Venice: October 1603 | British History Online

Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 10, 1603-1607. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1900.

Citation:

'Venice: October 1603', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 10, 1603-1607, ed. Horatio F Brown( London, 1900), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol10/pp99-109 [accessed 25 November 2024].

October 1603



Oct. 2. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	137. Anzolo Badoer, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate.
	I asked the King whether the States would be included in the peace between England and Spain; he said “ No” “ Then” said I, “what use will peace be, for the King of England will still be forced to support the States.” “ That is just the mischief” replied his Majesty, “ and if the Spanish do make peace on those terms their sole object will be to assassinate the King, either by conspiracies or by revolutions; and if civil war breaks out he is a gone man, for he has not the courage necessary to face such a crisis. He cares for nothing but the chase, and leaves everything to his Council; he favours those Còuncillors whom Spain will win over by bribes.” The King added with profound emotion, “If the King of England makes peace he wilt find himself in great embarrassments.” His Majesty does not believe that the Spanish Ambassador in England is authorized to conclude peace; his mission is merely to open negotiations, and above all to win over the principal ministers with gold and gifts.
	In replying to your Serenity's last sentence (fn. 1) I would I could stain this paper with the blushes that suffuse my countenance at your boundless kindness which converts my imperfect efforts into laudable deeds.
	Paris, 2nd October, 1603.
	[Italian; the part in italics deciphered.]
Oct. 2. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	138. Anzolo Badoer, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate.
	The Huguenots thought of placing themselves under the protection of the King of England, on account of the demand that they should restore to the King of France the thirty strong places now in their hands. The King of England declined to entertain the proposal.
	Paris, 2nd October, 1603.
	[Italian; deciphered.]
Oct. 2. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	139. Anzolo Badoer, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate.
	The terms of the treaty with France were signed by the King of England's own hand, and sent back to England when signed by the King of France. But all the same the French ministers are very suspicious of the Spanish, for it has been found out that they are corrupting English ministers with great sums of money. There are complaints against M. de Rosny that he left the English ministers in the dark, and dealt with the King only; the result will be that, partly owing to Spanish gold, partly in anger at de Rosny's neglect of them, they will prove hostile to this Crown. They do not doubt that the King of England will observe the terms of his accord, because it is more important for him than even for France to support Holland, but the French would like to prevent him from coming to any terms with Spain. The Spanish Ambassador here is already aware of the secret treaty, and he and the Envoy of the Archduke are furious.
	Paris, 2nd October, 1603.
	[Italian; deciphered.]
Oct. 4. Original Despatch. Venetian Archives.	140. Francesco Vendramin, Venetian Ambassador in Rome, to the Doge and Senate.
	A Scottish gentleman has arrived to convey the Queen of England's thanks for certain articles of devotion, sent her by his Holiness. She is as well disposed to the Pope, as the King is the reverse. He is daily further and further removed from his promises to educate his son as a Catholic, and to grant freedom of conscience.
	Rome, 4th October, 1603.
	[Italian.]
Oct. 5. Original Despatch Venetian Archives.	141. Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, Venetian Secretary in England, to the Doge and Senate.
	Your Serenity's despatches of the 2nd and 5th September reached me on the evening of the 29th. My audience was fixed for the following day at Woodstock (Utstoc). I took the occasion to express your Serenity's satisfaction at the mission of Sir Anthony Standen. The King said, “What a time Standen has been without letting me hear from him! A pretty messenger insooth! At all events, if he has executed my orders properly, he will have nothing to report on his return but what I have already imagined.” I then told his Majesty that to please him your Serenity had restored Sir Anthony Sherley to your favour, with permission to remain in Venice as long as he liked. The King replied, “I am very well pleased. Sir Anthony's father is a very honest gentleman.”
	I then told his Majesty that Christopher Olororeh, of Southampton, and Nicholas Alvel, of (?) (Dempten), had, in the waters of Zante, seized and plundered the ship, “Geopandita,” master, Giovanni de Paris, sailing from Smyrna to Venice, with a cargo worth upwards of a hundred thousand ducats; and that Captain Tomkins, in the same waters, had seized the “Balbiana,” and plundered her of about three hundred thousand ducats in cash, cloth of gold, silk, and wool, and that it is supposed he sunk her and a number of persons on board, so as to conceal his crime. I said that your Serenity besought of the King's justice restitution of the booty, part of which was in the hands of the Lord Admiral, and two others, partners, and that the culprits should be punished.
