TO MY MISTRESS. Because
the time seems very long since
I heard concerning your health and
you, the great afFeftion I have for
you has induced me to send you this
bearer, to be better informed of your
health and pleasure, and because,
since my parting from you, I have
been told that the opinion in which
I left you is totally changed, and that
you would not come to court either
with your mother, if you could, or in
any other manner; which report, if
true, I cannot sufficiently marvel at,
because I am sure that I have since
never done any thing to offend you,
and it seems a very poor return for the
great love which I bear you to keep
me at a distance both from the speech
and the person of the woman that I
esteem most in the world: and if you
love me with as much affection as I
hope you do, I am sure that the dis-
tance of our two persons would be
a little irksome to you, though this
does not belong so much to the mis-
tress as to the servant.

Consider well, my mistress, that
absence from you grieves me sorely,
hoping that it is not your will that
it should be so; but if I knew for cer-
tain that you voluntarily desired it,
I could do no other than mourn my
ill-fortune, and by degrees abate my
great folly. And so, for lack of time,
I make an end of this rude letter, be-
seeching you to give credence to this
bearer in all that he will tell you
from me.

Written by the hand of your en-
tire Servant,

H.R.