Archivio di Stato, Venezia,
XXIV Inghilterra, 1623, Senato III Secreta
Uncertainty over the masque, in a dispatch sent home by the
Venetian ambassador
Alvise Valaresso, and dated 16 [i.e.
6] Feb. 1624. The dispatch is numbered 94, and occupies pp. 285-92
(extract on p. 287).
Gl' Ambasciatori Spagnoli tutto che col loro
negano del Matrimonio quasi disperato, sono stati
hoggi, come intendo, sopra questo soggetto, all' Audienza del Signo r
Principe. Et mi uien portato hor hora, che supra cio' pure siano per
espedire corriero in Spagna. L'
Ambasciator Persiano hebbe Audienza dal Re' a'
Nimarchet. non e' ancor tornato in Londra. Subito giunto, io lo uisitero'.Li suoi
negozi mi par siano sopra Ormus, et sopra
quelle sete che tutte si promettono a' gli Inglesi. La Persona pero' non ha' molto
credito, et il negocio uiene stimato aereo. Il solito Baletto o' non si fara', o'
si
fara' senza Ambasciatori per non disgustar[ possibly in a different
hand]'alcuno.Del Matrimonio con Francia, non c'e' ancor nulla di certo. molti
non l' abboriscono men dello spagno lo. anzi tutti l' abboririano, se non
fosse stato quello, per cosi dir, cannonizato da' questo.
Translation
Although the negotiations about the marriage are in almost hopeless straits, I hear
that the Spanish ambassadors have been granted an audience on this subject by
the Prince
. It has just been reported to me that they will send a messenger about it to
Spain
. The Persian ambassador was granted an audience at Newmarket. He has not yet returned
to
London
, and as soon as he arrives I will visit him. It seems that his business is about
Ormuz and the silk which has been promised entirely to the English. The ambassador
is
not of great credit, and the business is considered flimsy. The usual masque will
not be
performed or will be performed without ambassadors, in order not to offend any. There
is
no firm information about the French marriage.
Many abhor it quite as much as the Spanish one. Indeed, all would abhor it were it
not
canonized, so to speak, by the alternative.
Bibliography
CSPV 1623-1625, 217