with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in
the truth of the matters thus confided to him. He would pledge his
immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly
observed--than even the crown of Spain, that the King, the Duke, and his
counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the
most loving and benevolent motives. Alexander Farnese was "the antidote
to the Duke of Alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis
curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred Queen were not now
obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her
Majesty and the King of Spain, and with the assured tranquillity and
perpetual prosperity of the Netherlands, it would be the fault of
England; not of Spain.

And no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was
worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her Majesty and
Lord Burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had
great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the most
Catholic King: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these
communications of Alexander and his agents, there was not one single word
of truth.--It was all false from beginning to end, as to the
countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the King
and Duke, and as to the proposed campaign in Friesland, in case of
rupture; and all the rest. But this will be conclusively proved a little
later.

Meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. And when
business was over, Champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe jilting
which he had so recently sustained from the widow De Bours, now Mrs.
Aristotle Patton--invited De Loo and Secretary Cosimo to supper. And the
three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge bumpers
to the health of the Queen of England, that--as the excellent Andrew
subsequently informed Lord Burghley--his head ached most bravely next
morning.

And so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in Cadiz and Lisbon,
but in Ghent and Sluys and Antwerp, the import of which it seemed
difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing,
and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective
parts. There were the Earl of Derby, knight of the garter, and my Lord
Cobham; and puzzling James Croft, and other Englishmen, actually
believing that the farce was a solemn reality. There was