This letter, and CXXVII, below, which should precede it, relate to the
occasion of the delivery of the first of the _Two Sermons Preached before
King Charles, upon the xxvi verse of the first Chapter of Genesis_, which
stand at the head of Donne's published Sermons. James I died on March
27th, 1625. One week later, Donne, at the command of the new King,
preached at the Court. His extreme nervousness and almost painful
diffidence are clearly implied in these two letters to Sir Robert Ker.