two volumes." These bound MSS. were last seen in the hands of fore his death, they have never been found Strange to say, the original MSS. printed by Fenn in the other three volumes also disap- peared. It was singular that none of the original letters could be found. They had been pub- lished at throe different times, and t i ex- traordinary did it seem for all to be lost that an able critic, Herman Merivale, in the Fort- nightly Review, made the complete disaiipe;,"- ance of the original letters a ground for (juec tioning the authenticity of tho entire colUc- tlon. Fortunately all cause to doubt the gen- uineness of these pa|)erH has been removed. At Dnncrnte, Cambridgeshire, in the hou»-e of I'hillip Frere, son of tho Sergeant Frore, who ])ublisht>d Fenn's fifth volume, the originals of that volume were found in 18Hf). Ten years later, in lK7r), tho originals ot Fenn's volumes three and four, with U3 additional unpublished iottors, wer° found at Hnydon hall, Norfolk, the family neat of the Frcr s. Mr. Gairdner exiimined these closely and saw evidences that FenT had g(mo over them all, and had copied H')Tiio of them with his own hand The Paxtons took their rame from the vil- lage of Paston, in Norfolk, near the eastern coast, about twenty miles from Norwich, lilomefield, the county historian, accords them an aristocratic pedigree, but another and less flattering genealogist shows thab the early Pastons might have truthfully sung, as dit.' lieranger, " Je suis vilain et tres vilain." But whatever their lineage, in the rei^n of Henry VI. William Paston was justice of the ccmi- mon pleas, and was called the good j udge. His s(m John was brought up to the law, und became exECUtor for Sir Ji^hn Fastolf, of whom wo shall hear much more in the letters. John Paston married Margaret, daughter and heirosi of John Mauteby, of Alauteby of Nor- folk. Her letters, both in number and import- ance, take first rank in the collection. Margaret Paston was the mother of severa children. The eldest of these nnd the next 8(. i country by sea tnd land during a long life. An old county chron- icle says " ho was called by Henry VIII. his champion ; by the protector Somerset his sol- dier ; by (^ueen Mary her seaman, ard by Elizabeth her father." He died childless, and was succeeded by his nephew. Tho line de- scended through Christopher, SirEdf^iund and Sir Wm. Paston to the Robert Pa^.con already mentioned, who was made Earl of Yarmouth by Charles II. There is no intention to present in this paper a summary of the Paston letters. Thry must be read leisurely and in their original orthog- raphy, for their quaintncss and worth to be appreciated. If, however, we turn over the leaves of Mr. Gairdner's three volumes, and read, though in the most unmethodic manner heie and there a passage, it cannot fail to bring up pleasant reminiscences for such as havQ already feasted at his table, and may • < t • • • The Pastun Letters. 3 whet the api)etite of some who by mischance are unaware of the literary daintioH within their reach. Turning to the time of the tirHt of those letterM, 't will be fnuiid the Hucce.-tH of the Kng- lish under Henry V, in France continued to cauHe exultation in Kri^land. Ai^incourt waa rejoiced over hh the in<>Ht glorious acliiovenient of Knglidh uruiM. Tlio tirHt |)tp<3r in tho I'uh- ton collection detaiU how lluriry V. in hi** Hecond campaign in Knince caused Ti citieH, 31 towuH, abbey H, and Kl caHtlos to Hurrendor to his proweHrt. Bat ihene cou(iuo!4tH in France soon turned to defeats in the following ruign. Henry V'l. wuh alwayn feeble and irresolute, but the ambitious projects which oppresHed and finally destroyed hint were plotted near the throne to which he succeeded when only H of an irresolute kint/, and to main- tain the French coiKpiests of the previous reign, that the dutco in securing for his royal master the hand of u queen as closely allied Ut France, and as resolute ai Margaret was, deserved praiso for his statesman- ship, not punishment for treason, Suffolk was I rdered to leave I'iUgland by May 1, within three months of the date of the in- dictment. The I'astou papers have preserved a letter he addressed, before leaving, to his son. As it is a remarkable letter it may be worth while to give it in full : '* My dear and only well-beloved son— I beseech our Lord in heaven, the Makrr of all the world, to bless you, and to send you ever grace to love Him and to dread Him ; to the which, as far as a father may charge his child, I both charge you and uray you to set all your spirits and wits to do and to know His