(_HIS FEELINGS UPON LEAVING ANWOTH._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I find small hopes of Q.'s business.[161] I
intend, after the council-day, to go on to Aberdeen. The Lord is with
me: I care not what man can do. I burden no man, and I want nothing.
No king is better provided than I am. Sweet, sweet, and easy is the
cross of my Lord. All men I look in the face (of whatsoever
denomination, nobles and poor, acquaintance and strangers) are
friendly to me. My Well-beloved is some kinder and more warmly than
ordinary, and cometh and visiteth my soul. My chains are overgilded
with gold. Only the remembrance of my fair days with Christ in Anwoth,
and of my dear flock (whose case is my heart's sorrow), is vinegar to
my sugared wine. Yet both sweet and sour feed my soul. No pen, no
words, no ingine can express to you the loveliness of my only, only
Lord Jesus. Thus, in haste, making for my palace at Aberdeen, I bless
you, your wife, your eldest son, and other children. Grace, grace be
with you.
[161] Probably "Queensberry."
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,