Order and Dignity have been very peculiar as well as the Consequences of them in the general Applause and the particular Esteem of all those who have had the Honour to know and observe it Among whom there is none more desirous to express that Inclination by his Services nor that has more of it at Heart than My Lord Your Lordship 's most faithful and most humble Servant To the Great Duke of Tuscany Hague Jun. 27. S. N. 1670. SIR HAving so long taken part in whatever concerns the Person or Interests of your most Serene Highness I could not fail to condole with you for your great Loss whereof all Christendom would have been sensible to the last Degree if the Grief for such an Accident were not lessened by the Succession of a Prince who has left such Impressions of his Person and Merits where-ever he has appeared as will never be worn out 'T is true such is the Composition of Human Things that nothing is pure or without mixture so that even upon this Occasion I see some Ground to mix my Congratulation with my Condolence when I consider that your Highness has finished your Travels before the Accession of this glorious Charge Your Highness has added to your Birth and Wit all the Advantages that the Commerce of Strangers is accustomed to give and you now find occasion for the exercise of all towards the Government of your Subjects My Wishes and Applauses shall not be wanting to your Highness tho' I know your Conduct and good Fortune will give me little Occasion but for the latter as your Highness's great Qualities have already given me a great deal to be SIR Your Highness's most humble and most faithful Servant Au Grand Duc de Toscane De la Haye 27 Juin S. N. 1670. Monsieur AYant pris depuis long tems une aussi grande part dans tout ce qui touche la personne ou les interêts de V. A. Sme je ne pouvois manquer á m'affliger avec elle á l'occasion de la perte qu'elle vient de faire qui est telle que la Chretienté en seroit inconsolable si la douleur d'un evenement si triste n'etoit soulagée par l'idée du Prince qui vient remplir la succession on sçait que c'est un Prince qui a laissé de sa personne de son merite par tout ou il a paru des impressions qui ne s'effaceront jamais Il est vray que telle est la composition des choses humaines que rien n'y est pur sans melange le bien le mal ne se laissent guere gouter separement En cette rencontre donc je vois dequoy meler mes congratulations á mes condoleances je fonde les premieres sur ce que V. E. Sme avoit achevé tous ses voyages lors qu'un si glorieux fardeau luy est tombé en partage Elle a ajouté au bonheur de sa naissance á la penetration de son esprit tout ce que le commerce la comparaison de divers etrangers chez qui elle avoit sejourné a accoutumé de donner Cette riche moisson etant á peine faite tant de talens sont mis en ouvrage V. A. se voit á present obligée de les consacrer au soin du gouvernement de ses Sujets Mes voeux mes applaudissements ne manqueront jamais á V. A. quoy que sa conduite sa prosperité me repondent que je ne feray usage que de ces derniers Ses grandes qualitez avoient deja fourni beaucoup de motifs d'etre Monsieur De V. A. Sme le tres-humble tres-fidelle Serviteur To Sir William Godolphin Hague July 3. S. N. 1670. SIR I HAVE not had any Thing of late worth your Trouble nor any of yours by me to acknowledge though I should have been glad to have received from your Hand the Assurance of what comes to me more uncertainly from others of the Catholick King 's perfect Recovery and the Junto's Disposition to admit simply of his Majesty's and the King of Sueden's Arbitrage as was proposed The great Deadness of the Season in point of News would have excused you this Trouble but that the Sueaish Minister here begins to pursue me hard for my Offices towards the Spanish Court for the second Payment which he reckons to be already due by the Expiration of eight Months since the delivery of the Guaranty But Monsieur de Witt and I are both of Opinion the Spanish Ambassador's Act may very well be construed to signify eight Months from the signing of the Concert which Spain always insisted upon as an essential Part of the Guaranty And to begin the Payments only upon the signing of it which was the last of January past by which Calculation the second Payment will grow due at the End of next September But this is fitter to be argued by Spain than by us And that which is more necessary is for Them to provide so as the Mony may be ready here by that Term to recover by the Fairness and Ease of this Payment the Credit they lost in Sueden by the Difficulties of the last In the mean time if you can persuade the Spanish Court to signify to the Suedish Minister either there or here that they have been put in Mind of it by you and have it so much