At the time that I received the letter which your Majesty did me the honour to write to me on the 12th of this month, having learned that the Count Matthioli was arrived at Venice, I sent to him to say that I desired to have a conference with him, in consequence of which he came to my house with the usual precautions. I first delivered into his hands the letter with which your Majesty had charged me for him, which he received with all possible marks of respect and gratitude; and I told him, as your Majesty had commanded me, that you would not content yourself with testifying with your own hand the satisfaction you feel at the zeal he has shown for your interests, but that you also ordered me expressly to assure him, that you were anxious to give him other marks of it. I added to this, that he ought to think himself happy to have found an occasion of meriting the kindness and favours of your Majesty, which he could easily do through the means of the implicit confidence placed in him by the Duke of Mantua, to whom he would also have the satisfaction, at the same time, of rendering the greatest service in his power. He answered me in a manner that does not permit me to doubt his being as grateful as it is possible to be for your Majesty’s goodness, and his having a very strong wish to serve you. Afterwards I read to him the obliging expressions your Majesty makes use of to mark your affection for the Duke of Mantua, and those other parts of your Majesty’s despatch, which I thought myself authorized to communicate, that he might know that you had learned with pleasure the proposals of that Prince, and that he might be aware of the considerable advantages, which would be derived from the strict alliance he (the Duke) would enter into with your Majesty by means of Casale, which you were willing to hold possession of on the same terms as formerly; that is to say, paying the garrison you should keep up in the place, and preserving it for the Duke of Mantua. We afterwards came to talk upon his differences with the Duke of Savoy, for the restitution claimed by him of the parts of the Montferrat, which have been ceded to the latter; and it was not till after some slight disputing, that I made the Count Matthioli agree, by means of the same reasons you did me the honour to detail to me, that _you_ could not enter into this affair in any other way, than by employing yourself to accommodate it; but that the intercession of your Majesty was sufficiently powerful to obtain a satisfactory result for the Duke of Mantua.