Forces into the Field resolved to compel him by joining with the Dutch if he could not persuade him to make the Peace and the Duke of Nieuburg prepared to second him in this Design The French were not wanting in their Offices to the same Ends so that a private Agreement was made about the beginning of this Month for the French Dutch and Munster Envoys to meet at Cleve and there treat the Peace under the Mediation of the Elector of Brandenburg Assoon as the King received this Alarm he sent an Express immediately to command me away the instant I received it with a Commission to the Bishop of Munster and with Instructions to do all I could possibly to hinder the Peace and with Bills of Exchange to revive his Payments which had been long intermitted and Promise of more to be remitted every Post which I was to order into his Agent 's Hands here in my Absence I went accordingly acquainting none with my going but the Marquess here who gave me Twenty of his own Guards with Command to follow absolutely all Orders I should give them I was to pass through a great deal of the Spanish Country much infested with Dutch Parties more of the Duke of Nieuburg's and more yet of the Brandenburgers who I know were all Enemies to the Affair I went upon and therefore thought it best to pass for a Spanish Envoy sent from the Marquess Castel-Rodrigo to the Emperour and charmed my small Guard and the Cornet that commanded them to keep true to this Note And some of my Servants as most of the Guards speaking Spanish I spoke nothing else unless in private or when I was forced out of it by some Incident In this Guise I came to Duseldorp where the Duke of Nieuburg happened to be contrary to what I had been informed assoon as I was in my Inn one of his Officers came to know who I was and whither I was going and would not be satisfied by the common Answer from my Servants and Guards but would receive it from me when he came up tho' with much Civility yet he prest me so far that I found there was no feigning with him and so bid him tell the Duke that within an hour I would come and give him an Account both of my self and my Journey I remembred the great Kindness that had ever interceded between His Majesty and this Prince and tho' I went upon an Errand that I knew was disagreeable to him yet I thought he would be less likely to cross me if I acquainted him frankly with it than if I disguised scurvily as I was likely to do being the Thing of the World I could do the most uneasily I had a Letter of Credence which I brought out of England at my first coming over for this Prince but passing another Way to Munster I had not used it and so resolved to do it now I did so gave it him told him my Errand how much His Majesty reckoned upon his Friendship and desired his good Offices to the Bishop of Munster in the Design I went upon of keeping him firm to his Treaties with the King my Master This Duke is in my Opinion the finest Gentleman of any German I have seen and deserves much better Fortune than he is in being small very much broken and charged with a very numerous Issue he seems about fifty Years old tall lean very good Mien but more like an Italian than a German All he says is civil well bred honneste plain easie and has an Air of Truth and Honour He made great Professions of Kindness and Respect to the King was sorry he could not serve him in this Affair his Engagements were already taken with the Emperour and his Neighbour Princes for making the Munster Peace and by that Means keeping War out of the Empire He doubted I could not serve His Majesty upon this Errand neither for he first believed I could not get safe to Munster the Ways being all full of Dutch and Brandenburg Parties who had Notice of the King's Intention to send away to the Bishop upon this Occasion and if I should arrive he believed however I should find the Peace Signed before I came My Answer was short for I was very weary that go I would however I succeeded that for the Danger of the Journey I knew no providing against it but a very good Guide who might lead me through Ways the most unfrequented that I would desire His Highness to give me one of his own Guards to conduct me because none would expect a Person going upon my Design would have one in his Livery for a Guide and I desired he would let me pass as I had done hitherto in my Journey for a Spanish Envoy The Duke after some Difficulties at first which we turned into Pleasantries complyed with me in all I took my Leave and went away early next Morning I never travelled a more savage Countrey over cruel Hills through many great and thick Woods stony and rapid Streams never hardly in any high Way and very few Villages till I came neat Dortmund a City of the Empire and within a Days Journey or something more of Munster The Night I came to