The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1897-06-19
SHOPPING LONG AGO.
SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION IN
1.-THE PASSION LETTERS"

Commissions Which Wives Gave to Their
Husbands In the Fifteenth Century Have
a Craia: appearance In This Age-Dane
PASTOR as a Housewife.
In the spring Of 1440 Dame Agnes
PASTOR wrote to her right worship
full and dear husband in haste, the
Wednesday next after"Deus qui errantl-
bus ftkc collect Ter the third Sunday
after Easter. Having commended the
gracious mien of the young gentleWom-
un Ter son PROPOSES to marry, she says:
1.-The parsCn Of Stockton told me thai
If ye would buy Ter { gown her mother
would give thereto q goodly fur; the
gown needeth to be had, and Of color It
would be a gcodly blue Or else a bright
sanguine."
The Mistress Margaret Mauteby, fol
when this gown was "purveyed," BE-
came the wife Of John Pastor, and her
letters, covering nearly so. years, are
noteworthy in that famous collection,
The PASTOR Letters, which reveal so
many secrets Of bygone statecraft, bur,
what is of more worth to Us now, CIV
ing e1impses Of household economy and,
ly clear cannotation, TIE inner life CT
the women Of the period. Margaret PaS-
ten Grpears aG an active, prudent house
wife, locking into every detail or her
large establishment and, from her hus-
bands prolonged absences, forced to as
sumo many masculine cares. She man.
aged the several farms Of their estate IN
the Hundred of TunStead, Norfolkshire.
She planned new buildings, armed and
defended her besieged hall, conducted
lawsuits ard arranged the marriages OF
her children and grandchildren. But,
withal, she was a very woman, and ls
is interesting to note the "ewig wei
blichen running like q thread of gold
through a lCng series Of letters.
The orders sent to her husband and
son, who were usually in London, for
various articles Of apparel are curious
to examine. That in her youth she was
fond CT all eauds may be guessed from
a letter written not long after her mar
riago, when, inquirirg infinitely Of her
husbands health during some slight in
disposition, she bad 'leyer than q new
gowne, though it were Of scarlette, -
that lie recover. Her commissions are
usually very moderate and limited to
tic plain necessities Of everyday wear,
as for example:
Il pray you that ye would v%cuchsafe
to buy me some frieze to make Of your
I.TI-@1 -~,-,-, W rI1,,Tl have l,r+
cheap and best choice Of Hays wife, as
it IS told me. And that ye would buy a
yard Of bread cloth Of black, for one
hood for me, of AID. or 4 shillings a
yard, for there is neither good cloth nor
good frieze in this town"
Yet this town was Norwich, the seat
of WOODEN factories from the time of
Henry I, their crude work later inn
proved by the skill of Philippians Flem-
ings. 1t was evidently the nearest mar
ket and the source of ordinary supplies,
for Dame Pastor had but just written,
MAY it please Won to wit, | was at
Norwich this week to purvey such
things as needeth ME against this win
ter.
Worsted and its neighboring Kersey,
which gave their names to the fairies
there made, were i'll the east Of Nor
folk. III reference to the products Of
the former Sir John writes from Lon.
con to mine own dear sovereign Lady
~ pray. ye you will send me hithe1
two els of worsted for doublets tt
happe me this cold winter, and that "
inquire where William Pastor bought
his tippet Of fine worsted, which is al
most like silk, and if that be much
finer than that ye should buy me after
: : or S shiliiEgs, then buy mt a quarte1
and the nail thereof for collars, though
it be dearer thai the other, for l woult
7, make my doublet all worsted for TIT
= worship of Norfolk"
Sometimes a bit Of feminine vanit,
is seen, as when Lady PASTOR write
9 her husband:
: Il pray you that ye would do you
I cost On me against Whitsuntide that
= may have something fer my neck. Whel
! the queen was here, | borrowed III,
Q cousin Elizabeth Clere's device, for
a dared not for shame 20 with my bead
among 50 many fresh g~entlcwomcn q
were here at that time
And Sir Johns memory for domesti
commissions was like other mems, 70
= il the next letter his wife prays hin
= that he "youchsafe to remember 10 pun
{ vey a thing for my neck.and to do max
: my girGle," and i'll still another, =
q thank yen thar ye vouchsafe to remem
Der any girdle.'
1t shows a pleasant confidence an
= tie assurance of her absent husband
/ interest in every side of her life thu
she writes him infinitely Of her plans i