The reading of this and of the other letters, translated into Italian, was followed by a “Discourse on Obedience,” pronounced, in the name of the princes and the ambassadors, by Father Gaspard Gonzales, a model of rhetorical elegance and comprehensive brevity—whatever may be thought of its ethical or theological doctrines—which some of the long-winded speakers of the present day, both lay and clerical, would do well to imitate. We give, as a specimen, a passage from the beginning: “Nature has separated Japan from the countries in which we now are, by such an extent of land and sea, that, before the present age, there were very few persons who had any knowledge of it; and even now there are those who find it difficult to believe the accounts of it which we give. It is certain, nevertheless, most holy Father, that there are several Japanese islands, of a vast extent, and in these islands numerous fine cities, the inhabitants of which have a keen understanding, noble and courageous hearts, and obliging dispositions, politeness of manners, and inclinations disposed towards that which is good. Those who have known them have decidedly preferred them to all the other people of Asia, and it is only their lack of the true religion which prevents them from competing with the nations of Europe. “For some years past this religion has been preached to them, under the authority of the holy see, by apostolical missionaries. Its commencements were small, as in the case of the primitive church; but God having given his blessing to this evangelical seed, it took root in the hearts of the nobles, and of late, under the pontificate of your Holiness, it has been received by the greatest lords, the princes and kings of Japan. This, most holy Father, ought to console you, for many reasons; but principally because, laboring as you do with an indefatigable zeal and vigor to reëstablish a religion, shaken and almost destroyed by the new heresies here in Europe, you see it take root and make great progress in the most distant country of the world.