394 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 



his own, to her Majesty ; which was a trouble 

 he seldom gave her but when he judged the im- 

 portance of the business required it. 



" May it please your Majesty, 



" I humbly beseech your Majesty of 

 your abundant goodness, of which I have had a 

 great deal of experience, to pardon the boldness 

 I now take of sending you a transcript (for the 

 original is not so legible) of a letter I received 

 the last Saturday from the Bishop of Edinburgh. 

 It is his earnest desire that I should communi- 

 cate the contents of it to your Majesty ; and I 

 have no other means of doing that (now that 

 your Majesty is at Windsor) than in the way 

 that I now take. I have the more reason to 

 hope your Majesty will pardon this confidence 

 in me in regard you have been graciously pleased 

 to grant me your permission to write to you 

 when I have any matter of importance to lay 

 before you, and indeed I take this to be such a 

 matter ; and I dare say your Majesty will think 

 so if you will please to give yourself the trouble 

 of perusing the Bishop's letter. 



" As to what orders your Majesty will please 

 to give with relation to this affair of the distressed 

 clergy of Scotland, it is not for me to offer any 

 thing; that must be left to your Majesty's own 

 wisdom and goodness after you have considered 



