The

Duke of Guise, and the Constable Anne de Montmorency, formed the Catholic Triumvirate in opposition to Coligny and his confederates. Here, too, a remarkable omission occurs in this list of Ambassadors; for in 1550, St. André was specially deputed to present the Order of St. Michel, then the highest in France, (that of the St. Esprit not being instituted till 1579,) to our boy-king," le petit Roy Edouard," as Brantome qualifies him. embassy is described as of peculiar magnificence, and, in return, not only was the French monarch, Henry II. enrolled a Knight of the Garter, but St. André was likewise honoured with the decoration: upon which Brantome, after complacently remarking, that besides the king, two of his subjects, St. André and the Constable Montmorency, enjoyed the high distinction, adds (Hommes Illustres), "La solemnité en est très belle, et l'ordre et le manteau très beau, avec la jarretière, dont l'institution est fort antique.' St. André's armorial symbol was, Alexander cutting the Gordian knot, and the motto,

Nodos virtute resolvo." I am surprised that Mr. Holmes should not have found some record of such an event. Chauffepié (tome i. p. 219,) has devoted an article to St. André; another descendant of whom, Claude d'Albon, a voluminous writer of the last century, published a work in express disparagement of the British constitution and people. ("Discours sur l'Histoire, &c. Genève, 1782.")

1677. "M. de Barillon." Mr. Holmes inquires whether this be not Antoine de Barillon, Seigneur de Morangis? To which I may reply, that it is not, but his brother. They were three this ambassador, Antoine de Morangis, and the Bishop of Luçon, a most exemplary and sanctified prelate, in the description of St. Simon. (xv. 302.) The discoveries of later years have communicated to this embassy more than ordinary interest. The most flaming patriots of the day, stand here arraigned, and, in my judgment, certainly dispassionate, unabsolved of the guilt of corruption. No effort of vindication has washed away the stain, or invalidated the damnatory evidence of existing documents; and feeble have been the

attempts to palliate what could not be justified. But we may seek relief from this humiliating spectacle of human frailty, in the gratifying persuasion, that the moral code of public men is, at this hour, of stricter rule, its jurisdiction more submissively acknowledged, and its observance more obligatory in practice, than we can discern it in the transmitted delineation of past generations. I can discover little in history to warrant the expression of good old times, in advantageous comparison with the present, or to support the Homeric assertion of that superiority, though maintained by the Goddess of Wisdom herself:

1683. "M. de Tilladet." Mr. Holmes seems to think, that this was Jean Baptiste de Cassagnet; but I apprehend that the family name was La Marque, indigenally Marca, one of the most ancient of Béarn. was the son of François de la Marque, and brother of the learned Abbé de Tilladet, whose Eloge, by M. de Boze, of book-collecting fame, is in the "Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions," tome iii. p. 530.

1685. Louis de Crevant, duc d'Humières." He received the Marshal's staff in 1668. In 1672, on the invasion of Holland, when our William was "monstratus fatis,' as Tacitus designates the dawn of renown, (Agricola, xiii.) this Marshal, with others of the same degree, refused to serve under Turenne, then named Marshal General, a rank nearly equivalent to that of Constable, (which was suppressed in 1632, on the execution of Henri de Montmorency,) but of very rare occurrence in the military annals of France. It was, however, conferred on Villars, in 1733, under whom Marshal Boufflers had, in 1709, served with patriotic devotion, though then his equal-a heroic sacrifice of pride to a nobler feeling. It is to the dis

sentions of rival Marshals-each disdaining subordination-that the French principally, and Colonel Napier in some degree, impute their defeats by the English, in the late Peninsular War; but, united or discordant, they were equally doomed to succumb to the superior genius of their great opponent.

1685. François Joseph, Comte de Clermont, et de Tonnerre."

This is erroneous; for the title was singleClermont-Tonnerre as a distinction from other Clermonts, not double, as the copulative et would imply. He was brother of the Bishop of Noyon, so much the object of ridicule for his genealogical pretensions, even to the most aristocratic partizans of birth to St. Simon, to Madame de Sévigné, and to Louis XIV. himself. (See Gentleman's Magazine for August last, p. 149.) Hig Eloge appears in the Mémoires de l'Académie Française by D'Alembert, with Condorcet's additions, (6 vols. 12mo. Paris, 1788,) tome ii.

1687. "Jean Baptiste Colbert, &c." The purpose of this embassy was to establish a maritime and commercial treaty with James II. whose views were always turned to the promotion of trade, which, during his short reign, experienced a signal improvement, as Hume demonstrates ; and Pepys equally testifies how intelligent he was in maritime concerns; but his expulsion from the throne, mendaciously termed his abdication, rendered Colbert's mission impotent of result.

1689. "Jean Antoine de Mesmes, Comte d'Avaux." He was one of the ablest diplomatists of the age, as his Memoirs (1752, 6 vols. 12mo.) will evince. Mr. Holmes does not seem aware of this impression; for he only refers to the manuscripts. Relative to the family, see Gent. Mag. for August last, p. 146.