	The King listened to me with extreme impatience, twisting his body, striking his hands together, and tapping with his feet. He took the memorandum I handed to him, and said in a loud voice, “By God I'll hang the pirates with my own hands, and my Lord Admiral as well.” In a passion he called to the Treasurer, the Chamberlain, and the Secretary, and three other Privv Councillors, who were in the chamber during the interview, the King standing all the time leaning on a chair, and gave them strict orders to take all steps for the execution of justice against the pirates. The Secretary said to me, “Don't you know that these are pirates, who took to buccaneering under the late Queen, and that since God gave us his Majesty for our sovereign not one privateer has set sail. What do you want of the King? Justice in England, as in Venice, has her ordinary course to run. This is an affair that belongs to the Admiralty you must go to the Admiral.” I replied, in a quiet voice, that it was the Admiral himself who had a part of the plunder in his hands, and what is more he admitted it; that I did not consider him the judge, competent to assign the ownership of those goods, but only to order their restitution. Further, I remarked that I was the minister of the Republic, accredited to the Crown and not to the Admiral, and while I could drink at the pure fountain of justice I need not go seeking turbid water in brooks. The King, who formed a third in the group, said,” If the Admiral has Venetian goods in his possession he must give them back.” After some further conversation it was settled that as soon as the Court reached this city everything that was possible would be done; and they told me that, as a result of my first representation, the Judge Advocate of the Fleet, who is in the country at Richmond, had been summoned to draw up the case.
	I then said I thought the Venetian Ambassadors might be at Calais about the 25th of this month; and the King said that four days before that date a man-of-war should be ready at Dover. I was told to move to Winchester, there to attend to the affairs of the “Balbiana” and the “Geopandita.”
	M. de Vitry left for France when the Court left Woodstock. He gave the King dogs and horses, and was graciously rewarded. The treaty between France and England, which was the real object of M. de Vitry's visit, stands thus :—
	The King and Council declare that upon the mere word of M. de Rosny and the lieger it is impossible to come to a conclusion, and the King of France has drawn up a memorandum of the contents of the proposals made by de Rosny, and has signed and sealed it with the Privy Seal. This memorandum he has caused his Ambassador to present to the King of England for his signature and seal, and these two Frenchmen (de Beaumont and de Vitry) are authorised to make such alterations as may be demanded. The members of the Council, however, swear that not even they know whether this has been done or not, though they doubt it; for they say that if a treaty between the two Crowns is to be really made it will be necessary to go through the ancient treaties, both of Scotland and of England with France, in order to draw up the new treaty.
	Meantime his most Christian Majesty continues to court the King of England; and learning that the King had asked the Archduke for four mares and a stallion from Naples, he has informed the King that he intends to make him a present of four Barbary horses, trained to tilt at the ring. And, although the Archduke's offer of free trade for the English in Flanders and Spain would ruin the city of Calais, and cause a loss to the King of France amounting to about sixty thousand crowns a year, nevertheless up to the present moment the French Ambassador has said not a word, and takes it with extraordinary calmness. He has told the King of England, however, that his master would never allow the Pope to proceed to excommunication against him.
	The Spanish Ambassador has not had an audience yet. He goes about magnifying the power of his master, and affirms that in all his kingdoms his Catholic Majesty has six hundred thousand soldiers in his pay. The French Ambassador thinks that these boasts are made to terrify the English, and to facilitate negotiations. The Spanish Ambassador, in order to assist communication with Spain, has brought four galizabre to Southampton, whence they can carry despatches in three days to Biscay, and thence in three days more to Court.
	Count d'Aremberg is going to have a personal conference with the Archduke, in order to clear up all points. He will return with the President Richardot.
	The Queen arrived yesterday; the King arrives to-morrow,
	Winchester, 5th October, 1603.
	[Italian.]
Oct. 13. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	142. Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, Venetian Secretary in England, to the Doge and Senate.
