"It would never do, however," he continued, "to let our man see that we desire it, for then we should never succeed.

The only way to conquer him is to make him believe that things are going on as he wishes, not as his Highness may desire, and that we have none of us any will but the King's." Upon this passage the "terrible man" made a brief annotation: "this paragraph does admirably," he said, adding, with characteristic tautology, "and what you say in it is also excellent." "Therefore," continued the minister, "God forbid, Master Escovedo, that you should come hither now; for we should all be lost.

In the English matter, I assure you that his Majesty was extremely anxious that the plan should succeed, either through the Pope, or otherwise.

That puts me in mind," added Perez, "to say, body of God! Senor Escovedo! how the devil came you to send that courier to Rome about the English plot without giving me warning ?" He then proceeded to state that the papal nuncio in Spain had been much troubled in mind upon the subject, and had sent for him.

"I went," said Perez, "and after he, had closed the door, and looked through the keyhole to see that there were no listeners, he informed me that he had received intelligence from the Pope as to the demands made by Don John upon his Holiness for bulls, briefs, and money to assist him in his English scheme, and that eighty thousand ducats had already been sent to him in consequence." Perez added that the nuncio was very anxious to know how the affair should best be communicated to the King, without prejudice to his Highness.