12 Longleat Pa2'iers, No. 3. 



and domestic letters of so early a date being extremely rare, this 

 specimen may be interesting from the quaintness of the language.] 



" My dere and well be loved sun I ^-ete you well wj^th my hole hert pryncypaly 

 desyring to here gode tythinges of yow and my dowtere yowre wyfe and of my 

 litell dowtere* y^ wyche I prey God to encres to his plesaunce and to yowre hertes 

 most ese And hit lyke yow to here of my weUfare I have ben ryte seke sythen 

 I come fi-o yow I thank God I am well amendede and ji hyt lyke yow to here 

 tythynges of this cuntre y' Kyng will be at Wodestoke atte Seynt Jame tyde and 

 so he Cometh doun to Kenyllyngworth f and to Tutbery odere tythjTiges cannot 

 I tell yow no thes for sothe but be here sey I wold ryte fayne have yow yn y' 

 cuntre and yowre wyfe my do\vtere and hit were ples^-nge to yowe yf hit like 

 you I wyll send aftere my harnes thys wyke that cometh yon and yf there be 

 ony odere tythinges I schaU send you woixle be my man that schall come fro 

 me to you. I wi-yte no more atte y' [this] tyme but god yncrease yow to his 

 plesauns Wryten atte Wytakere % on y' morrow aftere Seynt Swythen day I 

 prey yow be not dysplesede y' I send not aftere yowre brodere for his brodere had 

 y pokkes [small-pox] as sone as they be hole I wyll send for hym 



" Be yowre modere y' Lady Fekeees." 

 " To my dere and wellbelovede sun 



y'' lorde Ferrers." 



Alice Swanton's Petition to Lady Ferrers. 



[A former Lord Ferrers had left xxxiij*. iiij«?. of wages unpaid to 

 his servant, R. Cheyne. Cheyne had in his will bequeathed that 

 sum to the churchwardens of Walsall Church, Co. Stafford, to- 

 wards its repairs. The churchwardens pressing Cheyne''s daughter, 

 Alice Swanton, for payment of the legacy, she applies to Lady 

 Ferrers for it.] 



" Unto my gracious and good Lady. 



" In the most humble wyse and as lowly as I can or may, I recommaunde me 

 unto your good and gracious ladyship Besechyng yow to remembre howgh Robert 

 Cheyne my f adir whos sowle God pardone the whiche was of olde tyme servannt and 

 bedeman unto the worshipful! lord my lord f adir unto my lord late youre husbonde 

 whos sowles god have in his blessed kepyng And for asmoche that my lorde 

 your lordes fadirs fadir owid unto my fadir for his services xxxiij*. iiij«?. the 

 whiche money was assigned unto the behove of the Chirch werk of Walsale in 



• This would be Anne, the heiress, who carried the title of Ferrers by marriage to the Devereux 

 family. "My little daughter," according to the French usage "mape(iJe tille," seems a more 

 appropriate phrase than the one now in use—" pran^Z-daughter." 



t KenUworth Castle at this time belonged to the Crown, and was occasionally visited by Henry VI., 

 in whose reign this letter was written. One of the scenes in Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI. lies there. 

 i Whitacre, Co. Warwick, near Drayton. 



