“About the middle of the month of June, M. d’Escoïquiz received another letter from the Prince of Asturias; in it was announced that, through the medium of Don Juan Emanuel de Villena, his first equerry, he had received an important billet, signed by Don Pedro Giraldo, tutor to the Infant Don Francisco, and that this billet was written by an individual belonging to the French Legation. It contained the announcement of a most important and secret communication, which it was the wish of the French ambassador, M. de Beauharnais, to make to the prince. M. d’Escoïquiz, whom the latter had consulted with regard to the line of conduct which he ought to adopt, was of opinion that the prince’s reply should be peremptory—that ‘he meddled not with public affairs, nor held interviews with public men.’ Meanwhile, he undertook to discover if the message really came from the French ambassador, or was merely a trap laid by Godoï to condemn the young prince. This tried and valued friend, never at a loss, had soon invented a pretext to call upon the ambassador, to whom he was unknown. He requested permission to present to M. l’Ambassadeur the first volume of an epic poem, to be entitled ‘The Conquest of Mexico.’ “The ambassador, without appearing surprised at the sudden literary reputation usurped by M. d’Escoïquiz, answered with courtesy that he would receive with pleasure the book and its author. After a few observations relating to ‘the Conquest of Mexico,’ some few remarks on the state of affairs bringing each of them nearer to the object they both had in view, M. d’Escoïquiz frankly questioned the ambassador on the subject of the billet which had been delivered to the Prince of Asturias, and begged him, as a point of honour, to tell him the truth concerning it. “The ambassador feigned a certain embarrassment, denied being the author of the billet, yet wished it to be understood that in reality he was; said that a message from an ambassador to the heir-apparent would scarcely have been admissible, but declared he felt much esteem for his royal highness, and that he would be greatly pleased by the permission to pay his court, _en particulier_, to the young prince. By all this specious reasoning M. d’Escoïquiz judged of the truth, and at once told him, without further disguise, that the prince firmly believed that the message came from him.