y to Calphurnia._

"I never was so much offended at business, as when it hindered me from
going with you into the country, or following you thither: for I more
particularly wish to be with you at present, that I might be sensible of
the progress you make in the recovery of your strength and health; as
also of the entertainment and diversions you can meet with in your
retirement. Believe me, it is an anxious state of mind to live in
ignorance of what happens to those whom we passionately love. I am not
only in pain for your absence, but also for your indisposition. I am
afraid of everything, fancy everything, and, as it is the nature of men
in fear, I fancy those things most which I am most afraid of. Let me
therefore earnestly desire you to favour me under these my apprehensions
with one letter every day, or, if possible, with two; for I shall be a
little at ease while I am reading your letters, and grow anxious again
as soon as I have read them."

_Second Letter._

"You tell me that you are very much afflicted at my absence, and that
you have no satisfaction in anything but my writings, which you often
lay by you upon my pillow. You oblige me very much in wishing to see me,
and making me your comforter in my absence. In return, I must let you
know, I am no less pleased with the letters which you writ to me, and
read them over a thousand times with new pleasure. If your letters are
capable of giving me so much pleasure, what would your conversation do?
Let me beg of you to write to me often; though at the same time I must
confess, your letters give me anguish whilst they give me pleasure."

_Third Letter._

"It is impossible to conceive how much I languish for you in your
absence; the tender love I bear you is the chief cause of this my
uneasiness, which is still the more insupportable, because absence is
wholly a new thing to us. I lie awake most part of the night in thinking
of you, and several times of the day go as naturally to your apartment,
as if you were there to receive me; but when I miss you, I come away
dejected, out of humour, and like a man that had suffered a repulse.
There is but one part of the day in which I am relieved from this
anxiety, and that is when I am engaged in public affairs.

"You may guess at the uneasy condition of one who has no rest but in
business, no consolation but in trouble."

* * * * *

I shall conclude this paper with a beautiful passag