I need hardly repeat what I wrote at great length in my last, nor shall I have recourse to friends for the same purpose.

They all of them, I know, with one voice, without the least disagreement or hesitation, have exhorted you, immediately upon the receipt of their letters and the safe-conduct, to return home, in order to preserve your life, your country, your friends, your honour, and your property, and also to enjoy those times so earnestly desired and hoped for by you.

If any one had foretold that I could listen without the least affright to news of an invading army marching on our walls, this would have seemed to me impossible.

And yet I now assure you that I am not only quite fearless, but also full of confidence in a glorious victory.

For many days past my soul has been filled with such gladness, that if God, either for our sins or for some other reason, according to the mysteries of His just judgment, does not permit that army to be broken in our hands, my sorrow will be the same as when one loses, not a good thing hoped for, but one gained and captured.