holy laws and commandments, by the which ye shall, with His great mercy, pass all the great tempests and troubles of this wretched world. And that also, wittingly, ye do nothing for love nor dread of any earthly creature that should displease Him. And there, as any frailty maketh you to fall, beseech His mercy soon to call you to Him again with rei)entauce, satisfaction, and contrition of your neart, nevermore in will to offend him. " Secondly. Mext Him, above all earthly things, to be true liegeman in heart, in will, in thought, in deed, unto the king our iulder most high and dread Sovereign L[>rd, to whom both ye and I be so much bound to ; charging you, as father can and may, rather to die than to be the contrary, or to know anything that were against the welfare or prosperity of hia most royal {ierson, but that as far as your body and life may extend ye live and die to defend it, and to let his highness have knowledge thereof in all the haste ye can. " Thirdly, in the same wise, I charge you, my dear son, always, as ye be bounden by the commandment of God to do, to love, to worship your lady and mother, and also that ye obey always her commandments, and to believe her counsels and advices in all your works, the which dread not shall be best and truest to you. And if any other body would stir you to the contrary, to iiee the coun.sel in any wise, for ye shall find it nought and evil. " Furthermore, as far as father may and can I charge you in any wise to flee the company and counsel of proud men, of covetous men, and of flattering men, the more especially and mightily to withstand them, and not to draw, nor to meddle with them, with all your might and power. And to draw to you and to your company good and virtuous men, and such as be of good conversation, and of truth, and by them shall ye never be deceived, nor repent you of. Moreover, never follow your own wit in no wise, but in all your works of such folks OS I write of above ask your advice and coun- sel ; and doing thus, with the mercy of God, ye shall do right well, and live in right much The Paslon Letters. worHhip, and gretii heart-reHt and eaRo, And I wkll bti to you aH good lord and father Jkn my heart can think. " And lant of all, an heartily and ai lovingly as ever father bleaned hu child on earth, 1 ^ive fou the bleHHiug of our Li>rd and me, which of liH inhnite mercy increase you in all virtue and good living. And ihat your blood may by IliH grace tromkindred to kindred multiply in thiH earth to hiu nervice, in Huch wine that after departing from this wretched world here, ye and they may glorify ilim eternally amongitt Hia angels in heaven. "Written ot my hand •*Tho day of my departing fro this land. " Your true and loving father, "Slkkolk." Gairdner suggests that as an evidence of piety to Uod and loyalty to the king thiu letter will, likely, with most readers, counter- balance the charges against the purity of Suf- folk's intentions. It is certainly a most beautiful letter, and compels sympathy for the writer in spite of the feeling against him we imbibe from .Shakespeare and the hintorians. A letter dated six days after that of the duke to his son is given from Win. Lomner to John Paston describing Suffolk's tragic death. His vessel was captured in the Channel and he was taken on board a ship called Nicholas of the Tower, whose master bade him " Wel- come, traitor." After some time he was taken from the ship to a boat in which was " an axe and a block, and one of the lewdest of the ship bade him lay down his head and he shculd be fair dealt with and die on a sword ; (>nd took a rusty sword and smote off his head with half a dozen strokes, and took away his gown of russet, and his doublet of velvet mailed, and laid his body on the sands of iJover ; and some say his head was set on a pole by it. And the sheriff of Kent doth watch the body and sent hia under-sheriff to the judges to wot what to do, and also to the king what shall be done." Tnere is about this date a letter from Mar- garet Paston to her husband, telling him she hears that the Duke of Suffolk has been reioatated in the king's favor. She also complains "that there have been many of the enemy against Yarmouth and Cromer, and have done much harm ; and the said enemies be so bold that they come up to the laud and play them on Caister sands and in other places as homely as they were English men." Margaret Paston's letters are nearly always pleasant to read ; and she writes a tenth of the whole collection. More than half her epistles are to her husband, letting him know what happens during