7805.] 
forcements.. Lomenie, befides his in- 
ftruGtions, carried*with him to England, 
letters to M. de Ja Fontaine and the Earl 
of Effex, which are here given, with the 
replies. —Effex appears to have been in the 
intereft of France, but, to avoid fufpi- 
cion, as Elizabeth was irritated at Hen- 
ry’s refufal to furrender Calais, corre- 
{ponded with Lomenie through the hands 
of a third perfon. The letters are cu- 
rious by difplaying the real fituation of 
parties at the English court. It appears 
to have been much divided and very irre- 
folute. One day Effex feems to have pre- 
vailed for acceding to Henry’s propofi- 
tions; the next, the oppofite party tri- 
umphed. M. de la Fontaine in one letter 
fays ** The reports of what this court in- 
tends to do are not all gofpel, for it is ve- 
vy frequently yes and zo, all in the fame 
ay.”” 
rt laft, however, the negotiation en- 
tirely failed, and M. de Lomenie left the 
kingdom without being able to accom- 
plifth one obje&t of his miffion. 
_ The manu(cript concludes with a Jour- 
gal of M. de Lomenie’s Embafly. 
. The negotiation of M. de Lomenie, 
which we have juft noticed, though its 
failure fufpended, yet appears not to have 
deprived Henry of all hopes of roufing 
the Queen of England to exertions ina 
caufe which concerned her equally with 
himfelf.—-In the year 1596 he again en- 
- deavoured, by an alliance offenfive and 
defenfve with England, to excite that 
power againft the encroaching influence of 
Spain: and although the negotiation of 
M. de Lomenie tailed, yet it certainly 
prepared the way for the Embaffy of’ 
Meffrs. de Bouillon and De Sancy, which 
was more fuccefsful. A common interett 
actuated both thofe powers. Elizabeth’s 
object undoubtedly was to difpoflefs the 
Spaniards of the maritime provinces op- 
pofite to England, and the danger having 
there become the moft preffing, as well as 
the urgency of affairs in other provinces, 
_ Henry was induced to promife that he 
would fubmit himfelf entirely to Eliza- 
beth’s difpofal. The year preceding this 
negociation, England had been a quiet 
fpectator of the Spaniards poflefiing them- 
felves of Chapelle, of Cambrai, and even 
of Dourlens, that part of Picardy being 
too diftant from England to intereft it 
much; but in 1596 the Spaniards, under 
the command of the Duke Albert of 
Auftria, having laid fiege to Calais, Eliza- 
beth felt both her intereft and her honour 
did not permit her to feesthe Spaniards 
thus quietly poffels themfelves of a place 
in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, 
S19 
which, independent of its importance, 
from its vicinity to England, afforded them 
too eafy opportunities of infult and ag- 
greflion upon England; and the confe- 
quent annoyance to its commerce, made 
her feel warmly concerned in its fate, 
The misfortunes and diftrefs of Henry, as 
well as the augmented intereft of England, 
led him to form hopes that thofe fuecours 
would now be granted which in the pre- 
ceding year had been refufed ; and he ac 
cordingly difpatched M. de Sancy and the 
Marfhal de Bouillon, to folicit and expes 
dite a treaty of alliance offenfive and de- 
fenfive. The envoys, on their arrival, 
found the public mind wavering and agi- 
tated. The troops were all ready at Do- 
ver, and waited only for the orders to 
embark. On oneday new levies were raifed 
in London, left Calais fhould be already 
taken; the next day thofe orders were re- 
called.—-It was reported, that both the 
town and citadel were taken. The pub- 
lic indignation was confequently roufed, 
and the French were accufed of not doing 
their utmoft for the defence of a place fa 
highly important; but the greater the 
complaints, the lefs readinefs did there ap~ 
pear to grant the defired aid. 
Such was the fituation of affairs on the 
arrival of De Sancy, who, though he had 
no certain intelligence refpecting Calais, 
took upon himfeif to affert that the cita-. 
del yet held cut, under the promife that 
the Englith fuccours would arrive. This 
had the defired effect of producing an or- 
der for the immediate embarkation of the 
Englifh troops; and, luckily for the 
French envoy, a meflenger that day ar- 
rived with the intelligence that the citadel 
of Calais had obtained a truce for fix days. 
This bold and adyentrous falfhood ‘of 
De Sancy’s, is one of thofe deceptions 
which is allowed to be perfectly admiffible 
among negociators ; and we are only fur. 
prifed that in his claim for recompence for 
his fervices under the adminiftration of 
Mary de Medicis, he did not advance it 
as one of the leading fervices performed 
to his country. 
The details of this embaffy and the 
whole negotiation, are very curious. The 
fuccours did not arrive in time: the tem- 
porizing policy of the Englifh exhautted 
the lively {pirit of the French by a long 
courfe of delay, reproaches, refulals, me- 
naces, and promifes. The expreffions of 
the Queen conveyed nothing but friend~ 
fhip and regard, while her minifters cre- 
ated difficulties, which fhe appeared an- 
xious to remove, yet fecretly encouraged. 
The whole progrefs of the negotiation 
is 
