Letter Fourth To Anne Boleyn
MY MISTRESS & FRIEND, my heart and I surrender ourselves into your
hands, beseeching you to hold us commended to your favour, and that by
absence your affection to us may not be lessened: for it were a great pity
to increase our pain, of which absence produces enough and more than I
could ever have thought could be felt, reminding us of a point in
astronomy which is this: the longer the days are, the more distant is the
sun, and nevertheless the hotter; so is it with our love, for by absence
we are kept a distance from one another, and yet it retains its fervour,
at least on my side; I hope the like on yours, assuring you that on my
part the pain of absence is already too great for me; and when I think of
the increase of that which I am forced to suffer, it would be almost
intolerable, but for the firm hope I have of your unchangeable affection
for me: and to remind you of this sometimes, and seeing that I cannot be
personally present with you, I now send you the nearest thing I can to
that, namely, my picture set in a bracelet, with the whole of the device,
which you already know, wishing myself in their place, if it should please
you. This is from the hand of your loyal servant and friend,
H. R.