his absence from home, or asking his advice about some- thing to be done. "The rest are to her two oldest sons. She has the rare faculty of so clearly describing whatever she writes about, that one sees it as a picture The uprising of the "Commons of Kent" und^r Cade's captaincy, took place at Whit- suntide of th3 same month in which Suffolk was murdered. The excitement following his murder likely somewhat precipitated that re- volt. The " complaint of the commons" was, that the elections in Kent for knights of the shire were not free ; that the king's lands in I 'ranee were alienated by traitorous and cor> rupt niinisters who should bo dismiHsed, .nd that the " statute of laborers" should be re- jMjaled. The last named was by no means the lighteHt grievance in the "complaint." The working miuions wlm built the churches, abbeys and castles of the country had long been wont to hold yearly chapters and con- gregations. A few years before Cada's out- break, an act passed p'^''li>i">ent forbidding such gatherings, because they were contrary to the "statute of laborers,' and providing " that they that cause such assemblies to be made, shall be judged as felons, and such as so asxemble shall bo puniuhed by im- prisonment of their bodies, and make tine and ransom at the king's will." The "statute of laborers" these as- semblies ran counter to compelled 'every man or woman, free or bond, within the ago of threescore years who had no land of hia own nor means to live and was not serving any other to serve the employer who ehall re- quire him to do so and only to take the wages which were accustomed to be takan in that neighborhood, two years before the plague." The penalty for the transgression of this statute was imprisonment. The C(iuncil refused to receive from the commcms their " complaint." The result was severe fighting, Cade's occupatiou ot London, cruelties and pillage without stint, and an exhi- bition of the characterititic timidity of the king. Lord Say and his son-in-law, the sheriff of Kent, were massacred at Cade's in- stance. But his cruelty was soon meted back to himself, for his force was routed, he was captured and beheaded, and after the barbar- ous laws of the time his body was drawn through the streets and then quartered and sent to towns wide apart. His head, with the face turned toward Kent, was impaled on Lon- don bridge, which Gairdner says " had dur- ing the year bore 28 such horrid ornaments." What delight Shakespeare takes in portray- ing Cade's character 1 He gives him the merit of brute courage and has made him the most inimitable demagogue in literature. How adroitly he carries out his ends and keeps his following intact by playing on their passion and prejudices. He, their captain, " is brave and vows reformation. There shall be seven half-penny loaves for apenny and he will make it a felony to drink small beer." '* Dost thou use to write thy name or hast thou a mark to thyself like an honest, plain dealing man ?" he asks the clerk of Chatham, and thereby seals the doom of his victim. How fully he justi- fies his designs against Say by charging him with having " traitorously corrupted the youth of this realm by erecting a grammar scnool " and by the culminating charge against him : " and more than that he cau speak French, and therefore he is a traitor." Shakespeare pictures him as a cajoler, and having made ua laugh at his nimble wit, con- cedes him no higher merit — neither patriotism nor humane feeling — but brands him as a trickster who is as cruel as he is cunning. One of the Paston letters gives a minute description of Cade's encampment on Black- heath. Tt was written some time after the re- volt by one Payn, of Sir John Fastolf 's house- r \ The Piislun Letters. i r'^ hold, to John Paaton. Sir T,,hn wuh iload, and from I'liHton, wlm wuh onti of tho hxucii- torn for the Faiitolf UHtat**, I'ayn chiiiiiud in- dotnnity for hiH loHHen ill tho rutmllioii, ^ivin^ particularM an to whut tItUHu wi.