The customary supplies had not been sent.
Parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able to get that draft discounted on the Antwerp Exchange by consenting to receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent.

of the sum.

A good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road.

The whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to Farnese, for want of funds.

The time for doing the deed had arrived, and he declared himself incapacitated by poverty.