[172] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at Paris. No. 11. ESTRADES TO POMPONNE. The Duke of Mantua watched by the Spaniards. Venice, February 12th, 1678. SIR, Though the Duke of Mantua has been for the last fortnight at Venice, I have not yet been able to see him; but he has sent me word several times, by the Count Matthioli, that he had still more impatience than even I have, that we should confer together; that he only deferred giving himself that satisfaction, in order that he might first get rid of those of his people whom he has the least confidence in, and particularly four men, whom his mother has sent with him here to observe all his actions, which they do with the greatest care; and that two days before he sets off to return to his own territories (where he is not afraid of any surprise, when he shall be once there himself), he will acquaint me with the time and place at which we may see one another. It is true, that the step he has taken, of at once seizing upon the territories of the late Duke of Guastalla, has very much disquieted the Spaniards; and one sees that they are endeavouring, by all sorts of means, to ascertain whether the Duke of Mantua has taken any measures to gain the support of the King. His resident at Venice, who is devoted to the Duchess his mother, came two days ago to the Sieur de Pinchesne to ask, on the part of his master, whether I was about to despatch an extraordinary courier to Paris, because his highness would be glad to make use of him to convey there a packet of consequence: he answered him, that affairs were so little of a pressing nature here, that I always wrote by the usual conveyance, and that I had not at present any reason for sending a courier; but that, if the Duke of Mantua wished it, I would send one on his account. I made this known to the Prince himself, who was surprized that his resident, in his name, and without his order, should have made a request of that nature; and as he was of opinion, as well as myself, that the intention of his resident was by this means to discover whether a packet, which, it was said, the Duke of Mantua had received from the Grand Duchess,[173] was of importance, he agreed to the expedient which I proposed to him, of sending publicly to make him the same offers as those which had been made to his resident, in order that he might be able to express before his ministers his disapprobation of their entering, without his knowledge, into communications with the French ambassador, being aware of the measures which it was necessary for him to keep. He charged Matthioli to tell me that he had had a letter from the Grand Duchess, to which he had sent an answer, for the purpose of begging her to support his claims to the King; having heard that the Duke of Modena[174] had complained to his Majesty of his having taken possession of the succession of the