Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2
1630-02-14
The opportunitye of so fitt a messinger, and my deepe engagement of Affection to thee, makes me write at this tyme, though I hope to followe soone after. The Lorde our God hath ofte brought vs togither with comfort, when we haue been longe absent, and if it be good for vs, he will doe so still: when I was in Irelande he brought vs togither againe: when I was sicke heer at London, he restored vs togither againe: 209how many dangers neer death hast thou been in thy selfe and yet the Lorde hath granted me to inioye thee still: if he did not watch ouer vs, we need not goe ouer sea to seeke death or miserye, we should meet it at euery steppe, in euerye iournye: and is not he a God abroad as well as at home? is not his power and prouidence the same in N
thou must be my valentine, for none hath challenged me.
W. 7 A. 35; Savage (1825), I. 364–365; (1853), I. 437–438;
L. and L.
, I. 376; Twichell, Puritan Love-Letters
, 140–141.
In this letter, as in many others, the original superscription is lacking. Robert Charles Winthrop remarks that the addresses “seem to have been torn off for the sake of the paper; probably on this side of the ocean, owing to the scarcity of the commodity in New England in the early days of the Colony.”
L. and L.
, I. 201, note. In several letters, this among others, the address thus sacrificed was copied on the margin of the letter, usually in abbreviated form, apparently at the time the amputation was made. These copies are in a single hand, of early date, not unlike that of Elizabeth (Glover) Winthrop, who married Adam Winthrop the fourth in 1642 and died in 1648.
In the margin, opposite “vs,” is written “Job: 5.