-ro, and how they wore incurred. He w.m, he nayM, oidert^d by Sir John to take witli liim a inoimted Ht;r- vant and proceed on horHobuck to Cudo'K camp to hnd out what tho cominoiiH waritud, and to Hpy out their Htrongth. lie Hont the Hervant back with fie iiorHeri, Kainimr entiAnco to tho camp on the plea that hi^ wifeH hrothorR, who wore there, had nent for him. liut Homebody recoKiii/.ed him as onu of KaiitoH'ii men, when he waH Hei/.ed and pro- claimed by a herald, at four partn of the camp, an a npy, and waH led before the captain, where an axe and block were brought to behead him. At the laHt moment Paston'H brother-in-law, who was with Cade and had much intlueuce, appealed to Cade on hia l)ehalf and uaved him on condition that he swore fealty to them. Afterwards he was permitted to k*> home for hiH armor and vra,^ then to return to tho camp. Jle took the news to FaHtolf, who had fortiKed his houde and manned it with old soldiers fr have enclosed six acres. A moat whi';h » rr iiuded it led to a navigable creek by whict. .lie hIx vessels for which he had a license trom the crown could reach tho sea. Tho ruins of Fastolf's castle still remain. The I'aston col- lection contains nujre than liO of Fastolf'i let- ters, besides a number from William Worces- ter, or Botoner — his mother's maiden name, by which he often culled himself —the scholarly seeretary to Sir .John. In addition to the let- ters, we have also given us a curious statement of Sir John's claims on the crown for special serivices, his will— or wills— for he had three drawn up before the disposal of his earthly goods pleased him, and a complete inventory of what his castlo contained at his death, which took place in his eighty-necond year. Besides the public rooms, halls, otHces and chauels, the inventory enumerates 2U chambers. It con- veys a good idea of what c Krunch, thu HHcr<)l»y HxpluiiiuiK that htt had tliti Hanm paHHionutu ro^ard for a f( >d to think kindly of him, too, forbeioKtlie actual kiii^lit who HU^^fertted toShakoHpHarfl hiu FalHtatf, that uni(|u«) combination of wit, im- ])OcunioHity and folly, who han cauHed more laughter in the world than any of the number- leHH characterR that nprnn^^ from the great poot'H fertile inuiginution. If I'alHtutT be the lineal imaginative deHcendant of FuHtolf, an- Ruredly the poet tranHponed the character more than he did the name. One document alone in the l*a.itoa piiiterH proven thin. The real Faatolf on ime occasion lent the Duke of York t'437, taking diamondH and jewelry in pledge for payment, a trauHactiou of which the Shakespearian kni^h'. would never have been guilty. J>ut we know the motif in a work of art leaven the artist much liberty for dotuilH ; and had not Charlen Dickens re- luctantly to confess that Leigh Hunt and his own father were respectively the prototypes of Horace Skimpool and Micawber ? Fastolf died Nov. .'), 145'J. Towards the close of his life his dominant desire had been t<) establish in his castle at Caister a band of six monks and a prior, to pray for the sou's of his relations and for his own soul ; and to arrange an asylum for seven uour men. His will expressed this desire ; and to give it effect, he appointed Parson Howes and •fohn I'aston executors, with power, if they choose, to con- fer with eight other executors, who had no au- thority unless they were asked to assist. Pro- vided John Paston paid to the estate the sum of 4,000 marks, and founded the religious house and home for the poor in accord- ance with the will, the testator bequeathed to Paston liis Caister property — four manors ha had held — and the whole of the lands he had owned in.Norfolk and Suffolk Soon after Fastolf died, Paston became one of the representatives of the county of Norfolk in parliament. He was elected in the interest of the Duke of York. There is a letter to the newly elected member from Friar Biackley, which shows the latter to have been a /.ealous political supporter as well as a warm personal friend. He assures Paston, who is in Lon- don : "You have many good prayers, what of the religious houses, the city and country. May Grod save our good Lord Warwick and his brethren, and preserve them from treason and poison ; for if aught comes to my Lord War- wick but good, farewell ye, farewell I, ana all our friends ! for by the worth of my soul this land were utterly undone, which God forbid." Paston's increased importance soon brought its more than proportionate increase of trouble. His powerful neighbors, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, like Ahab on Naboth's vineyard, soon cast longing looks toward his newly ao- ipiired poHinse({uently invalid, and he might therefore bo dispossessed of them with- out injustice. After the accession of Kilward IV, many estates were confiscated, and though the king turned a deaf ear to Yelverton's suggestion, Piston was by no means out of danger For Slime reasons, he had in«re than once failed to obey summonses given under the privy seal, atid a friend kinclly warns him of ominous threats from the king that another inst'vnce of such disobedience might cost him his head, liut the king was not unfriendly to John Pas- ton, and sanctioned