I Have been informed of the Calumnies that Sir W. T. hath caused to be Printed a­gainst me. I know very well that Sir W. is of great Worth, and deserves well; and that he hath been a long time employed, and that too upon important occasions; but I am as certain, that he had but a small share in the Se­crecy of the late King Charles's Designs in the greatest part of the Affairs, for which he was em­ployed, from 72, till 79, which is the main Sub­ject of his Work.

This Consideration alone might not perhaps have given me the curiosity, or at least, any great earnestness to read his Memoirs; and I might have very well judged that I could draw from them no sufficient light and insight for the discovery of so many Intrigues.

Nay besides, I might have doubted whether or no these Memoirs might not have been his own Panegyrick upon himself, and the diminution and undervaluing of the real Worth and Glory of se­veral Persons of Quality, and distinguished by their Merit; whose Fortune and Reputation Sir W. T. hath so much envied: for I am particular­ly acquainted with Sir W's Pride. He looks upon himself to have the greatest Reach, to be the [Page 3] wisest and ablest Politician of his Time; and a man may perceive abundance of Satyrical Re­flexions scattered here and there in his Work a­gainst most illustrious Persons, and that he hath stuffed his Memoirs with his own Praise, and the fond over-weening Opinion he hath of him­self.

Without doubt this is quite different from that Sincerity and Modesty which reigns throughout the Memoirs of Villeroy, in the Negotiations and Transactions of Jeanin, in the Letters of Card. Dossat, those mighty and truly eminent Persons, esteemed as such by the greatest Princes of their Age; and even still are to this day, by the ablest Politicians, with much more Justice and Glory than Sir W's Book-Seller stiles him, One of the Greatest Men of this Age. It had been Sir W's du­ty to have regulated himself according to their most excellent Pattern.

I shall at present only quote one Passage, which I accidentally light on at the first opening his Book, whereby one may easily guess at the greatness of his presumption; in a shorttime, My Lord, I shall give you occasion to observe many others. The Negotiations, saith he, that I managed and trans­acted at the Hague, at Brussels, at Aix la Chapelle, which saved Flanders from the French Clutches, in 68. made People believe I had some Credit and Re­putation amongst the Spaniards, as well as in Holland.

'Twas a Piece of strange Ingratitude of the Hollanders and Spaniards, as well as of his own dear Country-men, so much concern'd for the preservation of Flanders, not to rear him a Statue, which, he saith, some-where else, Mr. Godolphin [Page 4] had promised him. Could Sir. W. T. have done any thing to deserve it more; or was there any thing more worthy of Triumph than to have preserved Flanders, a Country so important to the Spaniard, and the only Bulwark of Holland and England? But Sir W. was apt to believe he could not find any one who was better able to hammer out his own Glo­ry than himself; and he flattered himself with the Opinion that he should erect himself as many Sta­tues, as there are places in his Memoirs, crouded with intolerable and ridiculous Vain-glory.

It was not the Negotiations, my Lord, that Sir W. tells us he managed at the Hague, Brussels, and at Aix la Chappelle, which saved Flanders from the hands of the French, in 1668. The French published that they were beholding to the most Christian Kings Mode­ration for that Peace; who was willing to put a stop to the progress and course of his victorious Arms. But the truth of it is, they most justly a­scribed all the Merit, and all the Glory of the Peace, and of the Triple League, to the generous resolu­tion and stedfastness of the States-General. They made use, upon this occasion, of a Minister of State far beyond Sir W. in Prudence, Experience, and Ca­pacity, one, who was in the Opinion even of his E­nemies, the most able Manager of Affairs of his Age.

I shall not undertake, my Lord, in this place, strictly to examine Sir W. Temple's Memoirs: I will do it shortly if God spare me with Life; nay, and I promise you a Volume of Remarks, at least, as large as his Book.

If, like him, I had the Vanity to procure the prin­ting of Memoirs, during my life-time, I could now have a fair pretence so to do, and without all que­stion [Page 5] I should publish more just and solid ones than his are. Not, that I have the presumption to judge my self more capable to do it; but, in several pla­ces he relates some things falsly, whereof I am much better informed. The only Hero of my piece shall be Truth, without Complaisance or Flattery; without Passion, no not so much as against him: So that I shall do him the satisfaction and kindness to instruct him better, even touching divers Matters, which he performed and executed, without knowing so much as the reason why he was made to act so.

It is not likewise, because I have been one of the Council of the King his Master; yet I have had the Happiness, during some Years, to partake in the Confidence of a Minister of State, who was in seve­ral important, weighty Occasions, as it were the Primum Mobile of that Conduct and Management that surprized all the World. You know, my Lord, what Credit he had, and of what nature his Intelli­gences were. Sir W. may well imagine that I did not ill improve this able Ministers Confidence, when Sir W. tells us, That I had wholly devoted my self to him.

Men are not ignorant likewise, that oftentimes I have had some access to the King's Ministers of State, and even near to the King himself,; it did more e­specially appear, in the business for which I took my Journey to Nimeguen; and it would be a great shame that a Man more cunning and subtil than them all, according to the King's own Testimony, as Sir W. relates it, should not have had (considering so much freedom of access and easiness) the address and cunning to dive into the most hidden Springs of Deliberations and Resolutions, wherein the Swede and my Master had so great an Interest.

