But the cousin had been already negotiating.] [Footnote 3: Clarendon, 891-896; Thurloe, VII.

807-898; Skinner, 266-275; Phillips, 695-696.] Over the seas went Greenville, as fast as ship could carry him, with the precious messages he bore.

At Ostend, where he arrived on the 23rd of March, he reduced them to writing; and the next day, and for several days afterwards, Charles, Hyde, Ormond, and Secretary Nicholas, were in joyful consultation over them in Brussels.

The advice of an instant removal to Breda fitted in with their own intentions.

Neither the Spanish territory nor the French was a good ground from which to negotiate openly with England; nor indeed was Spanish territory quite safe for Charles at a time when, seeing his restoration possible, Spain might detain him as a hostage for the recovery of Dunkirk and Mardike.