in their Care as to provide that it shall not fail at the end of September which They take to be the Term it grows due you will I suppose perform an Office both necessary and grateful to all the Parâ—ies interessed in that Affair The Dutch would have enjoyned it to their Minister if they had any present at Madrid â—he Want of which gives you more thaâ— your Share in these Transactions They would fain engage Monsieur Beverning to accept of that Employment whâ—ch I wish for your sake but I doubt its succeeding The Prince of Orange intends to go for England about the end of this Month and my Lord Ossory is shortly expected here to attend him in his Journy I am always SIR Your most obedient humble Servant To the Earl of Essex Hague July 7. S. N. 1670. My LORD I HAVE received by this last Post the Favour of one from your Excellency of the 18th past which gives me the Hopes of a sudden Dispatch in your present Negotiations and the very welcom News of your Intention to pass this way in your Return where I shall be very glad to find the Occasions I desire of serving your Lordship in a Place that indeed better deserves a passing Visit than any long Abode Your Excellency will have received by a former Letter my Condolements upon my Lord Northumberland's Death which indeed was very untimely for Himself his Family and his Friends But if we needed greater Examples how little Defence is to be found against that Enemy either from
sparing no Man's part and holding an equal proportion with every Man's Estate Only this Circumstance should be in it to make it easy That not only every Man should have the Offer and Pre-emption of his own but if upon refusal it should be sold to another Hand yet it shall be free for the Owner to buy it of him at any Time within a certain Space as of two or three Years and the present Purchaser to be content with the Profit he shall have made in the mean Time which will prove a great Interest for his Capital Thirdly A reducing of the Interest which the King pays from Ten to Eight in the Hundred with which the Bankers may very well be contented and must be I suppose if the King pleases and finds a Course to make them see their Security cannot fail them For two in the Hundred Gain is of all Reason enough for them where the Security they receive is as good as what they give as it is in this Case For the King's Security to the Banker is in effect the Banker's Security to his private Creditors and whenever one fails the other must Now the Bankers pay but Six in the Hundred at most for In-land Mony and less for some And I have Reason to doubt a very great Trade is driven with them from Holland by Dutch Merchants who turn their Mony through their Hands encouraged by the great Interest they gain there in lieu of so small here that the States have lately refused to take the Value of Twenty Thousand Pounds Sterling of the Duke of Lunenburg's Mony at Two and a half per Cent. and Three is the utmost that any Man makes And if the King by granting good Security punctual Payments and the Reputation of good Order in his Revenue were gotten into Credit I do not see why he might not upon Occasion take up what he pleased at Six per Cent. as well as the States do here at Two and a half Fourthly To enable the King upon any Occasion to give better Security I know nothing would do so much as if the Parliament could be disposed to settle the Customs upon him for one Year after his Death as they are already for his Life but that being an uncertain Term Mony will not be readily or without Exaction of Interest lent upon that which may fail next Day And yet I conceive it to be the largest Branch of the Revenue and in all other Points the most certain Fifthly If any Thing were set on foot in Parliament towards an Act of Resumption of Grants of Crown-lands since a certain Time Use might at least be made of it towards drawing such Grantees to a voluntary Composition of holding their Grants at the Rent of a fourth or fifth part of the real Value to the Crown in Consideration of having such Grants confirmed by Act of Parliament or the King's Engagement to consent to nothing to their Prejudice after their Consent to such a Rent and Tenure Sixthly A View may be made at least of what has been gained by any Grants from his Majesty above what were really his Majesty's Intentions to grant As where the King intended to give Five hundred Pounds a Year and perhaps Seven or Eight or a Thousand Pounds is made of it And the same of Sums of Mony out of certain Benefits granted towards the raising them And what is found to be beyond the Intention of the King's Grant to be repaid Many smaller Particulars might perhaps be thought of All which with what has been mentioned will be made valuable by a good Order in the