at the wife of
Sir William Paston, the judge, was a very harsh mother. Jane Claire,
a kinswoman, sent to John Paston, the lady's eldest son, an account
of the severe treatment of his sister Elizabeth at Mrs. Paston's
hands. The young lady was of marriageable age, and a man by the name
of Scroope had been suggested as her husband. Jane Claire writes:
"Meseemeth he were good for my cousin, your sister, without that ye
might get her a better; and if ye can get a better, I would advise you
to labour it in as short time as ye may goodly, for she was never in
so great a sorrow as she is now-a-days, for she may not speak with no
man, whosoever come, nor even may see nor speak with my man, nor with
servants of her mother's, but that she beareth her on hand otherwise
than she meaneth; and she hath since Easter the most part been beaten
once in a week, or twice, and sometimes twice in a day, and her head
broken in two or three places. Wherefore, cousin, she hath sent to me
by friar Newton in great council, and prayeth me that I would send to
you a letter of her heaviness, and pray you to be her good brother, as
her trust is in you." Elizabeth Paston's matrimonial desires were not
realized at this time, as she was transferred from the household of
her parents to that of the Lady Pole; this was in accordance with the
custom which we have already noticed of sending away young ladies to
great houses, where they received their education and served to fill
up the measure of pride of the great lady to whose train they were
attached. The larger the number of such maidens a lady could boast of,
the greater was her importance; nor did she hesitate to accept payment
for the board of those of whom she thus took charge, and from whom
she derived further profit by employing them at lace making or other
suitable work.

Young ladies were taught to be very demure and formal in their
behavior in company, where they sat bolt upright, with their hands
crossed, or in other constrained attitudes. In a poem, written about
1430, entitled _How the Good Wife Taughte Hir Dougtir_, we have the
rules which were enforced upon girls for their conduct in society, and
particularly the advice which was tendered the girl with regard to her
marriage and her subsequent conduct. The love of God and attendance
upon church were enjoined, and in the performance of the latter duty
she was not to be deterred by bad weather. She was to give liberally
to alms, and while in