Mr. Mead writes to Sir M. Stuteville, July 25, 1629.

"His majesty was wont to answer the French ambassador in his own
language; now he speaks in English, and by an _interpreter_. And so doth
Sir Thomas Edmondes to the French king; contrary to the ancient custom:
so that altho' of late we have not equalled them in arms, yet now we
shall equal them in ceremonies."

Oct. 31, 1628.

"This day fortnight, the States' ambassador going to visit my lord
treasurer about some business, whereas his lordship was wont always to
bring them but to the stairs' head, he then, after a great deal of
courteous resistance on the ambassador's part, attended him through the
hall and court-yard, even to the very boot of his coach."--_Sloane MSS_.
4178.]

[Footnote 101: Clarendon's Life, vol. ii. p. 160.]

[Footnote 102: The Diary of William Raikes, Esq., has only recently been
published: it relates to the first half of the present century, and
proves that the race of diarists are not extinct among ourselves.]

[Footnote 103: Ashmole noted every trifle, even to the paring of his
nails; and being as believer in astrology, and a student in the occult
sciences, occasionally mentions his own superstitious observances. Thus,
April 11, 1681, he notes--"I took, early in the morning, a good dose of
elixir, and hung three spiders about my neck, and they drove my ague
away. Deo Gratias!"]

[Footnote 104: This diary has been published since the above was
written.]

[Footnote 105: It is a thin book, simply lapped in parchment, and filled
with brief memorandums written in a remarkably neat and minute hand.]

[Footnote 106: This has also been published in a handsome quarto volume
since the above was written. Roberta's collection of Anglo-Gallic coins
are now in the British Museum.]

[Footnote 107: Sir Thomas Crew's Collection of the Proceedings of the
Parliament, 1628, p. 71.]

[Footnote 108: The consequence of this prohibition was, that our own men
of learning were at a loss to know what arms the enemies of England, and
of her religion, were fabricating against us. This knowledge was
absolutely necessary, as appears by a curious fact in Strype's Life of
Whitgift. A license for the importation of foreign books was granted to
an Italian merchant, with orders to collect abroad this sort of libels;
but he was to deposit them with the archbishop and the privy council. A
few, no doubt, were obtained by the curious, Catholic or
Protestant.--S