Dortmund was so advanced when I arrived that the Gates were shut and with all our Eloquence which was as moving as we could we were not able to prevail to have them opened they advised us to go to a Village about a League distant where they said we might have Lodging When we came there we found it all taken up with a Troop of Brandenburg Horse so as the poor Spanish Envoy was fain to eat what he could get in a Barn and to sleep upon a heap of Straw and lay my Head upon my Page instead of a Pillow The best of it was that he understanding Dutch heard one of the Brandenburg Soldiers coming into the Barn examine some of my Guards about me and my Journey which when he was satisfied of he asked if he had heard nothing upon the Way of an English Envoy that was expected the Fellow said he was upon the Way and might be at Dortmund within a Day or two with which he was satisfied and I slept as well as I could The next Morning I went into Dortmund and bearing there that for five or six Leagues round all was full of Brandenburg Troops I dispatcht away a German Gentleman I had in my Train with a Letter to the Bishop of Munster to let him know the Place and Condition I was in and desire he would send me Guards immediately and strong enough to convey me The Night following my Messenger returned and brought me Word that by eight a Clock the Morning after a Commander of the Bishop's would come in Sight of the Town at the Head of twelve hundred Horse and desired I would come and join them so soon as they appeared I did so and after an easie March till four a Clock I came to a Castle of the
of it I mean that you should trouble your self to reason me out of any Custom or Action you would have me leave off or say any thing upon such a Subject besides that you wish it had been otherwise which I desire you to believe shall in far greater Matters be from your hand Persuasion and Command enough to me My Presumptions may be great With my Friends but they are the easiliest check'd of any Man 's alive which is all I shall say upon this Occasion as to the future and for the past I will only assure you that I should not in the least have offered at what I did had it not been at the earnest Instance of the Prince of Munster's Resident here and I am to make it my Business abroad to enter as far as I can into the Secrets and for that end into the Affections of such Ministers as I have to deal with and as some Men are to be gained directly by their Heart so are others by their Hands But another Fault were easier to be born than a long Excuse I will not add to it by our News since of all I write I am sure you know as much as you please only in general our Bishop loses not Courage nor Strength upon all the great Preparations of Enemies or Disappointment of Friends The Dutch seem to be plagued by their own God and to grow unhappy in their own Element the Sea having done them in the last Storms most extravagant Harms some Letters from Amsterdam say to the Value of thirty and others of sixty Millions their Case may grow harder yet if the Frosts do so from the Munster side Our Court here is passionate towards the League between the two Crowns as I am in the Desires of growing in your Friendship and Favour and deserving it by any Testimonies I can give of my being SIR Your most Faithful humble Servant To Dame Augustina Cary. Brussels Feb. 16th S.N. 1666. Madam I Know not whether the shame of having been so long in your Debt be greater than that of paying it so ill at last but I am sure 't is much harder to be excused and therefore shall not attempt it but leave it to Father Placid's Oratory tho' having failed in the substantial Part of your Business I have little Reason to hope he will succeed better in the Ceremonial Part of mine The Truth is there is so great a Difference in common Sound between It is done and It will be done that I was unwilling to acknowledge the Honour of having received your Ladyship's Commands before I had compassed that of obeying them which the Marquess here hath so often assured me would suddenly fall to my share that I thought we had both equal Reason His Excellency to do it and I to believe it This Right I must yet do him that I never prest him in this Concern of your Ladyship 's but he told me all my Arguments were needless for the Thing should be done and how to force a Man that yields I never understood but yet I much doubt that till the Result be given upon the Gross of this Affair which is and has been some time under view your Part in particular will hardly be thought ripe for either his Justice or Favour which will be rather the Style it must run in if it be a Desire of Exemption from a General Rule given in the Case Whatever Person after the Father's Return shall be appointed to observe the Course of this Affair and pursue the Lady's