1697. "Camille d'Hostun, Duc de Tallart, Marshal of France." He was, at this date, only Duke par brevet, and not made a Peer till 1715. He and Marshal Marsin, with the Elector of Bavaria, were completely discomfited in 1704, at the battle of Blenheim, (or Hochstet,) by Marlborough and Prince Eugene, when he was made prisoner, and continued a captive in

England till 1711. He died in 1728. He had distinguished himself in various subordinate situations; but-" Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premier."

1698. Phelippeaux d'Herbaut.” A Secretary of State. His grandson, who died Governor of Canada in 1713, left a name long cherished in that province.

1700. "M. de Poussin." He had been Secretary to Marshal Tallart.

As the intention of further prosecuting this subject is not expressed, I may infer that it is not entertained; nor, indeed, does the succeeding century offer any inducing motive for it. Nothing worth mentioning in that period just now strikes me, at least until the French Revolution, except a little anecdote referrable to the Duc de Nivernais' arrival in England, on the termination of the Seven Years' War, as Ambassador, in 1763. Stopping for refreshment at Canterbury with his suite, the innkeeper, one Jackson, presented him a bill for fifty guineas, which five would have over-paid. Thinking it beneath his dignity to contest the demand, he discharged it; but, on communication of the imposition to his friend Lord Chesterfield and others, they induced the gentlemen of Kent to discountenance Jackson's hitherto flourishing, because favoured, house of resort, and this man, the dupe of his miscalculating cupidity, thus overreached his object.-Like the savages of Louisiana, in Montesquieu's vivid imagery, (Esprit de Lois liv. v. xiii.) or, our home example of the Sovereign's spoliation of the Church, in the grasping pursuit of an instant gain, he forfeited the arising fruit and certain return of a productive establishment. The amiable Ambassador vainly interceded in his favour; for the national honour was involved, and seemed to demand this manifestation of feeling.

The functions and privileges of Ambassadors, in constituant association with the comprehensive Law of Nations, are discussed generally, and defined, by Grotius, Puffendorf, Dumont, and several others. Some particular treatises may also be cited, of which the best is that of Abraham de Wiquefort, "L'Ambassadeur et ses Fonctions." (1746, 2 vols. 4to.) The

unfortunate Dolet, (Stephen,) who, in 1546, was executed for reputed atheism -an act rather sanctioned than reproved by Calvin, Scaliger, and De Béze-Calvin placing him

on the same line as Servetus (Bayle, article Dolet). On his return from Venice, where he had been secretary to the envoy, the Bishop of Limoges printed, in 1541, at his own press in Lyons, a slender quarto volume, "De Officio Legati," &c. And Paschalius, (Carlo Pasquali,) a born Italian, but naturalised Frenchman, published in 1598, at Rouen, where he was Advocate General of the Parliament, a little work, of which the best edition is that of the Elzevirs, (1645, 12mo.) intituled Legatus. It has no intrinsic merit; but the author, in 1589, was sent by Henry IV. on an embassy to Elizabeth, as stated by De Thou, to solicit pecuniary aid, which he obtained-forming, consequently, another interruption in the chain of Mr. Holmes's list of Ambassadors, thus to be filled up. He (Paschalius) was afterwards employed elsewhere, particularly with the Grisons, in 1604, as may be collected from Sully's Memoires, tome v. 338. These writers, Dolet, Paschalius, &c. as was the custom, or rule of the age, referred principally to the ancients for facts and authorities, (Machiavelli is almost the sole exception,) and the sources were abundant in examples. The pages of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius, teem with prolix ambassadorial harangues-the exercise and produce of their own ingenuity, like Dr. Johnson's parliamentary discourses, when the doors were closed on reporters. Polybius, indeed, had performed the functions himself, as well as his father, Lycortas, and the "Excerpta Legationum "form part of his preserved labours. The Roman historians equally abound in relations and speeches of Ambassadors -Cineas from Pyrrhus, and Carneades from Athens, to the Senate-the elder Africanus to Syphax-Sylla to Bacchus-Titus Quintius to Greece,—all comparatively brief, not forgetting that of Popilius to Antiochus, when placed in parallel with the elaborations of their Grecian predecessors. To what, sometimes tedious extent, Homer, with other Greek and Latin poets, indulged their loquacious propensities

in this way, I need not indicate. The leading principle of our modern envoys and diplomatists, on the other hand, is the impressive lesson derived from Macchiavelli and Paolo Sarpi, "Volto sciolto, e pensieri stretti, which is equally one of the Spanish Jesuit, Gracian's precepts. Oraculo Manual y arte de Prudencia sacada de los aforismos de L. Gracian.' (Huesca, 1647, 4to.) It is also Lord Chesterfield's repeated recommendation to his son, and is, in fact, the old "Simulare et dissimulare." Plato's Convivium (edit. L. J. Rückert, Lipsiæ, 1829.) Alcibiades, in speaking of his preceptor Socrates, describes him Ειρωνευόμενος δε καὶ παίξων πάντα τε βιον πρός τους ανθρώπους διατέλει.” As disguising in playful form his real purpose, veiling his thoughts in smiles.

