intercepted by the said horsemen brought into France and is expected
at the Bastille. I believe you know the man. . . . I remember him
in England.


Can this monk be the monk who went mad in prison at Pignerol,
sharing the cell of Mattioli? Did he, too, suffer for his
connection with the secret? We do not know, but the position of
Charles was awkward. Marsilly, dealing with the Swiss, had come
straight from England, where he was lie with Charles's minister,
Arlington, and with the Dutch and Spanish ambassadors. The King
refers to the matter in a letter to his sister of May 24, 1669
(misdated by Miss Cartwright, May 24, 1668.)*

'You have, I hope, received full satisfaction by the last post in
the matter of Marsillac [Marsilly], for my Ld. Arlington has sent to
Mr. Montague [English ambassador at Paris] his history all the time
he was here, by which you will see how little credit he had here,
and that particularly my Lord Arlington was not in his good graces,
because he did not receive that satisfaction, in his negotiation, he
expected, and that was only in relation to the Swissers, and so I
think I have said enough of this matter.'

*Madame, by Julia Cartwright, p. 264.

Charles took it easily!

On May 15/25 Montague acknowledged Arlington's letter to which
Charles refers; he has been approached, as to Marsilly, by the
Spanish resident, 'but I could not tell how to do anything in the