him, and has improperly expressed his intentions; for, without malice it is impossible to believe that a sensible man could have made so gross a mistake, though it is attributed to him even by the king, his master; and although he blames him greatly, I cannot but think it would have been better to conceal such a misapprehension on the part of his minister, than to publish it."**

Hollis soon perceived that he had lost all his influence, and his correspondence with the English court became as melancholy as his relations with the court of France were unpleasant. "I have received yours of June 27th, most welcome to me," he wrote in confidence, on the 19th of July, 1664, to his friend Sir William Morrice, then Secretary of State; "and I give you my humble thanks for it, be the contents what they will, which must be what the complexion of the time affords, and not always what you and I would desire. Cloudy enough it is for the poor Protestants, methinks, in all quarters; and nowhere worse than here. The poor people of Privas, that are forced from their lands and houses, are not suffered to carry away their moveable goods with them, but are robbed of it as they go; and the country of Gex, by Geneva, which the Duke of Savoy passed over to the King of France upon an exchange, but with that condition for the freedom of their religion, which they have ever since enjoyed from the time of Henry IV., being all Protestants: now all their temples are every one pulled down to the number of three-and-twenty, and the exercise of their religion suffered but in two places, where they are glad to make use of barns; and no reason given for it to such as have been deputed hither, both from them and from the canton of Berne, to endeavour to obtain some favour in it, but Le Roy le veut. . . . . All seems to make for the greatness of France. The weakness, and divisions, and ill counsels, and ill successes of the undertakings of all the other Christian princes and states, are the elevation of this young king, who may be raised so high that his brains may turn, and he may suis viribus ruere-commonly the fate of human greatness. Yet he hath certainly great advantages of his own, besides what his neighbours contribute to make him great; a clear understanding, a good judgment, an indefatigable industry; then a vast treasure and absolute power within his kingdom. . . . . If once he can get to be consider* Archives of the French Foreign Office.

able at sea, he will be formidable indeed; and yet need not our master fear him except he will; and he only of all the princes of Christendom is out of his reach, who can prejudice him, and receive no prejudice from him; except it be that the other plow with his heifer, get within his councils; so will he unriddle his riddles, and I doubt not doth now. Sir, it makes me mad, that I wish myself ten thousand miles off, to be the unhappy man that must be forced to deliver up the honour of my king and nation. Oh! that I had never come hither, or that I might soon be suffered to return from hence, where I shall be ashamed hereafter to show my face, which hitherto I could hold up with some comfort, though I received no favour or kindness from them." *

Hollis's wish was soon granted. The assistance which, during the year 1665, in virtue of the treaty of defensive alliance made in 1662, Louis XIV. gave to the Dutch in their war against England, induced the recal of the ambassador, who had long been almost as disagreeable to his own court, which he enlightened in spite of itself, as he was to the French king, whose policy he watched with the most hostile sagacity. Though recalled in December, 1665, a violent attack of gout detained Hollis in Paris until May, 1666; and, during this interval, the two courts renewed their endeavours to treat of peace. Louis XIV. has himself transmitted to us, in his Memoirs, the details of this futile attempt:

"The Queen of England," he says, "continuing to manifest a strong desire for peace, I was wishful to make use of this means to defend myself against the pretentions of the King of England, who maintained that, as he had been the first to declare war, I ought to be the first to send an envoy into his kingdom to negotiate peace. For I represented to him that the house in which that princess resided ought to be considered by us both as neutral ground; that the respect due to her dignity would in a moment settle all those preliminary questions of etiquette, which frequently cause as much difficulty as the substantial provisions of treaties; that the anxiety which that queen manifested for peace might at any hour furnish him with expedients for clearing away all the difficulties that pre

*This letter is printed at length in Collins's "Historical Collections of the Noble Families of Hollis, Cavendish, &c.," p. 159 (London, 1752).

+ The Queen Dowager Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I. See "Euvres de Louis XIV.," vol. ii., p. 107 (Paris, 1806).

sented themselves; and that lastly, as she had made the proposition, it would not be reasonable to negotiate without her concurrence, and thus deprive her of the honour of success.

"But the principal reason which made me lean towards this place, was the advantage which I thereby hoped to gain of being able to give instructions to all the ministers I might employ, about every matter that occurred during the course of the negotiation.

"The King of England, who seemed at first to see through my design, for some time was disposed to insist upon the contrary; but at length, having become more tractable, he empowered his ambassador, Lord Hollis, to act for him; who proceeded on the-th of April to the residence of the Queen of England, where Lionne was present on my behalf, and the ambassador Van Beuninghen on behalf of the States of Holland. At first all parties were very courteous to each other, and expressed, in the strongest terms, their hope that a satisfactory agreement might be come to; but when they had entered upon the business, the English ambassador, finding that nothing was proposed to him but what had been previously suggested, intimated that he could not conclude any arrangement, and, a few days afterwards, received orders to withdraw from my court, where he had remained until then, although war had been declared. Meanwhile, the Queen of England found it necessary to take her departure for the waters, before Lord Hollis had received final instructions from his master; she begged me, that if the treaty were continued, the negotiation might still be carried on in her house, just as if she were still present. But whilst these treaties with our neighbours were being broken off, others were concluded with more distant nations."