Pretensions here will be sure of all the Assistance I can at any time give him tho' I think it would prove a more publick Service to find some way of dissolving your Society and by that Means dispersing so much Worth about the World than by preserving you together confine it to a Corner and suffer it to shine so much less and go out so much sooner than otherwise it would The ill Effects of your Retreat appear too much in the ill Success of your Business for I cannot think any thing could fail that your Ladyship would sollicite but I presume nothing in this lower Scene is worthy either that or so much as your Desire or Care which are Words that enter not Your Grates to disturb that perfect Quiet and Indifferency which I will believe inhabit there and by your Happiness decide the long Dispute whether the greater lies in wanting nothing or possessing much I cannot but tell you it was unkindly done to refresh the Memory of your Brother Da. Cary's Loss which was not a more general One to Mankind than it was particular to me But if I can succeed in your Ladyship's Service as well as I had the Honour once to do in his Friendship I shall think I have lived to good Purpose here and for hereafter shall leave it to Almighty God with a Submission as abandoned as you can exercise in the low common Concernments of this worthless Life which I can hardly imagine was intended us for so great a Misery as it is here commonly made or to betray so large a Part of the World to so much greater hereafter as is commonly believed However I am obliged to your Ladyship for your Prayers which I am sure are well intended me and shall return you mine That no ill Thoughts of my Faith may possess your Ladyship with an ill one of my Works too which I am sure can not fail of being very meritorious if ever I reach the Intentions I have of expressing my self upon all Occasions Madam Your Ladyships most humble and most obedient Servant To my Lord Arlington Brussels Mar. 1st S. N. 1666. My Lord I Need say nothing to bring your Lordship acquainted with Mr. Sherwood's Person or Errand yet because all Men take themselves to measure best their own Business I would not disappoint his Desires of this Address tho' to add any thing to what I write upon all Occasions of the Prince of Munster's Condition Necessities or Complaints were as I take it just so much of nothing to the Purpose All I will say is that whatever His Majesty resolves to do ought to be sudden and in a Lump to provide for his taking the Field this Spring with Heart and Strength which I believe a Sum within the Compass of a hundred of His Majesty's Subjects would enable him to do Nothing will ever me to give your Lordship those Testimonies I desire of the most hearty constant Passion wherewith I shall ever be My Lord. Your Lordships c. To the Duke of Albemarle Brussels Mar. 1st S. N. 1666. My Lord. UPon Mr. Sherwood's Passage this Way into England from the Bishop of Munster I could not refuse him the Occasion of waiting upon your Grace who so well knows how far His Majesty's Honour and Interests may be concerned in the Success of his Errand Tho' that Prince's Necessities may be grown great as well as his Complaints and the Arrears of his Payments yet I am
own Truth as well as my Business And so upon the 4th at Night all ended My Dissatisfaction with the Baron Bargeyck's Conduct since I came hither was I confess very great and my Expressions upon it very free in my several Expresses to the Marquis who it seems takes part in it and owns it so far as to seem most extremely ill satisfied with the Ministers using so much Earnestness here in beating him out of all those Designs I have had three several Letters from his Excellency since my being here upon that Subject but all so ill-humoured and so Emportèes that I think they had been better spared and though what was particular to Me civil enough yet some Expressions concerning the general Proceeding wherein I had the chiefest Part so Picquantes that I think I have reason to resent and am sure have not deserved it from any publick Minister either there or here And having answered them accordingly I know not upon what Terms we are like to be upon my Return And therefore could not forbear giving your Lordship the trouble of this Relation to justifie my self not only to your Lordship for there I am sure it will not need but if you think fit to the Count Molina and the Baron d' Isola too who may perhaps have received Letters from the Marquis upon our Proceedings here of the same Style that I have done I have been the more earnest in bringing this Matter to an Issue here which the Holland Ambassador says had never been done without Me because I conceived by all I have had from your Lordship as well as from other Hands not only that you desired it in England but that