[Page 6] Be therefore assured, my Lord, that after my Death, nay perhaps, whilst I am alive, if need re­quire, and if I be obliged thereto, there will appear some Memoirs, which will divulge some Matters the truth whereof is still so carefully concealed, Sir W. doth ingeniously confess that hither to he was ig­norant of them; He, who hath so much quickness of Penetration, and seems to make us believe that he was the King his Master's Confident.

You your self, my Lord, have often urged me to acquaint you with such important Secrets, and of such great Consequence; and altho' I could not pos­sibly refuse, upon the account of that honour you do me to afford me any share in your Favours, to let you have a glympse of one part of what pass'd in one of the most important Negotiations of that time; yet you had so much Generosity as not to take the advantage of it you might have done, to the infallible ruine, as was believed, of a Minister whom you take for one of your greatest Enemies; yet on this occasion one could not well lay any thing to his charge, besides his blind obedience to the Will of his Master.

The Truth of it is, I am not obliged to have the same Considerations that with held me at that time, but yet I preserve a profound respect for the Memory of the late King, and also a great respect for some Persons, who are even at this time of the day so much concerned, that I should hold my tongue, if it were not for that reason, it would be a very ea­sie matter for me, to make appear without any more adoe, how basely Sir W. is mistaken in what he delivers concerning divers Negotiations of Eng­land; and especially concerning my Journey to Ni­meguen.

[Page 7] My Design is not at all, my Lord, to write you a Letter full of Invectives against Sir W. I shall not descend to the Particulars of his Behaviour, and shall tell you no more of them at present, than what is needful to let your self and every body else judge that I have means in my hand to be revenged for the Injury he hath done me.

They will be without doubt more just Invectives, than those that he fills his Book withal. He set upon me first. He writes out of a Spirit of Revenge, with a great deal of Heat and Passion, and like a Man that be­liev'd himself touch'd and wrong'd to the purpose. As for my part, my Lord, I protest I write to you in cold Blood, I do so much scorn the Injury that Sir W. affects to do me, that I should but laugh at it, if my silence was not able to persuade you, and those persons whose esteem of me doth do me so much honour, that I have but small care of my repu­tation.

Sir W. hath shined a long time, 'tis true; but yet he hath borrowed all his Splendour first of all from the protection of a Lord, whom he betray'd at last, of whom he speaks too insolently in his Me­moirs, and with abundance of Ingratitude; and then again he advanced himself by the protection of cer­tain other persons to whom he was devoted, to the prejudice of his bounden Duty: He did so well in­sinuate himself (that I may make use of the Terms he makes use of in speaking of me) into the Favours and into the Confidence of those, near to whom it was necessary for him to have access, that he might have been in a capacity to render considerable Ser­vices to the King his Master, and to his Country, if so be he had made better use of this advantage; [Page 8] but he kept it just after the same manner as he had got it; that is to say, that he often came short of exact Faithfulness and Loyalty, which a Minister of S tate is obliged to maintain inviolably even in the least Matters, that doth plainly appear in his Memoirs.

The late King of England perceived it, and was so far convinced of it, that he never made use of him in the last Commissions he committed to his charge, to the States-General; but only out of Considera­tion of the Acquaintance he had there, who made people conjecture that Sir W. might have some Cre­dit amongst the Spaniards, as well as in Holland, as he himself assures us he had.

Neither was he employed, but only upon some Occasions, wherein one would not employ a Man who was a Favourite of the Prince, or for whom he had any value, or in whom he might confide; 'tis a Truth owned and confess'd by Sir W. himself in his Memoirs; and a Man may judge of it by the so opposite false steps, that he complains, they caused him to make, and by all the things that were done contrary to the Measures that he had taken, just as if the Court had had a mind to expose him.

Besides, the King slighted him after the Peace at Nimeguen, and laid him aside, making very little use of him; it was not, what he would make us believe, his love for his own ease, and his Indispositions of body, that made him decline his Employments. Ne­ver did Man desire more to have an hand in Affairs; he was removed by reason of the King's secret dis­satisfaction at his Services, by that Conduct and Ma­nagement, which in executing the King's Orders, when they were contrary to his Opinion, and disli­king to his Friends, smelt very much like perfidi­ousness [Page 9] and Treachery, as may principally appear in whatsoever he did for to evade and frustrate the King's Orders, contained in the dispatch I left with him at the Hague, to Nimeguen, for the conclusion of the Peace, by Order of his Majesty.

It is concerning this business that has made so great a noise for which Sir W. takes occasion to re­proach me, that I am going to relate you some Par­ticulars in the Reflections, that I am obliged to make upon what he says concerning my self. Do not ex­pect, my Lord, that I should teach you here the true Cause of so extraordinary a Resolution which so much surprized Sir W. with which Pensioner Fa­gel was so much astonished, and which in Sirs W's opinion did entirely change the Fate of Christendom.

I should please him very much, if I should disco­ver so important a Secret, in which many persons in the late and present Reigns have been concerned. I do not doubt but Sir W. extremely desires it; he knows very well the greater knowledge of these Practices would perhaps raise a great deal of trou­ble in the Parliament to some people, whose Ruine he desires at the bottom of his Heart, being little concerned for the reputation of the late King, and envious of the esteem of those that protected him, and who have bestowed so many favours upou him.

