Government now acts again with its proper force; and we are all again under the protection of the king and the law.  I thought that it would be agreeable to you and my master, to have my testimony to the publick security; and that you would sleep more quietly, when I told you, that you are safe.  I am, dearest lady, your, &c.

XLVI.—­To MRS. THRALE.

London, April 5, 1781.

DEAREST MADAM,—­Of your injunctions, to pray for you, and write to you, I hope to leave neither unobserved; and I hope to find you willing, in a short time, to alleviate your trouble by some other exercise of the mind.  I am not without my part of the calamity.  No death, since that of my wife, has ever oppressed me like this.  But let us remember, that we are in the hands of him who knows when to give and when to take away; who will look upon us, with mercy, through all our variations of existence, and who invites us to call on him in the day of trouble.  Call upon him in this great revolution of life, and call with confidence.  You will then find comfort for the past, and support for the future.  He that has given you happiness in marriage, to a degree of which, without personal knowledge, I should have thought the description fabulous, can give you another mode of happiness as a mother, and, at last, the happiness of losing all temporal cares, in the thoughts of an eternity in heaven.

I do not exhort you to reason yourself into tranquillity.  We must first pray, and then labour; first implore the blessing of God, and use those means which he puts into our hands.  Cultivated ground has few weeds; a mind, occupied by lawful business, has little room for useless regret.

We read the will to-day; but I will not fill my first letter with any other account, than that, with all my zeal for your advantage, I am satisfied; and, that the other executors, more used to consider property than I, commended it for wisdom and equity.  Yet, why should I not tell you, that you have five hundred pounds for your immediate expenses, and two thousand pounds a year, with both the houses, and all the goods.

Let us pray for one another, that the time, whether long or short, that shall yet be granted us, may be well spent; and, that, when this life, which, at the longest, is very short, shall come to an end, a better may begin, which shall never end.  I am, dearest madam, your, &c.

XLVII.—­To MRS. THRALE.

April 7, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,—­I hope you begin to find your mind grow clearer.  My part of the loss hangs upon me.  I have lost a friend of boundless kindness, at an age when it is very unlikely that I should find another.

If you think change of place likely to relieve you, there is no reason why you should not go to Bath; the distances are unequal, but with regard to practice and business they are the same.  It is a day’s journey from either place; and the post is more expeditious and certain to Bath.  Consult only your own inclination, for there is really no other principle of choice.  God direct and bless you.