the Peace was necessary for the Constitution of His Majesty's present Affairs And since he has had the Glory of makng two Peaces so important we have now nothing to wish but to see him in a Condition to make War as well as Peace whenever the Honour and Interest of his Crowns shall make it necessary For that Necessity can I suppose be no ways long avoided but by our being in a Posture to welcome it whenever it comes and to make Advantage of it And I think the best Time to fall into Councils tending to this great End will be after the Conclusion of this general Peace when no Engagement abroad forces His Majesty to have so much need of Money from his People For the Time to repair the Harms that Storms have done a House is in fair Weather and to mend a leaky Ship she must be brought ashore God of Heaven send your Lordship to be an happy Instrument in the Proposal and Application of such Councils and that we may take warning by the poor Spaniards Example whose ill Conduct of late in the Government has so far subjected them to their Neighbours Disesteem and Insolence and Humour as well as to their Conquests Violence and Oppression which I confess have been enough to put them upon such desperate Councils as your Lordship mentions of giving up all to the French in these Countries rather than be the bare Guardians of other Frontiers And yet all these Misfortunes are the natural Consequences of their Conduct and will never fail befalling any Prince that follows their Example I wish That might befal the French to temper a little such an over-grown Greatness but I doubt it much from the present King's Dispositions among whose Qualities those of Carelesness or lavishing his Treasures I am afraid are none Therefore I wish him engaged in some very charming Pleasures or else in some more difficult Enterprises than his last and where we may not have so great a Share That which they talk on here may possibly prove so which is drawing or forcing the Empire to chuse the Dauphin King of the Romans For though his Party be grown strangely powerful in Germany and if Brandenburgh be falling into it as is believed none will be left to the House of Austria that I know of unless Saxony and Triers yet such a body so differently composed as the Empire should methinks very hardly move all one way in any new Course Monsieur Colbert talks of his Master's sending immediately ten or fifteen thousand Men for the Relief of Candy which were a glorious and Christian Council and in all ways that can be to be cherished and applauded And if any Offices could be done towards engaging the French Court in that Design by Us or the Dutch I think they were not ill bestow'd about which I have entertain'd Monsieur Beverning who is of my mind and have insinuated the same Notions among the German Ministers here who swallow it greedily and I hope it may take Effect and help to free all these Parts of the Jealousie which so great an Army must needs give as this Peace is like to leave idle upon the French Hands I intend to begin my Journey to Brussels to morrow Monsieur Beverning gone to day but I doubt I shall be five or six Days upon the Way not knowing any thing now that presses me to more than ordinary Haste I received 600 l. owing me upon my Employment there before my coming away and was very sorry to find by a Letter of my Wife 's that the Fear she had of my being dissappointed in that Particular made her draw up a Memorial which it seems the Council was troubled with about my private Concernments I may very truly and justly disown it as I do and hope she will be pardoned for too forward a Care and Concernment in that business For as to the Charge of my Journey here when your Lordship thinks fit to command it I shall send you the exact Account which my Secretary keeps of all I spend and leave it in your Lordship's Hands for His Majesty to do as he pleases in it which is all the Trouble I shall give you or my self about it I am ever with equal Passion and Truth c. TO The Marquis OF Castel-Rodrigo Aix May 8. S. N. 1668. My Lord I Received yours of the 4th Instant and am glad your Excellency is so extreamly satisfied with the Moderation as you are pleased to style it of the Baronde Bargeyck while at the same time you are so much provoked at the Complaints I made of his Conduct here I shall always openly confess that seeing Don Juan's Arrival with the intended Supplies delay'd and perhaps wholly frustrated seeing Holland so desperately fond of the Peace without considering the Interests of Spain seeing the Emperor appear wholly disinteressed in the Matter seeing Spain had used no Endeavors to engage the King my Master or Sueden otherwise than by fair words And that His Majesty was not in a condition to enter into the Affair alone upon pure Considerations of Generosity or of a Danger at distance Seeing also that Spain approved even the first Project of Peace drawn by Monsieur de Lionne I thought upon all these Considerations that it was their Interest sincerely to finish
