Most authors write their own biography consciously or unconsciously.  We have seen Mr. Motley portraying much of himself, his course of life and his future, as he would have had it, in his first story.  In this, his last work, it is impossible not to read much of his own external and internal personal history told under other names and with different accessories.  The parallelism often accidentally or intentionally passes into divergence.  He would not have had it too close if he could, but there are various passages in which it is plain enough that he is telling his own story.

Mr. Motley was a diplomatist, and he writes of other diplomatists, and one in particular, with most significant detail.  It need not be supposed that he intends the “arch intriguer” Aerssens to stand for himself, or that he would have endured being thought to identify himself with the man of whose “almost devilish acts” he speaks so freely.  But the sagacious reader—­and he need not be very sharp-sighted—­will very certainly see something more than a mere historical significance in some of the passages which I shall cite for him to reflect upon.  Mr. Motley’s standard of an ambassador’s accomplishments may be judged from the following passage:—­

“That those ministers [those of the Republic] were second to the representatives of no other European state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known to all who had dealings with them, for the states required in their diplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with political customs and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen, in short, and the accomplishments of scholars.”

The story of the troubles of Aerssens, the ambassador of the United Provinces at Paris, must be given at some length, and will repay careful reading.

“Francis Aerssens . . . continued to be the Dutch ambassador after the murder of Henry IV. . . .  He was beyond doubt one of the ablest diplomatists in Europe.  Versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world and familiar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tact on friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men of letters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and ear of singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industry and singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;—­he had by the exercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twenty years at the court of Henry the Great been able to render inestimable services to the Republic which he represented.

“He had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of Henry IV., so far as any man could be said to possess that monarch’s confidence, and his friendly relations and familiar access to the king gave him political advantages