Note 95.1 — THE PASTON LETTERS Henry VI (continued 2)
Reading edition
[From Paston MSS., B.M.] Dr. John Brackley, the writer of this letter, was a Grey Friar of Norwich, of considerable celebrity as a preacher. Several letters of his are found in this collection, written in the years 1459 and 1460. This, however, must be a few years earlier, as in 1459 Brackley writes of William Worcester in very different terms. The handwriting also is not so close as that of his later letters. We cannot, however, carry the date further back than 1455, as it seems that Worcester and Howes were at this time together, which must have been at Caister. Nor will the year 1455 itself suit all the circumstances of the letter, for it is evident that John and William Paston were also together, and as the writer asks John Paston to speak to Yelverton, it may be presumed they were in London. Now, John Paston was certainly not in London within a week after St. John the Baptist’s Day in 1455. We have therefore placed the letter in 1456. It will be observed that, on the 1st of June in that year, John Russe advised Paston to go up to London.
95.2 This address is in William Worcester’s hand. The letter itself is in Brackley’s own.
96.1 See Psalm lxxiii. (or lxxiv.) 23.
96.2 St. John the Baptist’s Day is the 24th June. Feria tertia means Tuesday.