an agreement for the foun- dation of the college at Caister. It was likely at the king's instance the Duke of Norfolk tem()orarily withdrew from Caister. Paston, on his side, gave up to the king the jewels that the Duke of York had pledged to Fastolf. But with all the good-will of the king, the times were big with trouble, and brought forth for Paston his full share. In Norfolk local riots, sometimes attended with loss of life, were of frequent occurrence. Once or twice he narrowly e^caped grave personal in- jury, and his continuous litigation caused him temporary imprisonment three times. It was during that period that most of the remark- able letters of his wife, Margaret Paston, were written to him. In his absence she arranged everything pertaining to the estate : leases, rents, wages, tenants, workmen, crops ; all that concerned these and much more she re- ported to her husband. It was almost im- possible for Paston's enemies to take a step against him without her knowledge, and she added many a shrewd suegestion as to how their ends could be thwarted. Incidentally her letters give the then current prices of most c3mmodities,and they are rightly prized as the best annals of English country life of that time. They must be read at leisure to be fully appreciated. Paston made a brave fight, and held his own well against powerful odds ; bat at length his physical powers gave way, and he died in 1466, hardly six years and six months after Fastolf, and before he had established, beyond doubt, the rightfulness of his claim to the Fastolf estate. One wonders if John Paston, in those litigous years, did not often think of these The Paston LeHers. im- tep she low ally mat the ihat illy 66, olf, bl, bolf ose ese wiirdri hiM inotlior wrote liiin in IiIh youth : " I advine yoii in think once of th« day of yotir fathnr'H cotiiiHul to learn the law, f>>r he it hJH family were Irirdtt of the hoII, holding title domJH in the time of Honry the III. ; hut he wuHiuit ho MiicctHofiil in at once MJlencing tlio((iieMtii>ns iHJHod a^uiiiHt KaHtolf 'ri will. The lotttTH leave no doubt that it wa>i Fiittolf'H intention to found at CaiHter catitle a home for seven priuHtn, und one for Heven indigent men. ijut wiielher the nuncupative will Hou^ht to Ym eHtabliHhod, written in the third |M3rHon, and utfectin^ to atfirm the orally exureM^ud winheH of a tert- tator 82 yoara old, too weak to nina hitt name or to Hpeak b)it in low whiniKUH, really ex- preftHed the will of that teutator might be ditHcult to jud^'e then and in impoHhible to know now. lidi-ideti bein« made under Hiich circuniHtanceH, in the I'anton vorititin of 1''un- tolf'H will one of the witneHHen watt the chief beneficiary ; and a hocond witnoHH, ParHon Thoman itoweH, a(Jrey friar, shortly before hiH deatii,"for the relief of hirt conHcience," said the will wan not what itHhould have bei^n. On the other hand, the ietterH xhow that u,» Fastolf grew old hi.-i nigarl for Paston Htreiigthened,aiid that he became anxiouH above all thingH to have Paston near hnn, when he thought he had not long to live The tentimony of Dr. P>rackIov, the CJrey friar who attended Faxtolf in his last ilhieHH, iH not without weight. On \nn doathbnd Brackley was nhriven by Friar Mowth, who said hit) conduct regarding Fastop's will waa looked on with ar)me HU8picion, when he bo)- emnly utiirmed his conviction of Pu^ton'M integrity, saying : " I denire that you will report after my death that I took it up'in my soul at my dying that that will that John Paston put in to be proved was Sir John Fastolf's will." Several of Brackloy's letters are preserved in the PaKton papers ; tHero is also one of his sermonn, for he was a notable preacher in his day. He wrote vigorous Kng- lish, which by contrast is all the more forcible and quaint from the numerous Latin quota- tions and additions he added to everything he wrote. The eldest son of John Paston was knighted, and was much at court. JIo adhered persist- ently to the contestations of his father, and, more successful than his father had been, he eventually obtained a decision from the Arch- bishop of Canterbury contirming his right to the manor of Caister. VVf^rcester wrote to the widow of John Paston expressing regret that anythiid party had caused misunder- standings between her late husband and him- self, and congratulating her that she would at length occupy the great house built by his old master. But the victory was not final. The displeasure of Warwick against the king grew stronger and, with his connivance, there once more was open revolt in the north. The