Bassompierre was greatly astonished and embarrassed by the news that Montague brought. He was aware that it was the intention of Charles I to send an ambassador to France, but had never dreamed that Buckingham, after the very plain hint which he had received the previous year that his presence at the French Court would not be tolerated, would have the effrontery to take upon himself the mission. The thought of the indignation of Louis XIII and Richelieu if he were to return to Paris accompanied by the presumptuous favourite was a most unpleasant one; and he therefore begged Montague to inform Buckingham that he advised him strongly to abandon his intention of coming to France, as he very much feared that he would not be received, and sent him back in all haste to London. Then, in order to leave nothing to chance, at two o’clock the next morning he embarked with his suite for Calais, notwithstanding that it was still blowing hard. He was not, however, to escape Buckingham so easily, for the storm carried them towards Dieppe, and, after beating about the Channel for some time, in a vain attempt to make the French coast, they were obliged to return and land near Dover, to which they sadly made their way back. The bad weather continued for several days, and on the 12th Buckingham, who had learned that Bassompierre was still detained at Dover, sent Montague to beg him to meet him at Canterbury, whither he proposed to come on the following day. The duke arrived, accompanied by Carlisle, Holland and Goring and the Chevalier de Jars, and, says Bassompierre, “wished to show me his splendour by entertaining me in the evening to a magnificent banquet.” After supper the marshal had a long conference with Buckingham, in which he endeavoured to persuade him to abandon his proposed visit to France; but the latter appeared absolutely determined upon it, and was still in the same mind when they adjourned to bed. Next morning, however, Bassompierre returned to the charge, and, though the duke refused to hear of giving up his journey, he at length consented to postpone it until the marshal had submitted the proposed embassy to Louis XIII. It was arranged that Balthazar Gerbier should accompany Bassompierre to Paris and bring back word to his patron whether the French Court were prepared to receive him. “At dinner,” says Bassompierre, “he entertained me to as magnificent a banquet as that of the preceding evening; and then we embraced, never to see one another again.”