As for my self at this Conjuncture, in which K. William endeavours the repose of Christendom, and the Happiness of England with so much Zeal and Glory, I will not stir up the envy and hatred which has too much appeared in England; and, which may perhaps be a great Obstacle to that Union which is so necessary to the happy Execution of the Under­takings of this great Monarch.

[Page 10] There arrived, said Sir W. at that time from Eng­land, one whose name was de Cros. I shall not stop, my Lord, upon this Term of Contempt, One called; it is a very malicious Expression, in respect of my self; the late King of England himself did me the Honour to treat me in Passports, in his Letters, in his Commissions which he charged me with: It is very impudent and rude to speak so of a Man, who is of a good Family, who has had the honour of being employed for almost twenty years, and whom a great Prince and a King have not disdain'd to use as Councellor of State.

He was (continues Sir W.) a French Monk who had lately quitted his Frock for a Petticoat. Here is a reproach which ill becomes an Ambassa­dor of a Monarch, who is Defender of the Faith, and of the Protestant Religion; of one who declared so openly at Nimeguen, that he would have nothing to do with the Pope's Nun­cio. I do not know, my Lord, that it is a dis­grace to be a Monk; and much less, to have been one formerly: There are indeed amongst them, as well asamongst the rest of Mankind, some miserable Wretches, of a mean Birth, and of a disorderly and infamous Life; People of no use, without Ho­nour, and without Reputation: Sir W. T. thought, without doubt, that I was of that Number; but there are likewise several very famous for the Sanctity of their Lives, of an extraordinary Me­rit, and of the greatest Quality, Sons of Princes and Kings, and Kings themselves, and Popes: But if this sort of Life is not now, as formerly it was, so certain a Character of a good and honest Man, do's Sir W. think he can dishonour me, in reproach­ing me for leaving a Profession which himself [Page 11] thinks so contemptible, for a Petticoat?

It will not be material in this place to say how I was engaged therein in my tender years. There is nothing more usual in France, Spain and Italy, where ancient Houses do sacrifice a good part of their Fa­milies in Monasteries; 'tis a Maxim, to say the truth, most cruel and horrid.

Neither will I relate how, and after what man­ner I came out of it; however, it was not for a Petticoat. I have remained several years without so much as having any inclination to it; and it hath been apparent that I have had much a-do, and was very much unresolved as to this Choice.

There was too great advantage to throw off my Frock for the Petticoat that I have taken, not to do it. It is a Petticoat of a Scotch Stuff, and which hath been a greater Ornament, and done the Crown of England more good than Sir W. himself; if he do not know it, the History of England and Scotland in these late Times may inform him. I shall enlarge no further, that I may not engage my self to publish the Misfortunes and Disorders of Sir W's Family; which, I suppose would not be like a Gentleman. I have no reason that I know of, to complain, neither of his Lady, nor his Son, nor of his Daughters.

Besides, had I even cast off the Monk's Habit for a Petticoat, I should have done no more than a great many worthy deferving Persons have done; yea, some of the Pope's Nuncio's, Cardinals, Bi­shops, Kings and Princesses too, who have quitted the Veil for the Breeches, whose Posterity, I make no question is highly esteemed and reverenced by Sir W.

[Page 12] I did so well insinuate my self, saith Sir W. into the Court of Sweden, that I obtained. from thence a Commission to be a kind of an Agent in England. That is very dirty. I have had the management of Af­fairs and the Quality of Envoy, when Sir W. had no more than that of an Agent or Resident at Brussels. I was Envoy at the Court of England be­fore ever I was in Sweden, or before ever I had any acquaintance there.

I went the first time to Sweden just at that time the late King of England sent me into Sweden and Denmark, about the beginning of the Year 1676. The Pretence was for to demand the free passage of Letters; which the King of Denmark refused, for hastening the Congress of Nimeguen, in procu­ring the expedition of Passports, requisite to the Ministers of State who were to compose the As­sembly; and also to urge the Departure of the Em­bassadors belonging to those two Northern Crowns. But now the true Cause was quite another Mat­ter, and of greater consequence; not for the King of England, but indeed for another Potentate.—That shall be made appear some time or other in my Memoirs.

Had I been a kind of a Swedish Agent, I should not have defended my self in that Point; I should have held it as a great piece of Honour, since it could not chuse but be very glorious and splendid, to have the Affairs of so great a King, in such im­portant Conjunctures as those were, committed to ones charge and care; but at the very time Sir W. speaks of, I was dignified with the Quality of En­voy Extraordinary from the Duke of Holstein Got­torv, acknowledged and received at the Court of England for such.

[Page 13] Sir W. knows that very well, there was sent him divers Memoirs to Nimeguen whilst the Medi­ation lasted, which I had delivered in at London, concerning the re-setling my Master; but the Inte­rest and Concerns of this Prince were so indiffe­rent to him, that I was fain to beg of my Lord Trea­surer to recommend them more particularly to Sir Leoline Jenkyns.

Moreover, you may see Sir W. T. mentions in his Memoirs all the Potentates that had any interest in the Peace of Nimeguen, except the Duke of Hol­stein Gottorp, notwithstanding he had two Ministers at the Congress, and although France had stipulated for his re-establishment in the second Article or Condition of the Peace, such who shall peruse the Memoirs of Sir W. might be apt to think that the Duke of Holstein was reckoned as no body in the World, and that he had no part at all in what pass'd in Christendoom, from the commencing of the War in 1672, until the conclusion of the Peace 1679▪ But Thanks be to God Sir W. is not the Steward of Glory and Immortality.