In

This thought of Mr. Holmes, I may repeat, was good, and his offering is acceptable; for history, like science, is most safely based on minute inquiry. It cannot, in fact, securely repose on other grounds; and, among the aids to the efficacy of its instructions, or developement of its lessons, the views and characters of the main agents of the events unfolded in its pages, and constituting its attributions, may well appear entitled to distinct commemoration.

"Les vrais Ambassadeurs, interprétes des

lois,

Sans les déshonorer, savent servir les rois : Des souverains du monde ils sont les noeuds sacrés,

Et partout bienfaisans, sont partout revérés."

Voltaire, Tragédie de Brutus, Act v. sc. ii.

A regular treatise on the subject would necessitate a recourse to Parisian channels of information, such as "La Chambre des Comptes,' "Le Dépôt des Affaires Etrangerès,” and above all "Les Archives Nationales." These last are in the ancient Hôtel de Soubize, rue du Paradis, originally the residence of the Constable, Olivier de Clisson, under Charles V. in the fourteenth century, subsequently that of the House of Guise, and, in 1697, purchased by François de Rohan, Prince of Soubize-the produce of his wife's favours to Louis XIV. In 1806 Napoleon appropriated it to its present From these documents, it will appear that at least one female was

use.

any of the stalls under the degree of a Baron, unlesse he be a privie counsellour, the Captaine of the Penc❜onours, and the Captaine of the Garde, in regard of their attendance on our person.

That when wee, or the Prince, are present, noe man presume to put on his hatt at the sermon, but those on the stalls on the left hand, which are Noblemen, or Counsellors, and the Deane of the Chappell.

That when wee, or the Prince, are absent, as our expresse pleasure is that our Chappell be all the yeare throughly kept, both morneinge and eveninge, (with solempe musicke like a Collegiate Church,) unlesse it be at such tyme in the summer when we are pleased to spare it, soe wee will have all decent honor and order kept, and therefore, when any of the Lords of our Councell be belowe, our pleasure is, soe much respect be given unto them (beinge our representative body) as noe man presume to be covered untill they shall require them, and then onely the sonnes of Noblemen, or such as serve us, and the Prince, in eminent places.

That, in all these places, both Noblemen and others use greate distance and respect to our person, as allsoe civility one to an other, and those that are young offer not to fill up the seates from those which are eyther older, or more, or Councellours, though perhapps belowe then in rancke.

These we commaund to be in every pointe imitably observed, and as wee shall take especiall notice of those which conforme themselves with care and reverence to observe our commaunds, soe we straightly charge and commaund all our officers and servants, to whom it shall belonge, to make severe examples, by punishment and open disgraces upon any such as shall violate these our direccions, without respect of persons.

best antiquaries have laboured to trace them out. The subject is one which has long engaged my attention, and I have come to a conclusion that I have discovered the course of the Iter in question. It appears in Gibson's edition of Camden thus:

ITER VII. Editio Suritana.

Iter à Regno Londinium, m. p. xcvi. sic. Edit. Aldina, cxv. Edit. Simleriana, cxvi. 96.

Clausentum, m. p. xx.

Ventam Belgarum, m. p. x. Callevam Atrebatum, m. p. xxii. Edit. Aldina, Gelleu. Edit. Simleriana, Gall.

Pontes, m. p. xxii.

Londinium, m. p. xxii.

This is a circuitous route from (Venta Belgarum), to London; and, in Chichester (Regnum), viâ Winchester my opinion, proceeded through the places which are now known as Southampton (or near to it), Winchester, Odiham, Reading, and Walton-uponThames.

I believe no doubt now exists of Chichester being the Regnum of Antoninus.

Clausentum, it is universally agreed, is in the neighbourhood of Southampton.

The site of Calleva has been a much more disputed point, but I feel convinced that it must be placed at Reading. The name Calleva is, in all probability, some latinized British word, which perhaps was Ceubal, a ferry, or ferry boat as I suppose from Calleva appearing so frequently in the Itinerary, it was the place where the Thames was generally passed in the British and Roman times, and consequently was a point of some importance. I am confirmed in this by my opinion of the etymology of the present name, for I conclude that Reading is derived from the British Rhyd, a ford or passage of a river. I also believe that the name Calleva is still retained in Caversham, on the opposite side of the Thames.

There is scarcely any station in the Itinerary that has puzzled our antiquaries more than Pontes. I will not here state the places at which they have fixed it, but proceed at once to give my reasons for placing it at Wal

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