	After being thirty-eight days in England the Spanish Ambassador has had his audience. He was brought from Southampton by the Earl of Pembroke. His suite consists of fifteen gentlemen of quality, and one hundred and forty others. He entered the presence, but to the surprise of all he did not remove his hat till he was half way down the chamber. His mission was entirely complimentary, containing offers of peace and amity. The King replied in the same tone. The Ambassador presented himself to the King, and then to the members of the Council. He took his leave, and returned to Southampton by torchlight. The conversation was carried on by an interpreter, the Ambassador using Spanish, and the King English, though both know French and Italian. After the Ambassador had left, his credentials were examined, and it was found that the King is styled of England, France, and Scotland, but Ireland is omitted, either because of some Spanish claim, or to avoid hurting the Pope, who claims that Ireland, like Naples, is a Papal fief. This was taken in very bad part, and after some consultation, Sir Lewis Lewkenor (il Cav. Luchner), who is the official receiver of Ambassadors, was sent next day to Southampton to say, as though from Secretary Cecil, that this was a very bad beginning, that he would have the Ambassador know that the King of England was aware of the condition of his Spanish Majesty, that English and Spanish had already measured swords, and the world knows which has the longest reach; that his Majesty was inclined to peace, but the first steps were hardly such as he had looked for. The Ambassador replied that there was no cause to take offence with him, for the Geneva Ambassadors had quite recently omitted the title of King of France, and no notice had been taken of it. Three days later the Ambassador had a second private audience. He praised the strength of England, against which Philip II., deceived by his ministers, had set himself to war as the giants against heaven; and declared that his present sovereign was an angel, and wished to live at peace with everyone. The King asked what authority he had to treat for peace. The Ambassador said he had sufficient, and would show it whenever called upon to do so. The King asked what guarantees he would have for the maintenance of peace; the Ambassador assured him there would be ample. The audience did not last more than half an hour, and it was agreed that five commissioners should be sent to Southampton to examine his powers and to discuss. Spain advances two points, that England shall not assist the States, and shall not trade to the Indies; and England advances other two, that no Englishman shall be amenable to the Inquisition in any Spanish dominions,—for before the war the presence of a forbidden book on board a ship entailed the confiscation of the ship and goods,—and that if any Englishman should insult the Sacrament he alone in his person, but not in his goods, shall be punished. The clauses of the treaty with the Archduke will be numerous. On this point Count d'Aremberg will shortly leave for Flanders. Twelve points are advanced by the party opposed to peace; the King of Spain is sworn to vengeance on heretics, mere negotiations will give him time to form a fleet; the demand for peace shows Spain's weakness, and indicates war, not peace; that the King of Spain will never include the States; the pacification of the States would mean the ruin of England, for all the Dutch forces would be at the disposition of Spain; that the States must be included as a separate power; that the restoration of the guarantee towns would give the key of England into the hands of Spain; that English merchantmen would flock at once to Spain, and might at any moment be confiscated on the plea that with heretics no oath is binding; that Spain will easily find a plea for declaring war again whenever it suits her; they can always make use of the Pope as an excuse, and declare that they are acting in obedience to him; that there is proof that the King of England is more powerful than the King of Spain, for he keeps the war going on only two hundred, thousand a year against Spain, which has nine hundred thousand; that the English East Indian trade has become an accomplished fact, for the English have trading houses and factories established there, and cannot give them up; that if peace is declared Spanish Ambassadors will come to England, and will be perpetually plotting with the Catholics and malcontents; finally, that if peace is concluded both the soldiers and sailors will deteriorate.
	The plague has begun here. There is talk of the Court moving to Salisbury.
	Winchester, 13th October, 1603.
	[Italian.]
Oct. 18. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	143. Francesco Vendramin, Venetian Ambassador in Rome, to the Doge and Senate.
	An English Catholic, a gentleman of position, has arrived here to treat with the Pope, not without the knowledge of the King, they say.
	Rome, 18th October, 1603.
	[Italian.]
Oct. 18. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	144. Simon Gontarini, Venetian Ambassador in Spain, to the Doge and Senate.