Sir W. therefore must have often read my Name and Character in the Letters, and Orders of the Court, and cannot have forgot that he came to render me a Visit at my Lodgings, at such time as he, by the King's Order, was to confer with me upon what account Monsieur Olivencrantz might be obliged to pass from Nimeguen into England: That Swedish Embassador lodg'd at that time in my house.

'Tis true indeed, as the Interests of my Master were inseparable from those of Sweden, I found my self engaged to be very much concerned in the Interests of that Crown in whatsoever might [Page 14] depend on my care: There was an Envoy extra­ordinary from Sweden at London; and yet for all that, the Swedish Ambassadors did me the Ho­nour to maintain a very regular Correspondence by Letters with me: The King of England was also graciously pleased to hear me in what con­cerned the Affairs of the Swede, although I was no otherwise authorized for it. Monsieur Oliven­crantz, his Voyage to London was contrived first of all by the King and my self, without the least medling or intervention of any one of his Mi­nisters; and then again in the Negotiation, whereof my Voyage to Nimeguen was a Conse­quence, the Restitution of Sweden was especially insisted upon.

All this made many Men believe, that I was in­trusted with the Management of the Affairs of this Crown; and Monsieur Van Beuninguen believed it so to be, in the Letter he writ to the Lords States-General, which hath since been printed; where he speaks with so much uncertainty concerning the Voyage I was about to make to Nimeguen, and a­bout this Negotiation, that it was evident it was a very great Secret.

Since his being at London, saith Sir W. speaking of me, he hath wholly devoted himself to Monsieur Barillon, the French Ambassador, under pretence to act for the In­terests of Sweden. Monsieur Barillon was not at that time in London, when I was sent thither, he came not thither till a long time after; I found Monsieur le Marquis de Ruvigni there, whom Monsieur Courtin succeeded; and after that Monsieur Barillon came to take the place of Monsieur Courtin.

I never devoted my self to this Ambassador, and I [Page 15] never had any Correspondence or was in League with him prejudicial to my Duty. Nay, it happened the King of England one day, having a design more especially to take into Consideration the Swedish In­terests, Monsieur de Barillon diverted him from it; whether for fear lest a particular Peace should be clapp'd up between the Northern Crowns, or else out of Jealousie, that he might leave the Glory of the Restitution of this Crown to the King his Ma­ster; and depriving it of all other relief, might keep it in the mean time in a greater dependance.

I was so much put to it, and fell out with Mr. Ba­ [...]illon so much thereupon, that I did not so much as [...]peak to him in 3 or 4 months; nay, one day as the King was at Dinner I cast in his teeth what had past [...]n the presence of Monsieur Wachmeister, Envoy-Ex­ [...]raordinary from the King of Sweden. I do not que­stion but Monsieur Wachmeister remembers it well e­nough; he is no less worthy to be believed, than he [...]s brave and undaunted.

And now after this manner I became all one with [...]he Ambassador of France. But yet I must confess [...]hat at such time as he stickled for my Master's In­ [...]erest and that of the Swede, I was intirely devoted [...]o him, thinking my self most happy that I was [...]nabled to pay my most humble Services to such a [...]reat Monarch, whose Subject I have the honour to [...]e, without failing in my Loyalty and Allegiance, [...]hichlought to pay him before all others whatsoever Whereupon, my Lord, I shall tell you one thing, in [...]hich Monsieur de Revigni, at present Lord Gallo­ [...]ay, cannot but agree with me, no, nor Monsieur [...]livencrantz neither. The departure of this Am­ [...]assador for England, occasioned shrewd suspici­ons [Page 16] both at Nimeguen and London to the French Ambassadors. Monsieur Barillon was much alarm'd at it, especially when he saw that Monsieur Oliven­crantz lodged at my House, and when he knew that I had offered a Project, upon which I had the Ho­nour sometimes to be in debate with my Lord Trea­surer, Monsieur Barillon put all in practice to sift him to the bottom; nevertheless all the offers of this French Embassador proved ineffectual, and wrought thing upon this Man; who, if a man would give credit to Sir W. T. was intirely devoted to Mons. Barillon, and yet Mons. Barillon found him not to be corrupted or bribed.

One would think, my Lord, that Sir W▪ T. has a mind to make Men believe, that I was only sent in­to Holland to carry him a Dispatch from the Court; for he is always harping upon this String, when he mentions my Voyage: Yet please to take notice, my Lord, That he confesseth that it was I, who pro­cured this Dispatch.

What means the King then, when he says, That I had been too cunning for them all? There is not so much Prudence and great Abilities required in a Courier; it is sufficient that he be expeditious. But this Message must needs have been Honourable, to employ an Envoy extraordinary of one of the greatest Princes of the Empire, except it be what Sir W. hath been pleased to say, That I was so much devoted to the King; yea, and to Monsieur Ba­rillon too, and so little tender of my Master's Dig­nity, that I would comply with any Offices.

