the viceroy, is doing his utmost, through the agency of the subtlest intriguer in the world, to inveigle him into confessions of treasonable schemes, and the minister is filling reams of paper with protestations of affection for the governor and secretary, with sneers at the character of the King, and with instructions as to the best method of deceiving him, and then laying the despatches before his Majesty for correction and enlargement.  To complete the picture, the monarch and his minister are seen urging the necessity of murdering the foremost man of the age upon the very dupe who, within a twelvemonth, was himself to be assassinated by the self-same pair; while the arch-plotter who controls the strings of all these complicated projects is equally false to King, Governor, and Secretary, and is engaging all the others in these blind and tortuous paths, for the accomplishment of his own secret and most ignoble aims.

In reply to the letters of Perez, Don John constantly expressed the satisfaction and comfort which he derived from them in the midst of his annoyances.  “He was very disconsolate,” he said, “to be in that hell, and to be obliged to remain in it,” now that the English plot had fallen to the ground, but he would nevertheless take patience, and wait for a more favorable conjuncture.

Escovedo expressed the opinion, however, notwithstanding all the suggestions of Perez, that the presence of Don John in the provinces had become entirely superfluous.  “An old woman with her distaff,” suggested the Secretary, “would be more appropriate; for there would be nothing to do, if the states had their way, save to sign everything which they should command.  “If there should be war, his Highness would, of course, not abandon his post; even if permitted to do so; but otherwise, nothing could be gained by a prolonged residence.  As to the scheme of assassinating the Prince of Orange, Escovedo prayed Perez to believe him incapable of negligence on the subject.  “You know that the finishing of Orange is very near my heart,” wrote the poor dupe to the man by whom he was himself so soon to be finished.  “You may believe that I have never forgotten it, and never will forget it, until it be done.  Much, and very much artifice is, however, necessary to accomplish this object.  A proper person to undertake a task fraught with such well-known danger, is hard to find.  Nevertheless, I will not withdraw my attention from the subject till such a person be procured, and the deed be done.”

A month later, Escovedo wrote that he was about to visit Spain.  He complained that he required rest in his old age, but that Perez could judge how much rest he could get in such a condition of affairs.  He was, unfortunately, not aware, when he wrote, how soon his correspondent was to give him a long repose.  He said, too, that the pleasure of visiting his home was counterbalanced by the necessity of travelling back to the Netherlands; but he did not know that Perez was to spare him that trouble, and to send him forth upon a much longer journey.