believe you know already from the said Marquis Now since it concerns me very much that his Majesty should know these Soldiers are kept in his Service I should be extremely satisfied if you would inform the King of it at the same time that the said Baron de Rosenback will be arrived at London And that it be represented as Mark of my eternal Devotion to his Majesty In which you will highly oblige me And in Confidence thereof I remain SIR Your most Obliged Servant Chr. Bernardus Ab Episcopo Monasterii Lugderio Maii 21. 1666. Generose Domine NON dubito officiis Dis Vrae additum in Aulâ Regis ablegato meo Baroni de Rosenback ita praeparatum ut S. Regiae Majestati ratio consilii me praebetur quod Dom. Vram ita continuaturam spero ut Rex persuasum omnino habeat istam necessitatem quae mihi pacis lages imposuit nihil prorsus detraxisse de animo quo S. Majestatis observantiae gloriae utilitati aeternùm devotus sum Eumque in finem mandavi Agenti meo Rintorf intimam meo nomine cum Dne Vrâ. Communicationem mearum rerum amicitiam colere intentus semper in occasiones omness futurus pro servitio S. Majestatis quem in finem copias Brabanticas in circulo Burgundico conscriptas Domino Marchioni de Castel Rodrigo integras remisi jam itineri in Belgium Hispanicum accinguntur legiones aliquot Germanorum fortis sanè exercitatus miles de quorum virtute ipsi foederati Belgae testari poterunt uti Dom. Vram jam ex praedicto domino gubernatore latiùs cognovisse arbitror Cum autem meâ plurimum intersit ut Regiae Majestati suae constet militem hunc in suo servitio conservari pergratum mihi foret si Di◠Vra. de eo facillitandae intentioni meae quamprimum fine morâ hoc ipso tempore quo dictus Baro de Rosenback Londinum appulerit S. Majestatem certiorem faciat tanquam indicium ratum aeternae meae in Regem fide contestetur Quo me Dio. Vra. sibi summopere obligabit Et hà c fiduciâ manes Dominationi vestrae addictissimus Chr. Bernardus From my Lord Arlington Whitehall July 30. 1666. SIR WHAT I received in yours of the 2d was written to me at large from him whom I suppose to be the Author of it but not exactly with the same Circumstances whether his Meaning or his Imagination fail him is a great Question here His Name to speak freely with you is able to discredit any Truth And against the Grain I employ'd him in Holland not to make him the Instrument of Peace but to send us News However I do not yet discourage him from writing though I wish what he saith came from any Hand rather than his Accordingly you shall do well to handle him And this is enough upon this Subject when I have so much a better to entertain you upon Here enclos'd you have the effective Truth of what I sent you the Symptoms in my last I durst not hazard any of my Acquaintance with the putting it into French because of the Sea-Terms wherewith it abounds But if you can get it well done and quickly published you will do his Majesty a good Service and may fairly put the Cost of it into your Accompts Moreover I have promis'd his Majesty to charge you with the writing of some small Paper and publishing it in French that may pleasantly and pertinently awaken the good Patriots in Holland not only to Thoughts and Wishes of Peace but to a reasonable Application for it assuring them his Majesty continues still to wish it and would gladly receive any Overtures for it from the States here in his own Kingdom not expecting less from them in this kind than they did to the Usurper Cromwell This done in any Form you like best wou'd certainly operate well in Holland and be a Work worthy of your Pen which I know has Sufficiency very much greater One thing especially it will good to mind them of the considerable Succors and Advantages they have had by the Conjunction with France which hath not been remakarbly visible in any thing more than in getting their Narratives to be believed in all the Courts of Christendom and helping them to make their Bonfires for their Successes His Majesty is going this Night to visit the Queen at Tunbridge for which he had not Leisure till now I am SIR Your most affectionate humble Servant Arlington POSTSCRIPT LET your Emissaries give you a particular Account of the Condition of the Dutch Fleet gotten into Zealand and of the Readiness they are in to come out again with an exact Account of their Strength if it be possible Monsieur Nypho will help to convey it speedily to us From the Earl of Clarendon Worcester-House Aug. 2d 1666. SIR I Have many Excuses to make you for not acknowledging all your Letters punctually when I received them which I suppose would give you some Trouble And I am sure all