measures, and were in no condition to drive a bargain hard.
The Emperor, however, on his side, was unable immediately to fulfil his threat of declaring war; he was compelled to content himself with repeating it. Dr Wotton's report of his interview has been injured, and is in parts illegible.[1] Where the letter begins to be intelligible the conversation was turning upon the Protestant refugees in England.
'Here,' says Wotton, 'the Emperor, by signs and nods, willed those of his chamber to go from thence and leave him alone with me.' He then said that he had a great love for the King, and had every good will to his country; 'but the English were all now,' he said, 'so far out of the way,' that he did not know what to do about them; 'they did infect his own realm.' Wotton begged him to think better of the English; they were a people who feared God, and desired only to know how God delighted most to be served. 'You have well travailed,' Charles answered scornfully; 'you say you have chosen a good way; the world takes it for a naughty way; and ought it not to suffice you that ye spill your own souls, but ye have a mind to force others to lose theirs too. My cousin the Princess is evil
- ↑ The surviving portions of this despatch contain so much which is characteristic of Charles, that the loss of the rest is especially to be regretted. The more so indeed because the destruction of the MS. is not due to legitimate decay, but to the use of ox-gall by some careless antiquary, who, to facilitate his own researches, wetted the ink with a material which imparts a momentary clearness, at the expense of making the writing illegible afterwards for evermore.