confusion of the times gave the Duke of Norfolk his opportunity, and he besieged Caister castle in August, 1469, a few days after the king had becomo a tesiporary prisoner in the liands of his own subject, War- wick. On the 2(>th of the following month tlie little garriKon had to Nurrendur ; and the great caitMo wl.ich Fastolf had willed Pawton to found a college in, ami which he denired iihould be ra/.ed to the ground rather than any of the great noblt's should coiKpier, had fallen into the hand.H of the iiioMt powerful duke in eabt- oiii F.iigland.' Hut thn contest for the ownership of Fastolf's cuHtle was not eiidttd yet. The king had not prevented the aggruHsion of the I >uke of Nor- folk at Cairtter, and Sir ilolin's /.eal for his mujonty was on tiiu wano. At '.he same time ho entetiMl into friendly relatitms with the I'liirl ( f Oxford, an ardent Lvncastrian who favort'd the rontoration of Hunry VI., and both he and hi-< brother tlohn fought under Oxford agiiir.Ht lldvvaid ac the battle of Bar- net. Sir John was wounded there in the arm by an arrow. Oue of John Paston's letters infurms his mother of her eldost hou's hurtpnd adds, "advise my cou^in Lyniner to Le well ware of his dealings 'and lunguage as vet, for the world I assure you is right (jueasy." The Duke of Norfolk 'Appears to have evacuated Caister custle during the shurt period of the restoration of Henry VI., but took it again soon after Kdward returned to the throne. Meanwhile to c^rry out Fastolf's wishes respecting the college of priests, so far as he could, Sir iJohn Paston agrted with Bishop Wayntlete, to give up to Magdalen college, Oxford, M the manors loft to John Puston, except Caister and some minor proi)erty, which ho was to recover from the Duke of Norfolk if he could. Apiilicatioii was made to the Po|ie and a dis- punsiilior* wus granted sanctioning their agree- ment. I'idward IV. pardoned the Pastons within a year of the time they took up arms against him, and ho was not opposed to their recovery of Caister custle. The duke, however, turned a deaf ear to all ot Pjston's frienas, and held pos«es!«ion of the castle till his death in Janunry, 1176. In the next May, seven years after the castle had been taken by force, the king's council, lords, judges and sergeants pronounced the Pastons' title gi od, and seals were made out for the olticers of the Duchess of Norfolk to give up possession ta Sir John Paston. The later letters of the Paston collection are as attractive as those of the first volume. The interest of the reader does not Hag, but is quickened, as he re'^ds «)f the care of John Paston's wi(' ' fur her children, and how they marry at; 1 1 •■'••^ given in marii.ige. Pre- liminary matcl labing, in all respectable society, was, in those days conducted by parents and guardians with formalities now confined to royalty, and woe liefel the un- happy wight whose love match dared to over- step them. Such matches were then looked at as much askance as morganatic mar- riages are now. Even good-natured Si' John Piiston, who, as head of the he , "* ^ iMnly taken infinite pains totiod his i<. .>wier John a wife worthy to share the dignity of the Paston fp-nily, became peevish when his brother with- out his intervention sought the hand of Mar- gery Brews, and ill-naturedly wrote : " This uia^ter la driven thus far without my counsel, a The Paston Letters. I pray you make an end without my counsol. li it be well I would bo glad, if it be other- wise it ia pitie. I pray you trouble me uo mure in thiH matter. " Sir John Paaton never married, though he had an engagement which lasted some yeara, with a kinswoman of the queen. The tie was difficult to unloose, though for some time it was irksome to both, and was at last broken. Brave a ' good natured, his pres- ence was welcome at court, and he had, as the letters show, a host of distinguished friends. He cherished some regard for learning, as there is an account of a scribe who for eome time was kept working for him. There is also a list of books, which, beyond doubt, were his, on chivalry and romance. One of these vol- umes is worth special meution. It wus entitled "a boke in preente of the I'leye of the Cheas," a work printed by William Caxton. That old book is prized now, and will be priceless in the tiiaes to come, for it is believed to be the first volume printed in England. It bears the date of March, 1474. Sir John would have liked to possess the books Sir James Gloys left at his death, for Sir James was a learned man and the favorite priest of Sir John's mother. But at first he could