management and a stanch Hand in Grants hereafter till the King be as much before-hand as he is behind-hand now I am my Lord your c. To Mr. * Now Earl of Montague Montague Hague Jan. 2. S. N. 1669. My LORD IT is an ill Sign of the Dulness of this Place that I must have Recourse to the Complements of the Season for the Occasion of a Letter and that I can find very little to say from hence besides wishing your Lordship according to our good old Stile a merry Christmas The Spaniards have not yet had so much good Nature as to make ours here the merrier with their Two hundred thousand Crowns I doubt it has some Enchantment or other upon it and is not to be delivered but in some fatal Hour or by some charmed Knight All is here frozen up and the Bishop of Munster may march if he pleases but if he do as has been so much talkt will blow his Fingers unless he receives very great Influences from your warmer Climate For the good Pay of these States is in so much Credit among their Neighbours that I believe they will not want what Forces they shall have Occasion for besides what they have a-foot I should be very glad to hear what becomes of my Lord and Lady of Northumberland and how long they intend their Pilgrimage supposing your Lordship keeps some Correspondence with them of which I am out of the way but very much in that of being My LORD Your Excellency's most obedient humble Servant To my Lord Arlington Hague Jan. 18. S. N. 1669. My LORD THE Baron d'Isola arriving here Yesterday I have this Afternoon had some Discourses with him upon the Subject of his Journey which he professes to be a Desire of advancing the Treaty of Guaranty as a Thing his Master has more Interest in than Spain it self which will be better able to subsist after the Loss of Flanders than the Empire can I find he came with Hopes of affecting much by his Eloquence and great Parts and by making others see more of their own Interests than they were willing to do And so the two Themes wherein he came provided were To make it evident that France would open the War again this Spring and within six Weeks attack either Burgundy or Luxenburg and on the other Side That the Councils of Spain as they are now composed if they saw not a solid and firm Assistance from their Neighbours would fall into the easiest way of ending that Matter by giving up Flanders upon the best Terms they could That they were as a sick Man that would not or could not help themselves and were so to be dealt with by those that were so deeply concerned in their Loss as these States in particular seem to be And that after the Disarming of the Duke of Lorrain which France had now resolved and the seizing of Burgundy which would be their next Work it would be impossible to maintain a War in what remains of Flanders when they could do it no longer by Diversion after these two Inlets into France stopt up From this we fell into the Story of the Suedish Subsidies and the Hardships put upon Spain in that Business all which I suppose your Lordship has heard a dozen Times already and are obvious enough and therefore I shall not repeat them not remembring any Thing
and their Pretensions in the same Condition they were before The same Liberty still remaining upon the last Article of the Marine Treaty to appoint Commissioners and alter or add any Thing when both Parties shall agree and will be but like taking so much by Advance upon Account of a greater Debt So that I am apt to conclude from all these Observations That they who influence our Merchants in this Prosecution either have no meaning this Treaty should end fairly and so they put it obstinately upon that single Point and in that Form which they know will never be granted or else they aim at gaining an Occasion of raising new Disputes with the Dutch whenever they find a Conjuncture for it there seeming some Reason for the Dutch Opinion that agreeing upon an Article as ours propose it we may fall into new Contests upon the Extent and Interpretation of it whenever we please If this last End be in the Bottom of this Business and it be taken up or countenanced by his Majesty or his Ministers upon Reason of State and we make our Provisions and take all our Measures accordingly for ought I know it is a wise and may prove an honourable Council in Time at least if the present State of Affairs in Christendom should change by any sudden or unexpected Revolution But if our Merchants or those who influence them in this Matter mean no such Thing as a Conclusion of the Treaty but only by the depending of such Disputes to leave an Unkindness and Weakness in our Alliance which may in time shake the Foundations of it and make way for new Measures on one Side or other which will in time prove destructive to both I cannot but interpret this