[Page 17] If I were a Courier or Messenger, Monsieur T. hath at least done me a good Office, in re­presenting me to be, what I would not have the Confidence to believe my self; namely, that I was an able Messenger, a Courier of the Cabi­net, and very deep in the King's Trust and Confidence. For before ever Monsieur T. spoke of this Dispatch, which as he says, the Court sent him, to be kept as a mighty Secret, Pensioner Fagel, says he, knew all the Contents, and was quite stun'd at it. D [...] Cross had industriously in­formed the Deputies of the Town, (I Copy from Monsieur T.) and had told them that the two Kings were intirely agreed an the Conditions of Peace; that he had carried Orders to Monsieur T. to go to Nimeguen, and that at his Arrival there he would find the Letters of my Lord Sunderland, the Eng­lish Ambassador, at Paris, with all the Articles as they are concluded between the two Crowns.

Here is, I acknowledge, a very expert Mes­senger, very knowing in the Secret, and very forward in the work, in 4 or 5 hours time, that I had been at the Hague. Monsieur T. will be much more stun'd than Monsieur Fagel was, when he shall know hereafter what past at the Hague, in that little time that I was there, not having discovered what it really was, neither then, nor since. It was most certainly, some­thing of greater importance than to tell the De­puties of the Towns the Contents of the Dispatch, with which I was intrusted. And Monsieur T. will see cleerly one day, how far this only in­cident did change the Fate of Christendome.

I pretend not, adds MonsieurT. to determine by [Page 18] whose means, and howdu Cross,obtained this Di­spatch.And a little lower▪ All that I could learn at Court, about this matter, was, that his Orders were made up one morning, in an hours time, at the Dutchess of Portsmouthsapartment, by the in­terven [...]i n of MonsieurBarillon.

It's pity, that an English Ambassadour, that all the King his Master's Council (if one can believe it) that a Man, who if he had pleased himself, might have been several times Secretary of State, should be so little informed, I will not say during his absence, while he remained at the Hague, and at Nimeguin, but even since his re­turn into England, of what past there, and chiefly in that very affair, wherein Monsieur T. was more exercised than in any other Business that he ever undertook.

But how he could be know it, since neither the Duke of York. nor my Lord Treasurer, not hardly the King himself (if we may believe Monsieur T.) knew any thing of it; And that these Orders were made in one morning, in an hours time, at the Dutchess of Portsmouths Apart­ment, by the Interception of Monsieur Barillon.

Observe now, if you please, my Lord, the Malice of Monsieur T. in Relation to Monsieur Williamson▪ on whom he would give in this place, the Character of Perfidy, as he hath done in diverse other parts of his Memoirs. Monsieur T. ought to have had at least, some respect for the King, whose Orders Monsieur Williamson did Execute.

I never talkt of it▪ says Monsieur T. to the Se­cretary of State Williamson, as if he would say [Page 19] that he was sufficiently perswaded that Monsieur Williamson was a Man altogether for France, and that he was intirely devoted▪ as well as my self, to Monsieur Barillon, and that he was the Author of this Dispatch.

Is it not clear that Monsieur T. would make us imagine that Monsieur the Chevalier Williamson, Secretary of State, the French Ambassador, and the Dutchess of Portsmouth promised these Orders. As for me, tho' I had the Dispatch given me, yet he does not accuse me openly in this place of bearing any other part in this Affair, than only as a Messen­ger entrusted with the Conveyance. And not only so, but I never went to the Dutchess of Portsmouths Lodgings, she having an irreconcilable aversion for me, and I for her.

Can there be a greater absurdity than this? To endeavour to perswade his Readers that the most important affair of that time on which depended (says Monsieur T.) The Fate of Christendom was concluded and made up, in one hours time, in the a­partment of the Dutchess of Portsmouth, by the Inter­vention of Monsieur Barillon.

Monsieur T. is accustomed so little to spare the King's Reputation, that he fears not on this occasi­on, to prostitute it, in a strange manner. He does not only charge him with partiality and connivance, in suffering Valentiennes, Cambray, St. Omer, and several other places in Flanders▪ to be taken, with­out Murmur or Opposition; But the King of Eng­land obliged as much as could be, in the Quality of a Mediator, and more through the Interest of his Kingdoms to procure the Repose of Christendom, yet corrupted by the French Ambassadours, and by [Page 20] the Charms of a Mistress, Sacrifices all Europe, and his own Estate, to a Power that is naturally an E­nemy to England. And this without Ceremony, in an hours time, without the advice of his Coun­cil, and hides himself in the Apartment of a Wo­man, as if he was sensible that he went about an action the most unworthy of the Majesty of a Prince, and the most opposite to the Felicity of his People that could be. For what other Construction can a­ny one make of what Monsieur T. says, and can any man conclude, otherwise when he reads this worthy passage in his Memoirs?

Certain it is, that this Dispatch was made up by Monsieur Williamson, and by the Kings Order. And since the King was pleased to avoid opening his mind hereon to Monsi [...]ur T. giving him no other answer, but that I had been more cunning than all of 'em; Monsieur T. might possibly Address himself to Monsieur Williamson, who, it may be, might tell him, by whose means, and how Du Cross had ob­tained this Dispatch.

'Tis plain that Monsieur T. despairs of penetrating into this Affair; that he knows not where about he is when he speaks of it; and that he only seeks to blacken the Reputation of the King and his Mini­sters. If the Peace of Aix la chapelle is his Favou­rite, because he hath the Vanity to believe it to be intirely his own work; 'tis easie seen that the Peace of Nimiguen is his Aversion, because he is ashamed to have had so small a Part in it as he had, and that the most glorious part of his Life is not to be sound in that Negotiation.

I would have this Complaisance for Monsieur T. though he treats me so ill; I would, at least, in some [Page 21] part, draw him out of this great incertainty, on the subject of the Dispatch which I brought him.

