There is a report current that the municipality of Paris was ready, out of love to the Queen, to defray the yearly expenses of herself and her household, if she would remain here. The proposal, they say, was not actually made, because they were afraid that, if the Queen refused, the King on hearing of it would lay claim to the money and employ it for his own private purposes. Whether this story is founded on fact or not, there is no doubt that people are constantly saying that it will be a bad day for France when the Queen goes away.[90] The King’s desire to retain the Crown of Poland will probably be a powerful motive for making peace, as his advisers consider his chances are hopeless if civil war continues in France. The Poles, they say, will never believe that anything is to be got out of people who have their hands so full at home; but if peace is made, they may be convinced that the money will be forthcoming, and that the King will some day return to Poland. Your Frenchman will gratify his own desires regardless of the ruin and destruction he causes to others; all with whom the French have been concerned have been brought to ruin, or at any rate to the brink of it, and this, I fear, will be the fate of Poland and Genoa. Paris, July, 1575. LETTER XXV. No provision has as yet been made for the money required for the Queen’s service, in spite of my reiterated requests; not only were the former letters of no avail, but the orders of your Majesty’s Chamber, which were lately sent to Augsburg, have proved equally inefficacious. Accordingly, we have been fooled not twice, as the proverb says, but three or four times. Meanwhile the Queen requires ready money for many purposes, and we can think of no plan for defraying our necessary expenses without money, or for procuring it without damaging our character; consequently we are in great difficulties. I send your Majesty a list of ladies to whom special presents ought to be made at the Queen’s departure; they must be given, or she will be thought to have behaved unhandsomely. The list is long, and the expense will consequently be considerable. Again, as the Queen is not likely, when she leaves the country, to have a farthing remaining out of her French allowances, funds will be required for the expenses of her journey from Nancy to Ratisbon, which must be paid in ready money. It is hardly necessary for me to point out how closely the matter concerns the honour both of your Majesty and the Queen. As to the watches, about which I have received no answer, I again most humbly entreat your Majesty to send them. If we are left without the means of acknowledging the kindnesses we have received, your Majesty will hereafter find people disobliging when their assistance is needed. Matters occur every day in which the help of faithful friends is indispensable, and there can be no doubt that these little presents are of great use in securing such services.