as the Effect of their Distast or Envy at the King 's present Ministry and the Course of his Councils which have not gained greater Honour abroad nor perhaps Safety and good Will at home by any Thing than by our late Alliances so renowned here and thereby the Stop we have given to the Progress of the French Greatness And therefore it must come from the Influence of some who would be glad to see not only our Alliance shaken or changed abroad but our Ministry at home too which I shall be sorry to see till the King can find better Hands for himself and the Kingdom to place it in And whenever that happens as much as I am your Lordship's Servant I shall be very well contented and so I dare say will you too If your Lordship should imagine any particular Envy or Peek at me or my Employment here may have contributed to the Difficulties which have succeeded in this Business and that our Merchants or those that influence them believe it would thrive better in any other Hand I will beg of you not to be sway'd by Considerations of Kindness to me in a Matter of publick Concernment nor to fear that whenever this Employment falls you shall be troubled with me at home as great Ministers use to be with Men out of Office For while the King's Business goes well 't is not two Straws matter whether such a Body as I have any Share in it or no. And there 's an end of all the Reflections I have had upon the most troublesome and untoward Business that I thank God I ever had in my Life or I hope shall ever have again And perhaps I am mistaken in them all However if your Lordship can pardon this you shall be sure not to be troubled in haste with any more of it from My Lord your c. To my Lord Arlington Hague Aug. 7. S. N. 1669. My LORD I Was very glad to find your Lordship in your last upon your Journey into the Country because I very much doubt whether the Exercise or Diversions you usually allow your self are what your Health requires and what your Cares and Troubles deserve I am sure in the Prospect I have of them I am so far from envying them with all their gay Circumstances that I think your Lordship has a very hard Bargain of them altogether unless it be one Day made up to you by the Glory and Satisfaction of some great Success in the Pursuit you intend of his Majesty's and the Kingdoms Honour Safety and Happiness which I doubt will need some stronger Councils than Men seem at present disposed to But this is none of my Business I cannot give your Lordship any Account of what you say is made a great Matter of by Somebody to a private Hand about the Difficulties intended by Spain in the two last Suedish Payments with Design of making new Demands I am only in Pain at present to see the first Payment finished which is not yet arrived but expected by the first Courier When that is done and the Guaranty delivered by Sueden as well as us and Holland I shall be in no great Fear besides that of the Spanish King's Death or of Spain falling into some Agreement or other with France for the Exchange of Flanders by seeing so great a War still entailed upon it and their Neighbours unwilling to share so far in their Dangers as perhaps it were Our and the Dutch Interest to do I am sure in the present Posture of that Monarchy if I were of their Council I should be of Advice to do it whenever France would be content upon it to quit all Pretence to the rest of the Spanish Dominions And perhaps 't were wise for France to get Flanders by that or any other quiet Condition For within two Years after he were well possess'd of that little Spot of Ground I doubt no Prince or State in Christendom would pretend to dispute any more with him then than the Spaniard does now But these are Events to be considered by Men in greater Spheres than I am and perhaps deserve to be a little more thought on than they are I have received and returned a Visit with the French Ambassador so that we are upon as good Terms as can be My Lord Culpepper pass'd this way last Week and upon that Occasion I cannot but desire your Lordship to let me know more particularly from you how I am to treat any English Lord as to the Hand and Door in my own House For though the French Example is given me as to all publick Ministers yet there is nothing specified as to other Persons and if I am to follow it in this and other Particulars I desire to have something from his Majesty's positive Commands to bear me out as the French Ambassadors have and as methinks the Case deserves Since I am told the Innovation began in Monsieur Cominges's Time in England and that before the Orders he received in it he gave the Hand to all Gentlemen of Quality in England and to all Persons of great Quality or Families though of his own Nation And that my Lord St. Albans ever gave it to all English Lords while he was Ambassador at Paris Though it seems
