I see by the letter, which you did me the honour to write to me on the 15th of last month, that you have approved of the assiduity of the Count Matthioli about the Duke of Mantua, from the reasons which I sent you. It will appear to you still more useful, when you are told that he has obliged that Prince to break off the marriage of the great-nephew of Don Vincent of Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, with the second daughter of the late Duke of Guastalla, and sister of the Duchess of Mantua, which was already concluded, and which had been contrived by the Spaniards, in the view of putting him more easily in possession of the Duchy of Guastalla; so that the Duke of Mantua is at present so much at variance with the Spaniards, that it is not difficult to make him comprehend that there is no other safe part for him to take, than that of putting himself under the protection of the King, and of fulfilling those engagements with his Majesty, which he has already agreed upon. This is what I represented to the Count Matthioli at his last visit to this place, and he was the more easily brought to be of this opinion, because he has a great interest that this affair should succeed, since the Spaniards, who are all-powerful in the councils of his master, and who have the Duchess-mother on their side, have easily discovered that it is he alone who injures them in the mind of the Duke, and would not fail to take vengeance on him, if he ever fell into their hands. He departed yesterday to go and join the Duke of Mantua, whom he does not quit, and whom he is to accompany to Mantua, and afterwards to Casale, from whence he will proceed to Paris: but, by the reckoning that we have made together, he cannot be there before the end of the next month. * * * * * * Sir, I am obliged to tell you that the Nuncio is so devoted to the Spaniards, and that he sees with so much chagrin the power of the King, and the weakness of the House of Austria, that he would be capable of inventing to me a story of this nature, even should it not be true.[203] * * * THE ABBÉ D’ESTRADES.[204] [203] As the letter breaks off here abruptly, it is impossible for us to discover to what transaction Estrades alludes. [204] From the Archives of the Office for Foreign Affairs, at Paris. No. 29. ESTRADES TO POMPONNE. Excuses for the delay of Matthioli. Venice, July 9, 1678. SIR,