Grafigni.—­“The first time I went to the States, it was on my private affairs; I had no order from any one to treat with the Prince of Parma.  His Highness, having accidentally heard, however, that I resided in England, expressed a wish to see me.  I had an interview with the Prince.  I told him, out of my own head, that the Queen had a strong inclination to hear propositions of peace, and that—­as some of her counsellors were of the same opinion—­I believed that if his Highness should send a negotiator, some good would be effected.  The Prince replied that he felt by no means sure of such a result; but that, if I should come back from England, sent by the Queen or her council, he would then despatch a person with a commission to treat of peace.  This statement, together with other matters that had passed between us, was afterwards drawn up in writing by command of his Highness.”

Burghley.—­“Who bade you say, after your second return to Brussels, that you came on the part of the Queen?  For you well know that her Majesty did not send you.”

Grafigni.—­“I never said so.  I stated that my Lord Cobham had set down in writing what I was to say to the Prince of Parma.  It will never appear that I represented the Queen as desiring peace.  I said that her Majesty would lend her ears to peace.  Bodman knows this too; and he has a copy of the letter of his Highness.”

Walsingham to Bodman.—­“Have you the copy still?”

Bodman.—­“Yes, Mr. Secretary.”

Walsingham.—­“Please to produce it, in order that this matter may be sifted to the bottom.”

Bodman.—­“I supplicate your Lorships to pardon me, but indeed that cannot be.  My instructions forbid my showing the letter.”

Walsingham (rising).—­“I will forthwith go to her Majesty, and fetch the original.”  A pause.  Mr. Secretary returns in a few minutes, having obtained the document, which the Queen, up to that time, had kept by her, without showing it to any one.

Walsingham (after reading the letter attentively, and aloud).—­“There is not such a word, as that her Majesty is desirous of peace, in the whole paper.”

Burghley (taking the letter, and slowly construing it out of Italian into English).—­“It would seem that his Highness hath written this, assuming that the Signor Grafigni came from the Queen, although he had received his instructions from my Lord Cobham.  It is plain, however, that the negotiation was commenced accidentally.”

Comptroller Croft (nervously, and with the air of a man fearful of getting into trouble).—­“You know very well, Mr. Bodman, that my servant came to Dunkirk only to buy and truck away horses; and that you then, by chance, entered into talk with him, about the best means of procuring a peace between the two kingdoms.  My servant told you of the good feeling that prevailed in England.  You promised to write on the subject to the Prince, and I immediately informed the Lord-Treasurer of the whole transaction.”