the care
of the crafty Monluc bishop of Valence, then on his return from his
Scotch embassy; and previously to his embarkation for the continent he
had the advantage of accompanying this master of intrigue on a secret
mission to O'Neil, then the head of the Irish rebels. The youth was
apparently not much delighted with his visit to this barbarous
chieftain, whose dwelling was "a great dark tower, where," says he, "we
had cold cheer, such as herrings and biscuit, for it was Lent." Arriving
at Paris, the bishop caused him to be carefully instructed in all the
requisite accomplishments of a page,--the French tongue, dancing,
fencing, and playing on the lute: and after nine years spent under his
protection, Melvil passed into the service of the constable Montmorenci,
by whose interest he obtained a pension from the king of France. Whilst
in this situation, he was dispatched on a secret mission to Scotland,
to learn the real designs of the prior of St. Andrews, and to inform
himself of the state of parties in that country.

In the year 1560 he obtained permission from his own sovereign to
travel, and gained admission into the service of the elector palatine.
This prince employed him in an embassy of condolence on the death of
Francis II. Some time after his return he received a commission from the
queen of Scots to make himself personally acquainted with the archduke
Charles, who was proposed to her for a husband.

This done, he made a tour in Italy, and then returned to the elector
palatine at Heidelberg. He was next employed by Maximilian king of the
Romans to carry to France the portrait of one of his daughters, to whom
proposals of marriage had been made on the part of Charles IX. At this
court Catherine dei Medici would gladly have detained him; but a summons
from his own queen determined him to repair again to Scotland.

Duke Casimir, son of the elector palatine, having some time before made
an offer of his hand to queen Elizabeth, to which a dubious answer had
been returned, requested Melvil, in passing through England, to convey
his picture to that princess. The envoy, secretly despairing of the
suit, desired that he might also be furnished with portraits of the
other members of the electoral family, and with some nominal commission
by means of which he might gain more easy access to the queen, and
produce the picture as if without design. He was accordingly instructed
to press for a more explicit answer than had