I can say to you by way of Information or Advice is constantly and abundantly supplied by the Diligence of my good Friend my Lord Arlington The last Favour I receiv'd from you was of the 23d of this Month since which time it hath pleased God to give a wonderful Improvement to our Affairs And yet I am perswaded that you there know more of the full Extent of the late great Victory than we do In all Mens View it is very great and noble and in one Respect very wonderful that almost the whole Fleet that went from hence rides now before the Enemies Harbours without being compelled to send any considerable Number of their Ships to be repaired And I believe this Success will change the Measures of most of the Councils in Christendom I wish with all my Heart it may work upon them from whom your Court must receive its Orders to move with a little more Vigor in their Resolutions the want of which will at some time or other prove fatal to that Monarchy They have it yet in their Power to secure themselves from ever receiving Prejudice from the French which I take to be the only Blessing they are to pray for in this World But it will not be always in their Power to do so I presume my good Friend Ogniate is before this time arrived there with good Satisfaction And I will not deny to you I always wished well to those Transactions the Concessions being in truth no other than what in Justice ought to be granted except we would declare to the World that whilst we have a War with Holland we will have no Peace with Flanders I wish with all my Heart that it may be punctually and religiously observed on our Part by the exemplary Punishment of those Persons who in the least Degree violate the Protection agreed upon And though there will be as you say a great Latitude for them to cover the Dutch Trade yet that cannot be long done without
qui l'a suivi J'espere que la Ratification de ce Traité sera êchangée á son terme de part d'autre ne manqueray de contribuer de ma part tout ce que je pourray á la conservation du repos public pour seconder les intentions de sa Majesté Asseurant cependant Vre Exce qu'on n'oubliera jamais les obligations que Luy doivent une infinité de bons Chrêtiens pour les soins qu'elle a apporté á la conciliation de cette paix que pour mon particulier je cheriray les occasions par lesquelles je luy pourray têmoigner la sincerité de mon affection combien je desire luy connoître que je suis Monsieur De Votre Excellence tres humble tres affectioné Serviteur El. de Mayence From the Duke de Roanez From the Camp of Ruysbrouk May 29 1668. Monsieur THE Count of Rembourg has informed me this Morning being the 27th Instant at eleven a Clock from the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo of the arrival of the Ratification to which I sent answer that I doubted not of what he did me the Honour to write to me but that I had no News of it from the King Be pleased that I repeat the same thing to you and tell you that I wonder extreamly how any one can complain that I have attack'd their Troops out of the City since these Acts of Hostility are always allowed till the Publication of the Peace for it is but yesterday that one of their Parties attack'd ours whereof I sent you the Prisoners back to Braine le Chateau and the same day those of Braine le Chateau took 10000 Francs from the Equipage of one of our Captains They might better inform you how I send your Prisoners back without suffering them to be dismounted or plundred that I allow no Pillage that comes to my Knowledge and that they have dismounted and stript even my own Domesticks For what the Marquis of Castel-Rodrigo has assured you that his Troops on the 27th at Noon and the 28th or 29th at Night acted only in the defensive If there be any Action for the future whereof I see no Appearance then I shall know by the Issue whether they have yet acted defensively or offensively This is all I can answer you upon what is past or to come In Expectation of the King's Orders for publishing the Peace at the Camp as it has been this Day publish'd at Brussels you will do me Justice to believe that no one is more than I SIR Your most humble Servant Au Camp de Ruysbrouk 29 May 1668. Monsieur MOnsieur te Conte de Rembourg m'a fait scavoir ce matin 27 á onze heures de la part de Monsieur le Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo l'arrivée de la ratification A qui j'ay fait rêponse que je ne doutois pas de ce qu'il me faisoit l'honneur de m'ecrire mais que je n'en avois aucune nouvelle du côté du Roy. Trouvez bon que je Vous repete la même chose Et que je vous dise que je suis extremement êtonne que l'on se puisse plaindre de ce que j'ay fait attaquer leurs trouppes hors de la Ville Piusque ces sortes d'actes d'hostilite sont permis jusqu ' á la publication de la paix que même