Note 333.1 — THE PASTON LETTERS Henry VI (continued 7)

[From Fenn, iii. 318.] This and the next letter were certainly written on the same day, but the precise year may be questioned. From a comparison of the two together, with William Barker’s letter of the 3rd Nov. following (No. 265), I am inclined to think all three belong to the year 1454, when Sir John Fastolf had just come to settle for the rest of his days in Norfolk. Sir John Fenn, I think rightly, considers this first letter to have been written between jest and earnest; and this tone may be very well explained by the supposition, that on Fastolf’s settlement at Caister, Worcester expected to have had some position of importance assigned to him in his master’s household. That such would be his fortune was probably the expectation of others as well as himself, and apparently John Paston had written to him in the belief that Worcester’s influence with Sir John might occasionally be of value to him.