For these reasons the two kings sent formal ambassadors to Venice during my residence there. The King of the Romans, being their neighbour, first sent the Bishop of Trent[382] as the chief in that embassy, and with him two gentlemen and a doctor-at-law; they were received with great ceremony and respect, entertained as handsomely as myself, had ten ducats a day allowed them for their expense, and the charge of their horses (which were left at Treviso) was borne besides. Not long after this there arrived a person of quality[383] from Spain, with a numerous retinue, and in a very splendid equipage, who was received as honorably as the other, and his charges also borne. The Duke of Milan, besides the ambassador he had there already, sent the Bishop of Como[384], and Signor Francisco Bernardino Visconti.[385] They began to have private conferences in the night, at first by means of their secretaries; for they durst not declare publicly against the king (especially the Duke of Milan and the Venetians), not knowing what the success of this confederacy might be. The Duke of Milan’s ambassadors made me a visit, brought me letters from their master, and told me their coming was in return for the visit of two ambassadors whom the Venetians had sent to Milan; whereas the custom was only to have one resident there, and at last they had no more. But all this was but artifice and deception; for they all came on purpose to make an alliance against our good king, and so many secret cabals could not be carried on long without becoming known. They next asked me if I did not know what was the cause of the coming of the ambassadors from Spain and the King of the Romans, that they might give their master an account of it. But I was informed before (by the servants of the ambassadors and others) that the Spanish ambassador had passed through Milan in disguise, and that the Germans were wholly managed by the duke. Besides, I had notice that the Neapolitan ambassadors delivered several packets of letters hourly from their master (for all this was before our king’s departure from Florence). I was at some expense for my intelligence, but what I had I could depend on. I had immediate notice of the treaty that was on foot, and what were the first proposals that were made, but not agreed to; for in such consultations the Venetians are very long. For these reasons, and seeing the alliance near its conclusion, I would not pretend ignorance, but answered the Milanese ambassador that, since they carried things so strangely, I would let them know that my master would not lose the friendship of the Duke of Milan if there was a possibility of preserving it, and that I would acquit myself as an ambassador, and excuse whatever ill reports might have been made to the Duke of Milan against my master. The duke, I presumed, was misinformed, and I said that he would do well to consider (before he lost the recompense of so great a service as he had already done the