not pay for them, and when the choicest were taken, and ho could have had the remainder for twenty shillings ana six pence he was so intent on matters of war, and law, that he wrote his mothci' to retain them, saying " my mind is now not most upon books." The price named for the remnant of the good priest's library looks small. Still we know books at that time were held m high esteem. Even Louis XI. book from the faculty of without first depositing security. Sir John Paxton lacked the resolute will and thrift of his father, and spent money with an open hand. His extravagance forced him to mortgage a part of his oatrimony, and drove his mother to have timber felled, and in other ways to so impoverish the estate, till she said, "it is death for me to think upon it." But with all his defects of character, he com- pels regard, and one hurries through the let- ters to find what will befall him next. He was with the king's army at the concluding of the peace of Pequigny, where crafty Louis XI. did with French gold what he feared to attempt with French arms. Re- serving his soldiers to fight his own fractious nobles, pretending to pay tribute to a suzerain, he bribed an English army not to fight, and made the English king his pensioner. Sir John Paston suffered from ill-health for many months and died in 1476, seven years before the death of his mother. Margaret Paston possessed strong common sense, and was fervently religious. There is hardly a letter from her in these volumes but bears witness to the truth of this. In the depths of her sorrow she sought consolation at the shrine of our Lady of Walsingham, or be- could not borrow a medicine at Paris, valuable plate as fore the Rood of Bromholme, at'the priory, in which she buried her nusband. As she ad- vanced in years she obtained from the Bishop of Norwich a license to have the sacrament in her own chapel. When one of the younger sons expressed a wish to become a priest she besought him to take no orders that were binding till he was four and twenty, that she might be sure his knowledge and character would comport with her own high ideal of a priest, adding : *' I will love him better to be a good secular man than to be a lewd priest." The language of these letters ia so direct and forcible, and is withal ao elastic, that reading them for the first time rarely fails to give a pleasant surpri^ie. At first there is some little difficulty with the spelling of the period, but that ia readily mastered. The orthography in which thef>e epistles were written eives them a peculiar quaintnesa. Indeed, half their charm is gone wnen they are put into a modern garb. They contain but little sentiment, for they were not written in very senvimental times. In those days, we are told, young ladies of good family, and not of very tender years either, were chastised daily, and aometimea twice in one day ; and when a suitor presented himself the question of first importance was, are his lands clear of mortgages ? What little humor they display is patchy, and unseemly, of a coarse texture, and out of keeping with the rest. Traced in sequence the lives of half a dozen men of 6) lead back to the age of the Pastons. The intervening time is short, but change speeds on at such an accelerated pace that there is a great gulf betwixt us. Since their day the forces of nature have been pressed into service, and have raised the standard of human comfort to a level unknown to them. And should it be asked if man can live on bre.ad alone, the answer is that though the shrine of our Lady of Walsingham and the Rood of Bromholme have disappeared, the faith and hope they symbolized still live, and the love of truth and devotion to duty they nurtitixd remain engrafted in the national character still. The genuine optimist will complacently tell all this and much more to the credit of the nineteenth century. Still the idols of one generation are generally found, by that which follows, to have feet of clay, and the stronger light of the future may show the doings of this century to be a tangled skein of eood and evil, much like those of the centur- ies which preceded it. True it is, that the evils of our own days stand out in a clear medium sharply defined, while many a de- formity Heen throuRh the mellow light of four past centuries is barely visible. Admitting all this, would it be a vain wish to hope that, when the antiquarian of the future unearths the letters of our day, the men and women of our times, for bravery, honor and devotion, may be found vvort' to rank with our friends the Pastons. >-^. m mi -V !-'