thousand Crowns projected at London as he ever insists to be secured by his Majesty without which he did not see any Thing to be done here I told him directly I had not He then asked me to what End we should confer since without That the Concert could not be framed nor consequently the present Mony paid And complained that the want of this Concert was of present Prejudice to Them alone tho' it depended equally upon the Consent of the other Confederates I answered him That till I received new Orders he should never find me vary from those I had so often told him which were to see first in what Proposals Sueden and Holland could agree and then represent it to his Majesty whose Answer could be of no long Delay And That I suppose will be the Fruit of our Conference He said he thought They and Holland were agreed upon all Points but one that is in the number and kind of Forces according to the first projected Concert and in Holland's assuring them a fourth Part of the Sixty thousand Crowns That which they differed upon was That whereas Spain offered a Promise of the other Thirty thousand Crowns they expected We and Holland should likewise warrant that Payment because their Engagement for Sixteen thousand Men upon the Concert would be to Us and not to Spain and it was no Reason if Spain failed of that Payment they should yet stand engaged to Us for the whole number of Men. I told him I doubted much that if this Point were still between them they were not very near agreeing And he said He would speak with Monsieur de Witt once more upon it before the Conference But I doubt this will not hinder them from coming to some Proposal to be made his Majesty of something they shall agree in I am c. To the Prince of Toscany Hague Dec. 5. S. N. 1669. SIR I Should not have deferred the Acknowledgments I owe your Highness for the Honour of your Letter if I had not been pursued with a great Illness at the time I received it And I would not acquit my self of this Duty by any other Hand but my own because I am sure there is none so pleased or so ready to engage in the Occasions of your Service I am extream glad of your Highness's happy Arrival at Florence where I wish you all the Felicities that ought to be destined as they are due to so great a Merit And I hope that after the glorious Fatigues which have hitherto been the Diversion of your Highness you will now find Pleasure in the softness of Repose For my self I shall never think I am happy till I have paid my Respects to your Highness in your own Court and I envy no Man at present but my Lord Falconbridge who is going on an Ambassy into so fine a Clymate and among such Conversations as those of Italy where Wit and Weather are equally clear while I languish in a Country where we breath nothing but Mists and discourse of nothing but Business To confirm this last I cannot end my Letter without telling your Highness That after so many Shocks the Triple Alliance has born for some time and so many Presages of its Death there is within these two Days some appearance of its Recovery unless any unexpected Accident should occasion a Relapse Justice is so essential among the Qualities of a Great Prince that I will not doubt but your Highness does me That of believing always with equal Passion and Truth SIR Your Highness's c. Au Prince de Toscane La Haye le 5 Dec. S. N. 1669. Monsieur JE n'aurois pas perdu un moment á marquer la reconnoissance que je dois á V. A. de l'honneur qu'elle m'a fait par sa Lettre si dans le meme tems qu'elle me fût rendue je n'eusse ete ataqué d'une violente maladie Je n'ay pas voulu je l'avouera m'acquiter de ce devoir par une main etrangeâ—e cela vient de ce qu'il me semble qu'il n'y a que la mienne qui sente autant de plaisir s'employe avec autant d'affection des qu'il est question de quelque chose qui regarde V. A. son Service Je prens beaucoup de part á l'heureuse arrivée de V. A. á Florence je souhaite qu'elle y goute toutes les prosperitez deues sans doute destinées á un merite comme le sien J'espere qu' aprés les glorieuses fatigues qui ont fait jusqu ' icy les divertissemens de V. A. elle va trouver quelque plaisir dans les douceur du repos Pour moy je ne seray jamais content de la fortune que je n'ay fait la reverence á V. A. dans sa propre Cour á l'heure qu'il est se seul homme que j'envie dans le monde c'est Mi Lord Falconbridge que son Ambassade va conduire dans un si beau Clymat ou il va gouter tous les charmes attachez au delicates spirituelles conversations d' Italie il trouvera lá les jours les esprits egalement purs brillans pour moy mon partage est de languir dans un pais ou l'on ne respirent que des brouillards ou l'on ne sait que parler d'affaires J'ay deja