	Hopes of peace with England are increasing, not only because of the favourable attitude of the King, but also on account of the friendship of certain Councillors won and bought, to whom revenues in Flanders have been promised if peace is concluded, with a view to interesting them in the Spanish possession of that province.
	Valladolid, 18th October, 1603.
	[Italian; the part in italics deciphered.]
Oct. 22. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	145. Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, Venetian Secretary in England, to the Doge and Senate.
	The accident which has befallen the goods belonging to the illustrious Ambassador Molin, has been deeply regretted by the King and Court. The names of the pirates are unknown here, and are thought to be fictitious. Neither ship has appeared yet, but orders have been sent to every port to use all diligence to arrive at the truth, and it has been resolved that whatever the Ambassador Molin may demand, or I for him, till he arrives, shall be granted; for the King holds that he has been no less insulted than your Serenity. A proclamation against Tomkins and the rest, who plundered the “Balbiana,” has been issued. Such a thing has never been heard of before on the instance of foreigners. I have received from the Lord High Admiral, on my acknowledgment, one thousand three hundred ducats in Venetian silver coinage, and a hundred and fifty braccia of tabinet (tabini con oro) in strips of various colours. I hope when I get back to Court to recover both more money and more stuffs, but not the Spanish reals, which the Admiral declares cannot be restored to Venetians.
	The Judge of the Admiralty (Aldemari) has been for two days in Southampton, drawing up the indictment against the pirates at my charges. Five of Tomkins' crew have been arrested, and on their information more stolen goods are being discovered. The prisoners insist that the ship they sacked was not Venetian, though the money and the nature of the goods prove it to have been so; but the judge says, not so conclusively, that without a confession from one of them, or further proof, would it be possible to condemn them to death. The rest of Tomkins' crew is dispersed, each one with his bundle of booty; and if Tomkins himself flies to Flanders I hope that, with the help of a word from the King, I can induce Count d'Aremberg, who is Grand Admiral, to secure his arrest and surrender to the King. I have taken a similar step with the agent of the States.
	What comes to light is this, that the men who went ashore from the ship in a boat took with them two barrels full of money; the forty-five passengers bear witness to this; and that the ship was not sent to the bottom, but left riding at anchor in sight of Cyprus.
	In France there is a general agreement not to receive broad cloth from England, on account of the plague. This is much disliked here, and they are endeavouring to secure a distinction between affected and unaffected districts, because this cloth, and especially kerseys, are made all over the kingdom in the small hamlets and villages, and not in the big towns only.
	An Ambassador has arrived from the Duke of Cleves, and one is expected from Poland.
	Kingston, 22nd October, 1603.
	[Italian.]
	By the King.
Enclosed in preceding Despatch.	146. A Proclamation to repress all Piracies and Depredations upon the Sea.
	The King is informed, through the manifold and daily complaints made by his own subjects and by others, of continual piracies and depredations, “committed on the seas by certaine lewd and ill-disposed persons.” The ordinary proceedings have proved ineffectual to stop the mischief.
	He now makes the following order:—
	Pain of death, not only for Captain and mariners, but for owners and victuallers of any “man-of-warre,” which shall commit piracy, depredation, or “murther at the sea upon any of his Majesties friends.”
	Pain of death for anyone who seizes any goods belonging to subjects of allies.
	All fresh “Admirall causes” to be summarily tried by Admiralty Judge.
	No appeal from his sentence.
	“No prohibition in such cases of spoile and their accessaries or dependances be granted hereafter.”
	A record of the restitutions to strangers to be kept.
	All Vice-Admirals to certify the Court of Admiralty every quarter of all “men-of-warre” put to sea, or returned home with goods taken at sea, or the produce thereof; the fine of forty pounds for each breach of this order.
	The King's subjects shall forbear from aiding or receiving any “Pirat or sea rover,” and likewise from all traffic with them.
	The Vice-Admirals, “Customers,” and other officers shall not allow any ship to go to sea without first searching her; to see whether she is furnished for the wars and not for fishing or trade. In any case of suspicion, good surety shall be exacted before they let the ship sail. The officers shall answer for such piracies as may be committed by those who have sailed with their licence.
