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GOVERNOR WINTHROP ' S WIFE. 379
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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In The Histories, The Romances, And The ...
to London , or of his removal to America , they should set aside the particular hour specified on the Monday and Friday of every week
for the purpose of engaging * in prayer for one another . About this time Winthrop and his intended fellow-emigrants
were entertained by their friends at a farewell dinner , at which he was so affected at the prospect of parting from themand from his
, native country , that the strong man burst into a flood of tears , and set them all a-weeping . He finally went to Southampton , at that
time a port of great commerce , to embark on board the A . rbellar for America . From Southamptonhe wrote to his wife a letter
dated March 14 , 1630 , saying , " , Mine only best beloved , I now , salute thee from Southampton , where , by the Lord's mercy , we are
all safe ; but the winds have been such as our ships are not yet come . . . . And now , my dear wife , what shall I say to thee .
I am full of matter and affection towards thee , but want time to it . " Againon the 28 thhe writes " Commend me to all
our and express good trust friends in the , Lord as , I wrote dear in my wife , former lett , er , and . be He comfortable is our God ; my , pray , pray
and Father ; we are in covenant with Him , and He will not cast us off . " In another letter from ship board , he says , " Our boys are
well and cheerfuland have no mind of home . They lie both with me , and sleep as , soundly in a rug ( for we use no sheets here ) as
ever they did at Groton , and so I do myself ( I praise God . ) The wind hath been against us this week and morebut this day it has
, come fair to the north , so we are preparing , by God ' s assistance , to set sail in the morning . " The fleet , carrying this little colony ,
numbered eleven ships , of whom , however , seven were delayed for a fortnight . " We are , in all our eleven ships , about 700 persons ,
passengers , and 240 cows , and about sixty horses . The ship which went from Plymouth carried about 140 persons , and the ship which from Bristol carrieth about eighty persons . And nowmy sweet
soul goes I must once again take my last farewell of thee in Old , England . It goeth , very near to my heart to leave thee ; but I know to wh om I
have committed thee , even to Him who loves thee much better than husband can . . . . Ohhow it refresheth my heart to
think any that I shall yet again see th , y sweet face in the land of the living—that lovely countenance that I have so much delighted in ,
and beheld with so great content . I have hitherto been so taken with businessas I could seldom look back to my former
happiup ness ; but now , when , I shall be at some leisure , I shall not avoid the remembrance of thee , nor the grief for thy absence . Thou .
hast will be thy some share ease with to me us , both but . I hope Mondays the course and Fridays we have , at agreed five of upon the
clock at night , we shall meet in spirit till we meet in person . Yet , if all these hopes should failblessed be our Godthat we are
assured we shall meet one day , , if not as husband and , wife , yet in a better condition . Let tliat stay and comfort thy heart . Neither
can the sea drown thy husband , nor enemies destroy , nor e e 2 _adver- *
Governor Winthrop ' S Wife. 379
GOVERNOR _WINTHROP ' S WIFE . 379
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1862, page 379, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021862/page/19/
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