un peu contracté de ce Genie pour le prouver á V. A. c'est que je ne scaurois achever ma Lettre sans luy dire qu' aprés tant de secousses que la Triple Alliance a souffert depuis quelque tems tant de sinistres presages qui ont anoncé sa mort il y a pourtant depuis deux jours quelque apparance qu'il va revivre á moins qu'un accident inopiné ne cause sa rechûte La justice est une de ces qualitez si essentielles á un grand Prince que je ne veux pas meme soupçonner que V. A. me refuse celle de me croire toujours ce que je suis avec tant de passion de verite c. To the Constable of Castille Hague Dec. 5. S. N. 1669. My Lord THO' it will be difficult to add any Thing to the Arguments used in my last Letter and in other Memorials sent so frequently to the Spanish Ambassador upon the Subject of the Payment already due to the Crown of Sueden and so solemnly stipulated by the Act of May the 9th signed by the said Ambassador and afterwards ratified by the Queen Regent However I would not fail in this important Conjuncture to make this last Effort to dispose your Excellency to the quick Execution of a Council so just and necessary to the Repose of Christendom as well as the Preservation of Spain and of such Importance to the Honour of your Excellency who never can defend your Self against the Complaints of having by little Scruples lost the
Greatness or from Youth we should have received a very sufficient as well as a very sad one by an Express which brought this Morning the News of Madame's Death by particular Letters both to the States and to the Prince of Orange The French Courier being not expected till to Morrow Morning I have not yet received any Letter of it from my Lord Ambassador at Paris and therefore shall give your Lordship the Relation just as it comes in the Prince's Letter which says That on Sunday last being the 29th of June N. S. Madame having eaten very well at Dinner and continued so some Hours afterwards about four a Clock in the Afternoon called for a Glass of Succory-Water which she used to take every Day about that Hour and having drunk it off complained that it was very bitter and presently after began to find her self ill and fell into violent Fits of the Colick upon which she said That she was sure she should die and immediately sent for her Confessor and with great Resolution disposed her self to it by passing through all the Forms of that Church upon such Occasions The News of her Highness's Illness was immediately dispatch'd from St. Clou where she lay to Versailles where the Court then was and occasioned the King's coming presently to her who arrived about Eight a Clock that Night and brought his chief Phisician with him who both began to comfort her Sickness and assure her that her Colick could not easily carry away a Person of her Age. But she persisted in assuring them of her Death spoke a good while softly to the King and afterwards said aloud That she had no Regret at all to die but that her greatest Trouble was by so hard a Separation to lose his Majesty's Friendship and good Graces which he had always express'd to her She spoke to Monsieur in the same Terms about her great Willingness to die which she said was the more because she had nothing to reproach her self of in her Conduct towards him The King left her about Ten a Clock at Night his Phisician assuring him she could not die of a Colick or at least not so suddenly as she seemed to apprehend But her Illness and Pain encreasing she expired about Two a Clock in the Morning leaving great Sadness in that Court and Regret in all those who had the Honour to know her Your Excellency will easily imagine how sensibly his Majesty will be touch'd by this Affliction and therefore I am sure you will receive the same Part in it that I and all the rest of his Servants ought to do Which I shall not encrease by enlarging upon so sad a Story further than by one Particular more of the Prince's Letter That her Body being opened in the Presence of several Persons and among them my Lord Ambassador they could not find the Cause of so sudden a Death Our News from Brussels is That the Constable was to depart from thence on Saturday last leaving the Count de Monterey Governor of those Countries by the Queen Regent's Commission for the Interim until a new Governor should be sent from Spain who they give out will be Don John and that he will be there in a very little time and take upon him that Government for his Life But the Certainty of this we must expect hereafter from Spain The Danish Envoy here tells me he intends to go very shortly for Copenhaguen and that he hopes to find your Excellency there wherein I confess I differ with him I should be very glad to know whether he did me the Right of conveying a Letter I wrote to