In June 1617, Esther presented small manuscripts to two important clergymen, Joseph Hall, formerly chaplain to Prince Henry, and now Dean of Worcester, and Walter Balcanquhall, a chaplain to James I. By this time, she was back in Edinburgh, living in Leith. She and Bartilmo had left Essex in 1614 after two of their sons died and were buried at St Andrews church there, where Bartilmo had a living. The family stayed in London for a brief time, before returning to Scotland.

These two manuscripts are very plain, and are part of a group that Esther made during this transition period around 1615-16. She may have chosen two clergymen in hopes of encouraging some support for Bartilmo’s career after their move. Importantly, both men were in the entourage of James VI and I when he came back to Scotland for the first and only time during the summer of 1617.

The first manuscript is written in black ink with little decoration. It is a copy of one of Esther’s favorite texts, the moral poetic Quatrains by the Sieur de Pybrac. In the simple dedication written within a leafy frame she calls Hall “My very singular Freinde,” and dates the work to June 21, 1617. Joseph Hall (1574-1656) was educated at Emmanuel Hall, Cambridge. As a young man, he wrote satiric poetry but then launched himself on a career in the clergy. One of his first positions in Suffolk brought him in touch with the Drury family, and also the poet John Donne, with whom he became friends.

By 1607 Hall had moved on to a living in Essex and had become a chaplain to Prince Henry. Esther’s friendship with Hall may stem from his Essex days and his association with the prince’s court. Hall was a popular preacher in London, and became Dean of Worcester not long before accompanying King James to Scotland.

Although there is no interior decoration, and the script throughout is Roman, Esther does include a self-portrait miniature, which she pasted in. The color has somewhat deteriorated, but it shows her in a tall black hat with white ruff.

In earlier manuscripts, Esther tended to write her motto on a little book on her desk within her self-portrait, but here she puts it at the end of Hall’s manuscript. The two lines come originally from a poem by the exiled Huguenot minister, Marin le Saulx: “All good gifts come from God; of myself I am nothing.” Near the beginning, she placed the motto that she used in later manuscripts, “Durum patientia frango” (“With patience I overcome difficulty”).

We don’t have a portrait of Walter Balcanquhall (c.1586-1645), the other minister to whom Esther gave a similar manuscript that same summer of 1617. He was a Scot, educated at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge. Esther likely knew his father, Walter senior, who became a prominent minister at St. Giles in Edinburgh. Walter junior pursued a successful career in England, becoming Master of the Savoy, chaplain to King James, and eventually Dean of Rochester, but whereas his father was a staunch presbyterian, the son became an episcopalian, and in later years, sided with Charles I against the Scottish covenanters.

Esther’s gift to him was also a copy of the Quatrains, just as plainly produced, but without her self-portrait. This is British Library Additional MS 22606. She includes the two mottoes as above. Unfortunately, the only photos currently available are the old black-and-white ones from Perdita. I’ve heard that the BL has digitized all the Esther Inglis manuscripts but they are not yet online.