Perhaps, however, there was no duplicity in the affair at all, and the idea of the embassy did actually originate in a whim of Lord Falconbridge.  Anyhow all the notes were written by Milton, and he kept copies of those not used.

[Footnote 1:  Exact day not given either in Printed Collection or in Skinner Transcript; but the occasion fixes the time pretty closely.]

(CXXVI.) To THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY, May 1658:—­This is in a very different tone from recent letters of the Protector to the same Italian Prince (ante p. 372 and p. 378).—­His Highness has been informed of various acts of discourtesy of late to his Fleet off Leghorn, utterly inconsistent with the terms of friendship on which he had supposed himself to stand with the Grand Duke.  Accommodation to the ships has been refused, out of deference to Spain; restrictions have been put on their supplies of fresh water; English merchants resident in Leghorn, and even the English Consul, have not been permitted to go on board; shots have actually been fired; &c.  If these things had been done by the Governor of the Town without orders, let him be punished; but, if otherwise, “let your Highness consider that, as we have always very highly valued your good-will, so we have learnt to distinguish open injuries from-good-will.”

(CXXVII.-CXXX.) To LOUIS XIV.  AND CARDINAL MAZARIN. June 1658:—­On the 16th of June there had arrived in London, in rapid return for the embassy of Viscount Falconbridge to Calais, the splendid counter-embassy to Cromwell of the Duke de Crequi and M. Mancini, the Cardinal’s nephew (ante pp. 340-341).  That in itself would have been an incident calling for some special acknowledgment from the Protector; but hardly had the embassy arrived when there came news of the great event which both Louis XIV. and Cromwell had for some time been intently expecting—­the capture of Dunkirk.  On the 15th of June the keys of the captured town had been handsomely delivered to Sir William Lockhart by Louis XIV. himself, so that the Treaty with Cromwell had been fully kept in that particular.  Louis had sent a special Envoy with letters to announce the event to Cromwell formally; and this Envoy shared in the magnificent hospitalities which Cromwell showered upon the Duke de Crequi, M. Mancini, and their retinue.  The four following letters all relate to this glorious occasion, and date themselves between June 16, when the French ambassadors arrived in London, and June 21, when they took their departure. (1.) To Louis XIV.  “Most serene and potent King, most august Friend and Ally,—­That your Majesty has so speedily, by the illustrious embassy you have sent, repaid my mission of respect with interest, besides that it is a proof of your singular graciousness and magnanimity, comes as a manifestation also of the degree of your regard for my honour and dignity, not to myself only, but to the whole English People; on which account, in their