He is deceived, when he imputes this Resolution to the Intrigues and Perswasions of France. It was neither managed, nor taken, nor dispatcht, at the Dutchess of Portsmouth's; nor was it by the means or intervention of Monsieur Barillon. The Am­bassadour had no part in it, but on the very Instant when the affair was concluding. He was not so much as present at the Expedition, as he had not been at any time at the Deliberations. The Mar­quiss of Ruvigny, the Son, carryed the first News to the King, his Master, the same day that I parted for Nimeguen. Monsieur Williamson knew well what was contained in the Dispatch to Monsieur T. in which there was nothing very mysterious. But he was never privy to the secret of the Negotiation▪ and tho' he was present when I took my leave of the King in Secretary Coventry's Office, yet he was then ignorant of the true subject of my Voyage, and perhaps he never knew it.

The King was not at all precipitate, and the affair was not concluded and dispatcht in an hours time. It was treated on, and deliberately considered near Three weeks. There was time given to the Ambas­sadours of Swedeland to resolve themselves, and make their Answer. The King's design was doubtless aimed for the good of Europe, and the publick tran­quility▪ but in truth, he had not in his Eye, nor did he certainly believe that happy Fate of Christendome, for which Monsieur T. labours so earnestly in con­sort with some particular Persons, Enemies to the State, Seditious, and Disturbers of the Publick Re­pose.

[Page 22] But the King said pleasantly, adds Monsieur T. that the Rogue (Coquin) du Cross had outwitted them all. If Monsieur T. had not made the King say this, and had said it himself, I might have ap­plied to him, with as much Justice as any man in the World, these Verses which I have read somewhere,

Coquin,he calls me, with mighty disdain.

Doubtless, I should answer Monsieur T. thus,

Seek your Coquins elsewhere, you're one your self. But the Person of Kings is sacred. Besides, Can that be an abuse, which is spoken pleasantly, without the least design perhaps of offending. For Coquin is a word which the Late King of England often used, when he spoke of People for whom he had notwith­standing Respect and Consideration. 'Tis true, he used the word also very familiarly, when he was angry, but at such times he spoke with indignation, and not pleasantly.

The Parliament presented an Address to the King (as Monsieur T. reports) in which they represented the Progress of the French Arms, and desired him to stop it before it became more dangerous to Eng­land, and the other Neighbouring Countries. Den Bernard de Salinas (continues Monsieur T.) said to certain Members of the Commons, that this Ad­dress had so exasperated the King, that he said those who were the Authors of it were a Company of Coquins.

I remembred at my Arrival in England, in 1675. before I was to go into France in Quality of an En­voy, whither I acknowledge his most Christian Majesty would not permit me to come, either be­cause they had informed him that I had embraced the Protestant Religion, or it may be because the [Page 23] King of France would not receive his own Subjects, in the Quality of Ministers of other Princes. It hap­pened, I say, that the King of England (to whom also I had a Commission) bid the Marquiss of Ruvigni, one Evening, bring me to his Cabinet, and himself come in with me.

The King enquired of me, at the first, what news I could tell him of the Condition of the Swedes Army in Pomerania, through which I past, and ex­prest much concern that the Constable Wrangle, not minding to pass forward into the Empire (as Mon­sieur T. says) had thereby different pretences, had attacked the Elector of Branderburg as vigorously and with as much success as he could. I told the King the reason, which concerns not my present subject to report here.

Afterwards, I having informed the King of the State ofGermany, the King believing that I was to pass intoFrance, spoke to me in these very words.Monsieur, tell the King, my Brother, that it is much a­gainst my mind that I have made Peace with theseCoquins,the Hollanders,Monsieur the Marquiss of Ruvigny,who stands here, knows it well.

Sometime before the making of this Peace, the King talking with Monsieur de Shrenborn Envoy from Mayence, told him also, in Relation to the Hollanders, In a little time, Monsieur, I will bring these Coquins to Reason. Monsieur de Barillon writ to the Count d' Auaux, the French Ambassadour at the Hague, certain Discourses which the King had concerning the Hollanders. The Count d' Auaux made use of this to encrease the just Suspicions of the Esttates. He carried the Letters of Monsieur Baril­lon, to Monsieur Fagel. Whereupon, the States [Page 24] made a terrible Complaint, and the King of Eng­land said on this Occasion to the Duke of Lauder­dale, that Monsieur Barillon, and the Count d' A­vaux were Coquins.

Had the King called me Coquin, seriously, I ought not to think it any very strange thing; since he hath treated in the same manner the most pow­erful and wisest Republick of the World, to whom he had so great Obligations; two Ambassadours of his most Christian Majesty, of extraordinary merit, and as honest Men as France ever had; and also the greatest Lords of his own Kingdom who were Au­thors of the Address which the Commons presented him.

There is also this difference, that the King, spea­king of those Lords, those Ambassadours, and the Hollanders, he called them Coquins in anger, but when he spoke of me, he said it pleasantly (accor­ding to Monsieur T.) and that I was a cunning Co­quin, more cunning than the Duke of York, my Lord Treasurer, the Secretary of State Williamson, and even the King himself.

