“The Earl of Barcher[98] came to bid me adieu, and afterwards all the Queen’s Household. The Earl of Suffolk sent me a horse.[99] I went to take leave of the Queen, who gave me a beautiful diamond. Next I took leave of the ladies of the bedchamber, and afterwards of the Earl of Carlisle, who had hurt himself very much in the head the previous evening.[100] Then I came to the duke’s chamber, where I remained for a rather long while, awaiting my despatches and the letters which the King had promised me abolishing the pursuivants of England.[101] Finally, I took leave of the duke and the other lords of the Court, and, accompanied only by Lucnar and the Chevalier de Jars, for I had sent my people on in advance, I took my place in one of the Queen’s coaches and proceeded to Gravesinde [Gravesend], where I passed the night. On Thursday, the 3rd, I slept at Sittimbourne, the next night at Cantorberi, and on Saturday, the 5th, I arrived at Dover, with a retinue of 400 persons who were to cross the sea with me, including seventy priests[102] whom I had delivered from the prisons of England.” Bassompierre, it will be remembered, had encountered no difficulty in crossing the Channel on his way to England; but now there was a very different tale to tell. No sooner had his retinue embarked than the wind changed and blew half-a-gale from the South; and for four days it was impossible for the vessels to leave the harbour. This delay was the more exasperating, since he had undertaken to defray the travelling expenses of his whole suite, including the liberated priests, in the fond belief that they would be able to sail within a few hours of their arrival at Dover, and every day they lingered on English soil meant several hundred crowns out of the unfortunate Ambassador’s pocket. On the 8th, Tuesday, Walter Montague came riding into Dover and informed Bassompierre that Charles I had decided to send Buckingham on a special embassy to the Court of France, and that the duke proposed to start immediately. The reasons which had led to this decision were as follows:--