Monsieur Guldenlew in answer to one I received from him upon his last Arrival in Denmark Your Lordship will oblige me to let one of your Secretaries inform himself from one of his whether such a Letter was received without drawing it into any further Consequence I beseech your Lordship to believe me always what I am with very much Sincereness My LORD Your Excellency's most faithful most humble Servant To my Lord Berkeley Hague July 11. S. N. 1670. My LORD I Received one from your Excellency of the 11th past by which you were pleased both to oblige and to inform me Nor could any Thing happen more agreeable to me than an Occasion of acknowledging as I ought the Favour you there express both to my Friends in Ireland and to me Of which I am equally sensible I doubt not but your Lordship will find in the loose Posture of Affairs in Ireland a great Subject for your Prudence and Industry in the Application whereof I wish your Lordship all Success and Glory being incapable at this Distance to make any Reflections on Particulars either the Evils or the Redresses Only as an old Servant I may have the Liberty of putting your Lordship in mind of one Point wherein your Reputation is much concerned and upon which I doubt you do not much reflect But if you should continue this luxurious Custom of getting a lusty Boy every Year People will think that you live like a voluptuous young Man of twenty Years old and not like a staid and wise Governor of a Kingdom Nor am I very well satisfied my self whether it be a Thing that consists with the Gravity of a Privy Counsellor much less of a Lord Lieutenant But when I consider that of so good a Race we cannot have too many I am forced to leave my Censures to give your Lordship much Joy of your Irish-man We have nothing here in Discourse but the sad and surprizing News of Madame's Death of which your Lordship will have the Particulars from so many Hands that I will not repeat them nor enter into the general Reflections that are made upon it in all Places I think I am sure here without Scruple or Dispute The Constable is gone for Spain and left his Government much as he held it Nor can I judge whether it came from his natural Temper or some contracted Indispositions For his Health has been of late the Cover for it But these six or eight Months past he has been obstinate to hear nothing of Business returning all that has offered by his nearest Officers with * Why do you kill me Quiere Matarme And passing his Time with his Virginals his Dwarfs and his Graciosoes Some say his Imaginations reached so far as to raise up Spirits and Assassins when he was alone If Spain has no greater Men its pity they have so great Use of them for I am sure Non tali Auxilio nec Defensoribus istis Tempus eget He has left the Government for the interim by the Queen Regent's Order to the Count de Monterey whom he hated and I hear Count Marsyn says he will not obey a Man * Who is but just born Qui ne fait que naître because he is but twenty eight Years old But they have succeeded so ill with one * Who thought of nothing but dying Qui ne songevit
of such Counsels as they esteem most Just and Safe at least if we are not in Condition to think so far as Glorious Multa dies variusque Labor mutabilis Aevi Detulit in melius We have nothing new nor material in present Agitation upon this Scene The last little Commission I had was as troublesome as unsuccessful and proceeded certainly in the Manner of it from want of knowing or considering the Constitutions of this Government which makes me confident your Lordship had no Part in directing it no more than my Lord Arlington who was out of Town I wish your Lordship perfect Health and Satisfaction and that when neither of these make it necessary you may not be too much at your Country-House Tho' in all Places I shall be ever with equal Constancy and Truth My LORD Your Lordship's c. To the Duke of Buckingham Hague Aug. 21. S. N. 1670. My LORD AS your Grace will I hope meet with many new Entertainments on this Side the Water so you must I fear be content with some new Troubles For both usually happen upon all Changes I wish your Grace all that can be of the first and should not have given you any of the other but to rejoice with you upon your happy Arrival at Paris From so little and so barren a Scene as this is at present I cannot offer at informing your Grace of any Thing especially since Men expect here to receive all their material Informations from your Motions where you now are and from what shall succeed them at your Return But to leave these People in their doubtful and mystical Reflections I shall not interrupt either your Grace's Business or Leisure with any Thing but what is plain and certain for nothing is more so than that I am with equal Passion