	“Divers great and enormous spoyles and piracies have been of late tyme committed within the Straits of Gyblaltar by Captain Thomas Tomkins, gentleman, Edmond Bonham, Walter Janverin, mariners,” and goods and moneys brought by them to England have been scattered, sold, and disposed of “most lewdly and prodigally, to the exceeding prejudice of his Majesties good friends, the Venetians.” All officers are to arrest these malefactors.
	“Given at his Majesties City of “Winchester.” 30th September, 1603. (fn. 2)
	[English.]
Oct. 22. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	147. Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, Venetian Secretary in England, to the Doge and Senate.
	After the Scottish courtiers returned to Scotland, very ill-pleased with the English, a meeting of Scottish nobles was summoned for the end of this month. It was to draw up a petition, and send it to the King by the hands of four leading nobles; they are to inform his Majesty that unless he grants the demands contained therein it will be impossible to effect the union of the two kingdoms, and will endanger the peace. The chief points are that, as England fell by inheritance to the King of Scotland, England is to be considered accessory to Scotland; if that be impossible, then in case only one Council is to govern both kingdoms, the Scottish and English are to be equally represented in that Council, while each kingdom shall keep its own name and its own laws. The King is rendered anxious about this business, because his cousin, the Earl of Huntly, the Earl of Errol, hereditary Constable, and the Earl of Angus, three of the greatest nobles, and openly Catholics, are at the head of this business. His Majesty had an idea of sending the Duke of Lennox to Scotland to break up the combination. Lennox is the person deepest in the King's confidence, and has some time ago been named the nearest to the Crown; but the Duke is suspected of being at heart a Catholic, though he attends the King to the heretic service, and so his Majesty is in doubt. He has written, however, to the President Alexander Seaton (fn. 3) (Cetonio), the governor of his Majesty's second son, who is very deep in the King's confidence, telling him to put off this meeting as long as he can; though Seaton, too, is thought to be a Catholic at heart, for he was maintained at the University of Rome by Pope Gregory XIII. at a cost of ten ducats a month, and took his doctor's degree in Bologna.
	The meeting of Parliament is not thought of just now, perhaps on account of the attitude of Scotland, perhaps because of the plague. In the City of London alone, in seven months, it has carried off forty thousand persons, and they are still dying at the rate of one thousand five hundred a week. All public and private affairs also are in absolute confusion. No one will pay his debts, as he thinks his creditor must die one day or another. All orders on merchants have been recalled, all trade is at a standstill. Taxes, duties, customs, bring in not a ducat in the whole City, the heart of this kingdom; the Treasury is in confusion, and without a penny in it; the silver coinage of this reign has been not debased, but diminished in weight, two pennies' worth per ducat, and so exchange from London to Venice is at 28 per cent., and falling still, as the Ambassadors will feel when they reach England. The Florentine Ambassador has brought five letters to the Queen. The Grand Duke's letter to the King styles him simply Rex Anglise et Scotiæ, but there is an etcetera visible, whereas in the Spanish letters it was invisible. The Grand Duke omits “France,” so as not to offend the King of France, and he omits “Ireland,” so as not to offend the King of Spain; here they make no account of the Papal claims, but they resent the fact that Don Juan d'Aquila, when he landed in Ireland, proclaimed his master King. The King of Spain addresses the King as “ relative,” not as “brother,” as sovereigns are wont to do among themselves, and so the King of England says that Spain honours him too little and the Archduke too much, for, though not a King himself, he addressed his Majesty as “brother.”
	In Southampton the Spanish Ambassador is distributing crosses, medallions, etc., to the Catholics. His chaplain has baptized a boy by the Roman rite, not without some risk of a rising among the people against the Ambassador's house. As he cannot find anyone who will openly accept his money, he is betting a hundred to a thousand that the peace will not be concluded. He cannot refrain from the usual Spanish boasting; he says his master has five hundred ships ready, and six hundred thousand men in his pay; that a combination of all the powers against him is a trifle for him; that the King of France is only strong in his own house; that the Grand Duke of Tuscany is not reckoned a Prince at all by Spain, and has no business with an Ambassador. All this the King resents; and Sig. Alfonso Montecuccoli, the Tuscan Ambassador, has sent a courier, through France, to report.
