This letter reads like a genuine cry of distress. The Cardinal of Siena was an adept at dealing with such dishonesty as this, which would deceive one less expert. He could read between the lines; and he knew this Chancellor Mayr. He began by asserting Papal Supremacy, and rejecting the decrees of the schismatic Council of Basilea. He agreed that the Concordat of the Lord Eugenius P.P. IV should be observed. He said that the Lord Calixtus P.P. III was willing to redress grievances, if the Electors would send envoys to lay them before Him in proper form. So far, nothing could be more satisfactory; and then the Cardinal of Siena got to work. Papal interference with elections, he said, was purely judicial intervention, due to the ambition and greed of claimants, not to papal rapacity. If any payments had been made by would-be bishops to bribe officials of the curia, the said would-be bishops justly could not blame His Holiness, but their own ambition, which would do anything for its own aggrandisement. Men were not more angelic in Rome than in Germany: when money was offered they naturally took it. But the Holy Father must not be blamed for that. He wished to stop the extortions of his officials. He Himself received nothing but His due. Every one thinks it a grievance to part with money, and will think so always. Bohemia made the same complaint against Germany as Germany made against Rome, that money was drained from the land: yet Germany, owing to her connection with the papacy, steadily had grown in wealth and importance, and was richer now than at any previous time, despite of her complaints. To descend to personal matters, the Cardinal of Siena thought it very hard that Chancellor Mayr should object to the provisions which had been made in his favour. As poet-laureate of the Empire and orator of Caesar he had lived and laboured in Germany so long, that he now found it hard to be classed as a stranger. In conclusion, _he thanked the Chancellor for his personal offer of help to realise the said provisions; and would be glad to know of any eligible benefices which should fall vacant_. The sting was in the tail of this letter. It is evident that, while Martin Mayr was writing for publication his precious list of grievances, he also was sending to the cardinal in private a second letter offering his own services as rent-collector. In theory, he pretended to treat his connection with the Lord Enea Silvio as having no existence. In practice, he was very anxious to be employed as agent on commission. To such a venal Janus only one reply was possible; and the Cardinal of Siena exposed the worthless insincerity of Germany’s spokesman by answering his private and his public letters together on the same sheet.