Towards the end of May, 1666, Lord Hollis finally left Paris to return to England; and M. de Gomont, who was deputed by M. de Lionne to accompany him as far as Dieppe, gives an account of his journey and embarkation in the two following despatches:

"Dieppe, May 29, 1666.

"In obedience to the orders of the king, which you were pleased to convey to me, I have accompanied the English ambassador to this place, where he arrived yesterday evening, and where I shall remain with him until his embarkation. In order to give you an exact account, I have to inform you that

on Monday, the 24th instant, he left Paris, and, proceeding on his journey, dined at Pontoise, and slept at Magny the same night. On Tuesday, the 25th, at about five o'clock in the morning, his secretary-of-legation arrived, together with a person named Petit; who brought several letters to the ambassador, and, among others, I know that there was one from Madame. The secretary-of-legation remained in his suite, and Petit posted back to Paris. He is the man who was formerly secretary to the ambassador, Lockhart, and afterwards in the service of the Earl of St. Albans. From Magny, my ambassador went forward, dined at Ecouy, and slept at Rouen, where he remained on Wednesday. On his arrival at Rouen, M. de Montausier paid him a visit, which the ambassador returned on the following day; and, besides these civilities, very few people have seen him, except one Madame de Cambremont, of Lower Normandy, who has been with him nearly all the time. Some merchants have visited him, by means of whom he received his money; and also one M. de Saint-Simon, Grand Provost of Normandy. On Thursday, the 27th, he left Rouen and proceeded to Toste, where he dined and slept that night. M. de Montigny, the commandant, came to pay his respects to him; and, after I had informed the said M. de Montigny of the king's intentions, and as there was nothing to be done for the ambassador, except to pay him private civilities, he desired that the mayors and sheriffs of the town might pay him their respects in a body, as they had done when he passed through the town three years before. I represented to him that circumstances had changed since then. He then told me that what induced him, as well as the corporation of the town, to desire to pay him this compliment was, that as several sailors from this place are prisoners in England, he hoped that the ambassador would use his influence to obtain their liberation. As I did not think the matter was of any consequence, I allowed them to do as they wished.

"There are in the roadstead here a frigate of thirty guns, and a yacht belonging to the Duke of York, which have been sent for the use of the ambassador. There is also a French vessel in the port, which the ambassador wishes to hire to carry over his baggage. This vessel cannot leave the harbour until high tide, which will not be until Tuesday, the 1st of June. And as I perceive that my lord the ambassador is not

disposed to leave without his luggage, I do not think that he will embark until Wednesday, the 2nd of June; although he might start this very day if he pleased, as the time is favourable for the frigate and yacht. He has, moreover, told me several times, that he was anxious to present himself before his master, the King of England, as quickly as possible. His present conduct makes me doubtful of this, for his luggage is not a matter worthy of any consideration, if he is really desirous to obey his master's orders with all diligence.

"I have gathered from his conversation that he never was of opinion that the king his master would treat with the Bishop of Munster. He says that if the said bishop had not begun to arm, the king would perhaps not have sent any of his troops to the Dutch; and that up to that time there would not have been any rupture; and that by the accounts which he will give to the King of England and his Council of State, it will not be his fault if they interpret matters more favourably than they have hitherto done; and that he could easily conceive that each had manifested considerable warmth in his turn. He tells me all that he pleases; I listen attentively and think myself bound to report it to you, that you may attach to it such belief as you please. I find him extremely polite and civil, but I remark that he is not devoid of anxiety. I learn from a small barque, which arrived here this morning from Holland, that nearly all the Dutch fleet is collected together to the number of one hundred and thirty sail; and the master of this barque tells me that it is rumoured that Admiral Ruyter is to pass by the north, to join M. de Beaufort at La Rochelle."

The second despatch is as follows :—

"Dieppe, June 1, 1666.

"I have just witnessed the embarkation of the English ambassador, who will have the finest possible weather for his passage. He desired me to present his very humble thanks to the king for the honour which his majesty has done him, and to assure you, sir, of his good offices. He pressed me to accept a present of two hundred silver crowns, which he had lodged with a merchant to be employed as I might desire. I neither wished, nor thought it right, to receive it, as I thought neither the king nor yourself would wish me to do so. He has many times assured me that, by the course of conduct he would pursue, it should be clearly perceived that it was not