	The memorandum of the defensive treaty, which the King of France sent over signed and sealed, has been signed by the King of England after a clause providing that if one of the parties died leaving his son a minor, the other should be bound to help him with all his forces, had been struck out. The French do all they can to keep this important fact a secret, for the King of England, by this act, has declared that the alliance is for life only. His motive was that he has three children, and even if the first two died his daughter could still succeed to the throne, and the Council have virtually established that, on the death of the King, no change shall take place. The King has sent to explain to the King of France, through M. de Vitry, that should his most Christian Majesty die, and should he be able No send fifty thousand men into France, he would make no claim there; also that he will inform his Majesty of any terms he may come to with Spain and with the Archduke. This defensive treaty includes such conditions as regards the States, that it is obvious that they will never be completely abandoned. Secretary Cecil, in strict confidence, told me that at the present time the Christian powers in Europe are three, England, France, and Spain; that these powers balanced one another, and remained in equilibrium, but if the weight of the States were added to any one of them, especially to Spain, the other two would be tottery and off balance. On the resources of Holland he enlarged greatly, swearing to me that in such and such a year they had spent as much as five millions of gold on their wars. He added, that not merely would neither France nor England permit the States to become obedient vassals of Spain, but they would even assist in conferring on them a species of independence if they showed that they were capable of using it,
	Cecil told me that, being one of the five members appointed to meet the Spanish Ambassador at Southampton, he found that he had only general powers, not sufficient to conclude a peace. The Ambassador has complained that the troops raised in Scotland, under the Baron Buccleugh, have crossed over to the aid of the States, and represents this as a breach of faith with the Ambassador of the Archduke. To this answer was made that the Scottish are poor and warlike, and have always kept the English border in unrest by rapine and violence, and although his Majesty will certainly punish the disobedient, he is not altogether displeased that this rabble should be taken out of the kingdom, even against his orders; and if the King of Spain wants levies he is most welcome to them in Scotland. In this reply the King followed the lead of the King of France, who outlaws those who take service with the States, but as soon as they come back he frees them, and pets them as being excellent soldiers; and he tells the Archduke he may have as many troops as he likes, though he secretly forbids the officers to take pay in that service.
	Secretary Cecil told me that, if peace was concluded, it would still always mean peace between Spain and Scotland, but between Spain and England merely enemies reconciled.
	Further news your Serenity will receive from other hands; for I believe the illustrious Ambassadors must be by now at Calais; I am now two days on my way to Dover.
	Kingston, 22nd October, 1603.
	[Italian; the part in italics deciphered.]
Oct. 30. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	148. Anzolo Badoer, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate.
	M. de Vitry is back from England; his mission was to discover the King's intentions. His Majesty will send him back shortly on the same service. He reports the continued goodwill of the King towards the Crown of France, but I have heard that when alone he said, “You will see that the King of England will deceive everyone, for his Councillors, in whom he trusts, will place him in a position from which he will not be able to extricate himself.”
	The Constable of Castille (fn. 4) is on his way to Flanders, where, I hear, they wish to remove the Archduke; they have offered him the Government of Valencia and Aragon. If he persists in his refusal to withdraw, and the Spaniards in their insistance, he may appeal to the Empire for support, and the States themselves, finding him thus opposed to Spain, may even choose him as their Lord; but at present all this is mere conjecture.
	Money failing for payment of the troops besieging Ostend, the operations have been entrusted to the Marchese Spinola. (fn. 5)
	Paris, 30th October, 1603.
	[Italian; the part in italics deciphered.]
Oct. 30. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives.	149. Piero Duodo, Venetian Ambassador Extraordinary to England, to the Doge and Senate.
	I had an interview with the English Ambassador, who told me that he had orders from his master to enquire what road we two Ambassadors meant to take, in order that suitable preparations might be made. The Ambassador remarked that the passage from Calais to Dover was the shortest sea route, but the Court was one hundred and fifty miles away from Dover, all through an infected district, and that Havre to Southampton would be the best route, from which I gathered that this was the King's wish that we should take it. (fn. 6) For many reasons I resolved to agree to the Havre-Southampton route. I have written to the illustrious Molin to join me at Havre, and to-day I leave for that place, and hope to reach it in five days.
	Paris, 30th October, 1603.
	[Italian.]