battle, which we had no great inclination to venture; and by this means (as we pretended) we proposed to acquit ourselves very honourably to the emperor, of whom the whole duchy of Milan is held as a fief. Several goings and comings there were between our camp and theirs, but we came to no manner of conclusion. I continued constantly with them by the king’s direction (who was unwilling the treaty should be broken off); and, at last, our deputies came to them again, and with us we had the President de Gannay, and one Monsieur de Morvilliers, Bailiff of Amiens, to speak with them in Latin, (for till then I had conducted the conferences in bad Italian,) and to draw up the articles. Our manner of treating was to go to the duke’s quarters, and he, in complaisance, used to meet us with his duchess at the end of a gallery, and then sent us all before him into his chamber, where there were two great rows of chairs ready set, as close as was convenient, and opposite to each other. They placed themselves on one side, and we sate on the other. The first on their side was the commissioner for the King of the Romans, then the Spanish ambassador, then the Marquis of Mantua, after him the two proveditors, then the Venetian ambassador, then the Duke and Duchess of Milan, and last of all the ambassador of Ferrara. On their side none spoke but the Duke of Milan, and on our side nobody but one. It is not our method to discourse with that sedateness of temper which they do, for sometimes two or three of us were speaking at a time; but the duke always interrupted us with, “Hold, gentlemen, one to one.” As we were obliged to digest all into articles, whatever was agreed upon was immediately put into writing by one of our secretaries for us, and by another of theirs for them; and this was read aloud by the secretaries, one in Italian, and the other in French; and this was done again at our next meeting, that we might see whether any thing had been changed; and it is a good way to dispatch any affair of importance. This treaty was in progress about a fortnight or longer; but the first day of our conference it was concluded that the Duke of Orleans might have liberty to come out of Novara, to which end a cessation of arms was agreed upon for that day, and continued from day to day till the conclusion of the peace; and for surety for the passage of the Duke of Orleans, the Marquis of Mantua delivered himself as a hostage into the hands of the Count de Foix; and he did it voluntarily, and more to give us pleasure than from any fear; yet first they made us swear that we were proceeding with sincerity and _bona fides_ in the treaty of peace, and that we did not do it merely to deliver the duke out of danger.