hier un de leurs parties attaqua les nôtres dont je renvoyay les prisonniers á Braine le Château le même jour ceux du même Braine le Chateau prirent prés de dix mille francs d'equipage á un de nos capitaines Ils pourroient encore mieux vous informer comme je renvoye leurs prisonniers sans permettre qu'on les demonte qu'on les depouille que je ne souffre point de pillage qui vienne á ma connoissance Et qu'ils ont demonté depouillé jusqu ' á nos domestiques Pour ce que Monsieur le Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo vous a asseuré que ses troupes le 27me aprés midy la nuit du 28me ou 29me n'avoient agi qu'en se deffendant c'st un verité dont je tombe d'accord Si á l'avenir il y a quelque action á quoy je ne voy point d'apparance alors je sauray par l'issue s'ils ont encore agi en se deffendant ou en attaquant Voila ce que je vous puis repondre pour ce qui est passé ce qui peut arriver En attendant les ordres du Roy pour faire publier la paix á Camp comme l'on l'a publie aujourdhuy á Brusselles Vous tne ferez justice de croire qui'l n'est personne qui soit plus Monsieur Vôtre tres humble Serviteur Le Duc de Roanez From Monsieur de Witt. Hague July 6 1668. SIR I Could not receive more agreeable News than what you tell me of your return hither with the Character of Ambassador I am sure you will not doubt the Truth of what I say when you reflect on the Satisfaction I ought to have and have already in the Generosity and Sincerity I have observed in all your Proceedings You have reason Sir to say that it is impossible the King of Great Britain should not design to live in a perfect good Intelligence with this State when he sends us a Person who ought to be so dear to us upon so many Considerations honoured with a Character that shews the Esteem and Friendship he has for this State we shall endeavour the Continuance of both by doing all his Majesty can expect from his most faithful Allies and by the same means I shall endeavour to give his Majesty the Marks of that profound Respect I have for his Person and the Proofs of those Sentiments I have for your Merit And as you and I desire nothing on both sides but to preserve eternally the good Intelligence you have helpt to strengthen with so much Success I cannot doubt but we may easily avoid whatever is capable of changing it Permit me Sir to say that you shall find me always disposed to give all facility to whatever can establish the common Interest of either State and as I know I shall always find the same disposition in you I cannot but rejoice when I consider that I shall have to negotiate with a Minister who possesses all the Qualities that can make him succeed in whatever he undertakes This is all I am permitted to say by an Affliction lately come upon me having lost a Wife who was indeed the true half of me whereof I make no difficulty by this occasion to inform you who have had the Goodness to tell me that you take part in my Concerns as on my side I shall ever do in all your Interests with that Affection and Sincerity wherewith I am and shall remain all my Life SIR Your most humble Servant A la
tell him what I could make of all this laid together For on the one side there were Circumstances enough to awake a suspicious Man and on the other side he could never think it possible for any Nation or Court it self to quit so certain a Point of Interest and great a Point of Honour as must be forfeited by our breaking our Alliances with this State or entring into any with France whose Greatness had occasioned our Measures for our own as well as our Neighbour's Defence He said I knew the best of any how all these Matters had pass'd How his Majesty had engaged these States in those common Measures and even prevailed with them to make a Sacrifice of the ancient Kindness and Alliance this State had always before with France to the Considerations of the present Danger from the Greatness of that Crown to the rest of Christendom though they might have had what Terms they pleased from them for the dividing of Flanders That I knew with how inviolate Faith and Firmness the States had constantly observed for these two Years past their Friendship and Alliances with his Majesty and how great a Part I had in contracting and pursuing them by the particular Confidence the States and He especially had in my Person as one that was persuaded of our common Interests that knew my Master's Mind and would not be an Instrument to deceive those that trusted me For these Reasons he said he desired to know my Opinion upon this whole Matter especially that of my Journy into England which he said would be very surprizing to every Body here and therefore he would be glad to give the News of it to the States in the best manner he could I protested to him that I had hitherto received constant Assurances