Love Letter 9

THE uneasiness my doubts about your health gave me, disturbed and alarmed me exceedingly, and I should not have had any quiet with- out hearing certain tidings. But now, since you have as yet felt nothing, I hope, and am assured that it will spare you, as I hope it is doing with us. For when we were at Walton, two ush- ers, two valets de chambres and your brother, master-treasurer, fell ill, but are now quite well ; and since we have returned to our house at Hunsdon, we have been perfedlly well, and have not, at present, one sick person, God be praised; and I think, if you would retire from Surrey, as we did, you would escape all danger. There is another thing that may comfort you, which is, that, in truth in this dis- temper few or no women have been taken ill, and what is more, no per- son of our court, and few elsewhere, have died of it. For which reason I beg you, my entirely beloved, not to frighten yourself nor be too uneasy at our absence; for wherever I am, I am yours, and yet we must sometimes submit to our misfortunes, for who- ever will struggle against fate is gen- erally but so much the farther from gaining his end: wherefore comfort yourself, and take courage and avoid the pestilence as much as you can, for I hope shortly to make you sing, la renvoyé. No more at present, from lack of time, but that I wish you in my arms, that I might a little dispel your unreasonable thoughts. Written by the hand of him who is and alway will be yours, Im-H. R-mutable.

9 thoughts on “Love Letter 9”

  1. Sway says:

    “for wherever I am, I am
    yours”

    Such beautiful love…to such tragic ending. Never seizes to amaze me.

  2. starr says:

    Do you wonder if she sent him a letter asking him why he didn’t come to her when she was ill? He seems to be addressing her “unreasonable thoughts”. Also, Claire, I wonder if you subscribe to the theory, that after Henry had a bad fall, he suffered from mental illness caused by the damage done by the fall. Maybe that’s why he was so easily swayed.

    1. Christina says:

      Henry did not have his “bad fall” well into his marriage with Anne and while she was carrying his second child, a son, which she miscarried several days later.

    2. julia says:

      he didn’t go to her when she was sick because he was paranoid about sickness and an heir. when men got the sweating sickness most of them don’t recover while most women do.

  3. Danette Browne says:

    The King had to be taken to safety, away from the “Sweating Sickness” that was sweeping through the land. He was being held in quarantine and therefore could not be with Anne, who was in fact suffering from the sickness herself.

  4. Renee Khmoro says:

    How can not ones Heart melt at the words of the worlds most notorious monarch! I’m blown away.

    1. Renee says:

      well, MY heart does not melt because he did not really mean these sweet things. He was probably excited because she kept aloof from him and males do love the hunt. You notice that once he obtained her, (after a brief “honeymoon” period) he turned on her like a vicious maniac and had her slaughtered, after butchering her friends and family members. And this he did to his “beloved” — to the mother of his child. No, my heart is NOT melting. Henry was a psycho who should have been locked in the tower for everyone ELSE’S safety. Just sayin.

      1. Robyn Slagle says:

        Agreed. He loved the hunt and the chase she gave him.

        Once he bedded her, only a son could have save her from him.

      2. Kal says:

        Exactly. I can’t believe some of the remarks from other women swooning over the letters? He was psycho and deranged. He wasn’t a romantic. He was a killer. Domestic violence is in his blood.. Pity the poor woman who got entrapped by him.. Henry was a tyrant pure and simple.

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