The letter of the Prince consisted mainly of complimentary flourishes.  He had heard, he said, all that Agostino Grafigni had communicated, and he now begged her Majesty to let him understand the course which it was proper to take; assuring her of his gratitude for her good opinion touching his sincerity, and his desire to save the effusion of blood, and so on; concluding of course with expressions of most profound consideration and devotion.

Early in July Bodman arrived in London.  He found Grafigni in very low spirits.  He had been with Lord Cobham, and was much disappointed with his reception, for Cobham—­angry that Grafigni had brought no commission from the King—­had refused to receive Parma’s letter to the Queen, and had expressed annoyance that Bodman should be employed on this mission, having heard that lie was very ill-tempered and passionate.  The same evening, he had been sent for by Lord Burghley—­who had accepted the letter for her Majesty without saying a word—­and on the following morning, he had been taken to task, by several counsellors, on the ground that the Prince, in that communication, had stated that the Queen had expressed a desire for peace.

It has just been shown that there was no such intimation at all in the letter; but as neither Grafigni nor Bodman had read the epistle itself, but only the copy furnished them, they could merely say that such an assertion; if made by the Prince, had been founded on no statement of theirs.  Bodman consoled his colleague, as well as he could, by assurances that when the letter was fairly produced, their vindication would be complete, and Grafigni, upon that point, was comforted.  He was, however, very doleful in general, and complained bitterly of Burghley and the other English counsellors.  He said that they had forced him, against his will, to make this journey to Brussels, that they had offered him presents, that they would leave him no rest in his own house, but had made him neglect all his private business, and caused him a great loss of time and money, in order that he might serve them.  They had manifested the strongest desire that Parma should open this communication, and had led him to expect a very large recompense for his share in the transaction.  “And now,” said Grafigni to his colleague, with great bitterness, “I find no faith nor honour in them at all.  They don’t keep their word, and every one of them is trying to slide out of the very business, in which each was, but the other day, striving to outrival the other, in order that it might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.”

After exploding in this way to Bodman, he went back to Cobham, and protested, with angry vehemence, that Parma had never written such a word to the Queen, and that so it would prove, if the letter were produced.