from both the Secretaries of State of his Majesty's Resolutions to observe constantly the Measures in which he was engaged to this State And that I knew not a Word more of the Reasons of my sudden Journy into England than what I had told him That I had Orders to leave my Family behind me And that his Majesty might possibly think it necessary for his Information to speak with me upon the present Conjunctures and to return me immediately according to my Lord Arlington's Letter That I confessed I was apt to make many of those Reflections that he had done but could not believe it possible for any Crown ever to enter into Councils so destructive to their Honour and Safety as those he suspected That if such a Thing should ever happen I desired him to remember what I told him upon the Scruples he had made in trusting our Court upon the Negotiations of the Triple Alliance Which was that I told him then what I thought of his Majesty's Dispositions and Resolutions as well as those of his Ministers That I could not believe it possible for them to change in a Point of so evident Interest and which would be so understood by the whole Nation That however I could answer for nobody besides my self but this I would and that if ever such a Thing should happen I would never have any Part in it That I had told the King so as well as him and would make it good That for the present there was nothing more to be said but that I must go away for England That if I returned he would know more and I doubted by what he said that he would guess more if I returned not Monsieur de Witt smiled and said I was in the right That in the mean time he would try to cure himself and Others of all Suspicions upon my Journy And would hope on t'other side it might be of use to the common Interests by possessing his Majesty of the great Importance of the late Seisure of Lorrain and of the States Resolutions to stick close to him in all Measures he should take upon it And so we parted I would have gone away immediately upon this Summons but that it found me very ill and uncertain whether it would end in a Fever as it seemed to begin but since a great Swelling fallen upon my Face I hope it may pass However being forced to delay my Journy some few Days I could not but give your Lordship this Account before-hand and leave it to you to make what use of it you think fit without expecting any Answer since I hope so soon to follow it But I know your Lordship fully persuaded of our Interest to preserve our Alliances here and the present Measures of Christendom which depend upon them And tho' you have said nothing yet to make me distrust our Counsels in that Matter yet I confess I have not the better Opinion of it from what I find of your Lordship's estranging your self of late or being estranged from the Consultations of them I have likewise reflected upon the kind Hint your Lordship gave me some time since of my Lord Arlington's not being the same to me which he had formerly been and constantly since our first Acquaintance Which made me I confess then doubt rather some Mistake in your Lordship's Observation than any Change in his Friendship or Dispositions From himself I must needs say I yet find nothing of it and tho' his Style seems a little changed in what concerns our Publick Affairs yet not at all in what is particular to me When I come into England I shall soon know the Truth of your Conjecture and tell it you because by that I shall judge the Truth of mine For having never said or done any Thing to deserve the least Change in his Lordship's Friendship to me since it first began I am sure if it happens it can be derived from nothing else but a Change he foresees in those Measures at Court which he has been with your Lordship so deeply engaged in and which he knows as well as your Lordship that I will never have any Part in the Councils of altering till I can be convinced that any others will be more for his Majesty's Honour and Safety All this I say in Confidence to your Lordship without touching any Word of it to my Lord Arlington or any other Person And shall increase this Trouble no further because I hope to have so soon the Honour of seeing you and assuring you a nearer way with how much Passion as well as Truth I am and shall be ever My Lord your Lordship 's c. To the Great Duke of Tuscany London Nov. 4. 1670. SIR I Should not have satisfied my self barely to resent all the Favours of your most Serene Highness and particularly the Honour of your last of September the 30th if I were any way capable of acknowledging them as I ought either by my Expressions or my Services But your Highness being pleased to oblige so many ways so unprofitable a Person can hope for no other Returns than the Pleasure of your own Generosity and the Devotion of a Heart so grateful as mine I