Either I am much deceived, or all the Ministers of the Consederates that were then at London, would have been all Coquins at this rate, and Monsieur Temple himself, and would have deceived those who abused and deceived them. For besides, there is more credit methinks on such like Occasi­ons, to be a cunning Rogue, and to pass for a more able Man than the most able Ministers of State, than to be the laughing-stock, and the Fool of a Monk and a sort of Agent; Sir William Temple, and some others, were truly so on this occasion.

[Page 25] But I would acquaint Sir W. Temple of what he has not perhaps heard of, as he has done the like to me, I do not invent it to revenge my self, and [...]f I would make use of falshoods, I might make recourse to more heinous Affronts; the truth of my Remarks upon his Memoirs, shall be my full satisfaction. What I shall relate may be found in my Letters upon that account to the Prince my Master, and his Ministers: I took no particular care to divulge it immediately to Mounsieur Barillon, to whom I was so much devoted; were he alive he might witness that as well as the Aversion the King of England always bore to Sir W. Temple; and the little Esteem he had of him at bottom. Upon my return from Nimeguen to London, I went immediately to Court, as soon as I came there I meet Prince Rupert, who askt me with a sterne Countenance if the Peace was Concluded, I answered him in the Affirmative, upon which he cryed out and said, O Dissimula­tion. After having had the Honour to give his Majesty an account of what was past, I told him of the ill humour I perceived Sir W. T. to be in, and what I knew of his neglect of his Majesties Or­ders; The King seemed very angry with Sir W's. Proceedings, and said, he was a very impertinent R—to find fault with my Commands.

But if the late K. of England, did not approve of my Conduct in the affairs of Nimeguen, which in effect he declared at first in Publick not to be pleased with, in which he play'd his part to ad­miration: If against his will, I had truly in­form'd the several Deputies at the Hague, how that the two Kings of England and France were [Page 27] intirely agreed upon Conditions of Peace; [...] this accident changed the Destiny of Christendom▪ and what endeavours soever the English Court had made, there were no ways to repair the Breach. If I was a Fool, a piece of an Agent, o [...] a Knave, How comes it that the King suffer'd me to stay in England near a year? nay, as long as my Master thought fit. Why was the King so civil to me? Why did he recompence me for my Voyage from Nimeguen? Upon what account did the King bestow several other Favours upon me? How comes it, that I haveing made a great Entertainment and Fireworks, to shew my joy for the Re-establishment of the Duke my Master to his Teritories, that the whole Court should do me that Honour as to be present thereat?

It was not my quality of Envoy Extraordinary of the Duke de Gottorp, that hindred the King to express some kind of resentment against me, and thereupon to bid me avoid the Kingdom. I do well remember the King was just npon the point of making Mounsieur Van Beuningen Am­bassador to the States General, to withdraw and get him out of the Land, because he had got the word Connivance, to be foisted into a Memorial he presented to the King, for the recalling of the English Forces, which bore Armes in France.

Don Barnard de Salinas was the Spanish Envoy; the King made much of him, yea and loved him for the particular care he had in Flanders of the edu­cation of the E. of Plym. one of the Ks. Sons, He did nothing but report up and down, that the King gave the Authors of the Address, presented to his Majesty, by the House of Commons no bet­ter [Page 28] name than Rogues. The King had his liberty to reject this Address, as indeed he did, and no ways apprehended the Consequences of it at that time; yet for all that, he banished Don Bern. de Salinas, not in the least considering his Character, nor the Kindness wherewith he had always honoured this Minister; Yea and be Ba­nished him too, without any respect to the King of Spain.

But, for me who had abused and deceived the D. of York, My Lord Treasurer, ay, and the K. himself, who had overthrown all those fair and vast Projects, which the Confederates had con­trived at London and Nimega [...]n [...] ▪ and Sir W. T. at the Hague, which had disclosed the Kings dis­patches, a master piece of S [...]r [...]ry who was the cause of quite changing the [...] of Christendom: for me, I say, against whom the [...] Orange had writ­ten, and caused to be written so many thunder­ing Letters, against whom all the Ministers of the Confederates called for Vengeance; against whom Sir W. T. levelled more of his endeavours to destroy me than the Court did to repair this Breach, and patch up the business, it lets me alone, it does not make the least complaint to the Duke my Master; the K. does me a great many favours, and laughs in his Sleeve at the Surprise, at the Sorrow, and Complaints of the Confede­rates, and Sir W. T.

After all that, can any body reasonably believe that the K. of England might have lookt upon me as a Rogue: And when he told Sir W. T. after a droleing manner that I was a Rogue and had o [...]: [...] th [...] all, may it not be probable, [Page 29] that he had a mind to jeer him, and to make him sensible that he was taken but for Fool? I [...] was very like so to he.

I have not gone about, My Lord, to say i [...] this place what I might say, to wipe of all those scandalous impressions that Sir W. T. hath such a desire to fasten upon me; I suppose I have given your Lordship sufficiently to understand, that what he hath been pleased to say upon this Theme of me, proceeds from inveterate Spite and Malice.

But, what way is there to get clear of one of the most Haughty, and most Revengeful of men, who in his Memoires falls foul upon the reputati­on even of the greatest Minister, who casts as­persions on the Duke of Lauderdale, that most Zealous, and most Faithful Minister, that ever the King was Master of; on My Lord Arlington whom Sir W. is bound to respect as his Master, who was his Benefactor, that raised him from his sordid obscurity, and as it were from the Dunghill, to bring him into play, This ingreatful person forsooke him, that he might catch at the shadow and appearance of mending his Fortune; he would not have stuck to ruin My Lord Arling­ton, by base indirect means: This is no hard matter to make out, even by Sir W. T. his own Memoirs, but yet I am acquainted with some particulars upon this Subject that make my hair stand an end, nay, and I have not only learnt them from My Lord Arlingtons own mouth, but also from a noted Minister of those times.