and Truth My LORD Your Grace's most obedient and most humble Servant To my Lord Falconbridge Hague Aug. 22. S. N. 1670. My LORD I WAS very glad to find by your Lordship 's of the first current that the Suddenness of your Return therein mentioned was owing to the Dispatch of your Business in Italy and to the Care of your Health and consequently that you receive from it both Honour and Satisfaction I shall esteem it a great deal of both to me if you continue so favourable Intentions as you express of taking this Place in your way where your Lordship may promise your self whatever my Services can be worth to you I expect my Lord of Essex with my Lady here every Day unless they have changed their Design since their Arrival at Hamburgh where they came about ten Days since after my Lord's having dispatch'd all his Affairs in the Danish Court Our Treaty with Spain for regulating the Affairs of the Indies came signed to London last Week from whence I doubt not it will be suddenly remitted with its Ratification All here is in great Quiet and Silence and like to continue so unless France furnish us with some new Discourse I have hitherto writ by Mr. Perwich's Conveyance but chuse to send this by Sir John Finch's who is like to be a nearer Observer of your Motions But I will not give your Lordship a long and an empty Interruption which has little else to bear it out besides the Profession of my being My LORD Your Lordship 's most faithful humble Servant To the Great Duke of Tuscany Hague Aug. 25. S. N. 1670. SIR I Received almost at the same time the Honour of two Letters from your most Serene Highness one of March the 31st with an entire Vintage of the finest Wines of Italy and the other of the 5th Instant with your Highness's Condolences upon the Death of Madame The great Delay of the Ship that brought the Wine and your Highness's great Dispatch to make a Compliment so sad and so obliging were the cause that two Letters of so different date arrived almost together For I have very much reason to commend the Diligence of Monsieur Ferroni in conveying me all your Highness's Favours I find the Wines admirable and seeming to resemble their Prince in having lost nothing of their natural Tast or Goodness by the length of their Voyage or the Extreams of Heats or of Colds And herein I am more obliged to your Highness than you imagine not only for having made me tast the Delights of so fine a Climate in so miserable a one as this but also for having by the same Means given me the Talent of a Drinker a Quality I wanted very much to acquit my self of an Ambassy in Holland I cannot tell whether your Highness by your moving Expressions upon the Deplorable Death of Madame has more discovered the Beauty of your Wit or the Greatness of your Affection to the King my Master Therefore I hope your Highness will not take it ill that I have sent his Majesty a Copy of your last Letter by which you have given such sensible Proofs of the Part you take in whatever happens to the Royal Family The States General are very much surprized at the News brought them this Day from France in an Express sent them from their Minister at Paris which assures them of the march of the French Troops towards the Frontier to the number of 30000 where they are to rendezvous at Peronne But it is not yet known whether their Design be upon Flanders or this Country or whether they project any other Measures However the Alarm is here so great that they have immediately resolved to continue six thousand Men which they were just going to disband They have also ordered the Council of State to compute what Forces and Provisions they shall judge necessary in case of a Rupture with France and have dispatched a Boat from Scheveling to England with Orders to Monsieur Van Beuninghen who is upon the Point of departing to stay till further Orders from the States For my self I know not what to judge of these Appearances I shall ever complain of any Events that are like to endanger the Quiet of Christendom to which I have for some time under the Orders of his Majesty dedicated all my Cares And without doubt if the War opens at present great Conjunctures will arise whereof perhaps there will be Reason to give your Highness Joy not for being out of the Noise of them but because great Princes only wait for great Occasions I am Sir Your Highness's c. Au Grand Duc de Toscane De la Haye le 25 Aout S. N. 1670. Monsieur J'Ay quasi reçû en meme tems les deux Lettres que V. A. Sme m'a fait l'honneur de m'ecrire l'une datée du 31 de Mars accompagnée des plus riches vendanges d'Italie je veux dire de ses vins les plus exquis l'autre du 5 du courant avec les complimens de condoleance de V. A. sur la mort de Madame Le long retardement de navire qui a apporté les vins