He is consequently living in retirement at Flushing, in a position hardly above that of a private gentleman. Occupied solely with sundry family affairs, he is quietly waiting till the storm of unpopularity shall have spent itself, for well he knows how changeable the masses are, and that neither their favour nor disfavour is likely to last long. The following piece of news I give, but do not vouch for, though the report is generally current. Those who do not like it explain it away. All France rings with the story of another defeat at the Azores;[173] the fleet, they say, is lost; the French cut to pieces; the Portuguese condemned to the galley and the oar; the commander of the expedition a prisoner. If this be true, and it does not seem improbable, France will have paid dearly for her hospitalities to the Portuguese. Among other instructions given by the King to the Duke of Joyeuse, when setting out for Italy, was one of special importance; he was to obtain the Pope’s permission for the sale of ecclesiastical property to the value of some hundred thousands of crowns; it is now reported that the Duke’s attempt to obtain the Papal sanction was a complete failure. So the King’s hopes in this quarter were frustrated, and the Duke has not been more successful than the great men whom the King lately sent round France to obtain supplies. The first debates on the King’s return will be, I imagine, on the best method of scraping up money! With the lower orders in this country distress has gone so far that they are like to hang themselves from sheer despair, consequently they take these frequent and heavy demands upon their pockets in very bad part. September 15, 1583. The aged Bishop of Rimini, the Apostolic Nuncio, has died here of fever. He was a man of kindly feeling and high character. September 20, 1583. LETTER XXV. I have not much to report. Alençon is at Cambrai, in great want of many things, especially money, which in his case is all important. His captains attempted to surprise Le Quesnoy, a strongly fortified town in Hainault, and were repulsed with great slaughter. St. Aldegonde, and a gentleman named Junius, who acted as secretary to the late Count Palatine,[174] are said to have come to Cambrai as ambassadors from the States, to treat with Alençon for a reconciliation; but treat or reconcile as they please, it is plain they will not be supported by public sentiment, for the Netherlanders loathe the very name of Frenchman. Ypres is still blockaded by the enemy’s works, though there is a story that the besiegers have suffered some loss at the hands of the garrison of Bruges. The plague, which is now raging at Paris with extraordinary violence, will, I think, cause the King to defer his return. People expect that Alençon will meet him here.