What a piece of impudence to call in question and tax the Principal Ministers, and the soberest [Page 30] Magistrates of Holland, viz. Monsieur de [...]evern­ing, Monsieur Valknier and others, generally esteemed by every body. To arraign them, I say, some for A varice, others for Partiality, I had almost said for betraying their Trust. But above all, to give such disad antagious repre­sentations of the E. of Rochester, and of Sir Leo­line Jenkyns; that, it would have been all one if he had said, that Sir Leoline, was a man of the other World, a plain downright Ideot, void of insight and Experience: And that Law. Hyde, now E. of Rochester, was a Lord altogether unac­quainted with, and no ways fit for the imploy­ment the King gave him at Nimeguen; neverthe­theless, Sir Leoline was made Secretary of State, and no notice at all taken of Sir W.

As for Laurence Hyde, Sir W. speaks first of him, as if he were a Youth, that should have been sent to the University, I plainly perceive, saith he, that the chief design of that Commission was to introduce Mr. Hyde into this sort of em­ployment, and to let him understand the man­ner how the men behave themselves in the same, then he adds, He excused himself out of mo­desty, to have any thing to do with any Conference, and Compiling Dispatches. Was it out of the re­spect he owed to Sir W. T. or for want of Capacity, that My Lord shewed so much mo­desty, that he would neither make Dispatches, nor meddle with Conferences, what, he who had been ingaged already, as he was afterwards in very important Affairs; who had been Em­bassadour in the principal Courts of Europe, who was chosen as Chief of the Embasie at Nime­gnen, [Page 32] one who in all respects, is so far above Sir W. T. for all these great qualities; yet My Lord▪ affords Sir W. just as much difference, as a petty Scholar does a famous Pedant. And to reward him, Sir▪ W. T. would make him pass in the world, for an Embassadour that was but at best his Scholar.

I make account to tell you, what Sir▪ W. dare not acknowledge. Mr. Hyde, being more sub­tile, and of greater▪ Abilities than Sir W▪ and of that quality too, that was not to be exposed, would not intermeddle in a Mediation, which was like to suffer so gross Indignities, as the Me­diation of England suffered at the Treaty of Ni­meguen. One time or other I shall publish those Indignities in my Memoires, together with the weakness, and tameness wherewith they were content to suffer them.

But now, if Sir W. T. hath not spared such Il­lustrious persons as these: No, not so much as My Lord Treasurer, at present Marquis of Caer­marthen, laying something to his charge, whom also he does not do that right and Justice, which is due to so great a Minister of State, one of the greatest Wits of the Age, for business; a per­son so Loyal to the King his Master, that he sa­crificed himself for his sake; and after all, so full of zeal for his Country, that he hath be­thought himself of all expedients, and hath not feared to expose himself to peril and utter undoing, that he might deliver it from the mis­chiefs that throaten it; If Sir Will. hath not spa­red the Kings person, whose Dignity and Repu­tation he so often sacrifices, can I hope to escape his foul mouthed Language.

[Page 31] Peradventure he had better have done some­thing else, & something wiser; great Confident of Princes and Ks. the sole preserver of Flanders, as he is, than to have entred the l [...]st with a Monk, with a kind of an Agent, and with a cunning Knave. But his desire of revenge hath prevailed, he be­lieves himself cruelly wrong'd▪ and he is in the right on't, for that at the Hague and at Nime­guen, which he was confident would be the Theatre of his Glory, they made him act a disgraceful ridiculous part. He imagines I am partly the cause of it, either because that my Voyage to Nimeguen might have been the effect of my Negotiation, which he might have ga­thered by the Kings answer, or, because I might have done nothing in Holland, but administer cause of Suspicions and Umbrages, that hasten'd on the Peace, in spite of his Teeth, and Reverst the Treaty he had but lately concluded at the Hague.

My Lord, If I be not mistaken, here is ano­ther occasion of Sir W. T. being vext at me. There was a Treaty a foot between England and Spain, for which purpose Sir W. was employ'd without any other design in reference to England, but to abase the Parliament, and no other on the Spani­ards side, but only to add a little more reputati­on to their Affairs. Now the Parliament got nothing by it, and the greatest advantage accru­ed to the Spaniard, who upon this occasion made him really believe it, and so took him for a Cully. A sad acknowledgment for having alone saved Flanders for Spain! I ridiculed this Treaty, I made observations thereon, that were publi­shed [Page 33] in Holland, and men judged that the obser­vations were well grounded: After that, and after the business of Nimeguen, I was not to expec [...] any Encomiums from so unjust a person as Sir W. T. but still he might have writ more like a Gentleman, and have spoken of me with­out ever loosing the respect which he owed to my Master, without doing so great an injury in my person, both to my Name, and Family out of a merry humour, for in whatsoever past, I performed the duty of a Minister, both zealous and most faithful; Nay, and I did no­thing but even by concurrance and good likeing of the King of England.

I beseech you, My Lord, conserve for me the honour of your gracious favour, and be fully perswaded, that I shall be all my life long, with much respect.