long because the ratification of the treaty was delayed by a wrangle as to the use by William III of the title Rex Franciae; but finally the French said they would be satisfied provided we declared that we would change it, if it be found otherwise in the ratification of the Treaty of Breda and in other treaties made since. Their Excellencies are very willing to oblige themselves to stand by the example of Breda...but do not think it proper to consent to such loose terms as and treaties made since import, for that they do not know but that the style Rex Franciae may possibly have been omitted in those negligent times when France had but too much influence upon our negociations1.

Another difficulty was the language in which the treaty was cast. The English treaty was in Latin, the French in their own tongue: and the French tried to insist that the ratification should be in French only. However, Vernon reported that Rymer "our historiographer hath rummaged some of his records of ancient times, for he hath not yet looked into those of the memory of man, and he sends you an extract of all sorts when they treated in Latin, when in French and when in both languages." Eventually in this matter the French gave way; and research into the "diplomatic" of the treaty of Breda resulted in the style of Rex Franciae being tacitly allowed to the King of England by a compromise. In the English ratification William III styled himself Angliae, Scotiae, Franciae et Hiberniae Rex, Fidei Defensor, etc. and alluded to Louis XIV as Rex Christianissimus, while Louis XIV on his side spoke of himself as Roi de France et de Navarre, and of William III as Roi de la Grande Bretagne, etc. On October 17 Prior exchanged the ratifications with the French Secretary: "We have nothing left (I thank God) but to give and receive general passports for ships that may 1 Bath Papers, III. 178, Prior to Blathwayt, Hague, Oct. 4/14, 1697. 2 Ibid. 174, Vernon to Prior, Whitehall, Sept. 28/Oct. 8, 1697.

go out or return on either side1." The three weeks that he was yet to stay in Holland were occupied with packing, and watching the Germans sullenly making up their minds to "come in" by November 1. On October 31, between one and two in the morning, the Emperor and the Catholic princes signed, but the Protestants with Brandenburg at their head refused2: and it may be noted that, under such circumstances, Prior did not think the peace could last long.

The Germans have their peace, the Imperialists and Palatine have showed themselves too good Catholics to think the Protestants will either heartily forgive them or make a war unanimously with them in some time. These are allowed six weeks to come in, which they will do if it were but six days, but in the meantime six hundred churches in the Palatinate are like to have mass said in them as well after they shall be restored to the Elector Palatine as whilst they were under the French Dominion. The French threaten the Elector of Brandeburg with no less than excluding him the benefit of his article in our treaty, unless he accept the peace. This, Sir, is cavalier enough to us, with whom they have signed and ratified, but I would make such an observation to you alone, and I hope you of the House of Commons will not be foolish enough to depend too much upon our peace, though we ministry have been wise enough to make it for you3.

On November 7 the King arrived at The Hague in readiness to go to England and in his train Prior crossed over, to undertake at last, as he imagined, duties for which he had received a salary for some six months, but which he had not in the smallest degree performed. On the 8th he sent his formal letter of leave-taking to the States-General, who not merely expressed their formal

1 P.R.O., S.P. Foreign, Holland, vol. 223, Prior to Vernon, Hague, Oct. 18, N.S. 1697.

2 Bath Papers, III. 184, Prior to Blathwayt, Hague, Oct. 31, N.S. 1697. 3 P.R.O., S.P. Foreign, Holland, vol. 223, Prior to Vernon, Hague, Nov. 1, N.S. 1697.

approval of his conduct, but also gave him another chain and medal, this time of the value of 600 gilders, an act which was so unusual that it had to be registered in the Secret Minute book with a special proviso that it was not to be taken as a precedent1. Clearly Prior had succeeded in ingratiating himself with the Powers to whom he was accredited, even though we may suspect that William III's influence was not absent2. He may have been pardoned any feelings of pride as he sailed homewards if he reflected that by his sojourn in Holland, wearisome and distressful though it undoubtedly had been, he had certainly won his spurs in public life. He was no longer the untried scholar of seven years ago; his worth had been tested, and William III, one of the ablest diplomatists of his age, had not found him wanting; but had even gone out of his way to find a salary whereby Prior might remain in his service. By the age of thirty-three Prior had held a post which, if it was not highly important, at any rate had entailed responsibility in the foreign service of Great Britain, and his reward was that he was to be continued in the service of the King within his own dominions. There was no chance, as he had feared at one time, of being sent back to live in College, and he could look forward with confidence to promotion and advancement in the widest sphere of life that lies open to man.

1 The Hague, Royal Archives, St. Gen. 2342, fo. 210.“Is naer voorgaande deliberatie ende in agtinge genommen sijnde, dat M. Prior, als Secretaris van Sijne Majt van Groot Brittannien een tijtlang bij haar hoog Mogenden is geemploijeert geweest, soo in absentie van de heeren ministers van hoogstged: sijne Majt als andersints, ende op huijden affscheijt van haar hoog Mogenden heeft genommen, goetgevonden ende verstaan, dat aan den selven sal worden vereert een goude ketting ende Medaille ter waardije van ses hondert gls. sonder dat dit hiernaar in consequentie sal worden getrocken, ende wert den Goudsmith van Hoecke mit desen gelast, de voorsz ketting ende Medaille ten Spoedigsten te maken." 2 See a letter from Prior to Blathwayt, dated Hague, Oct. 30, 1697, in B. M. Add. 21508, fo. 17.

THE

Chapter IV

I. THE EMBASSY AT PARIS

HE duties which Prior imagined he would have to undertake were those of Secretary to the Lords Justices in Ireland. In May, Lord Villiers had been appointed a member of that body; and Prior's anxieties about his position had led him to solicit Charles Montagu to obtain for him the office of Secretary1. The King had no objection, and on May 21, Prior was able to thank Charles Montagu for his appointment. Henceforth Prior could be free from money cares such as oppressed him during his early years at The Hague. He anticipated that the office would bring him £1000 a year2; but in this he was doomed to be disappointed. The fees from which the Chief Secretary derived most profit were the military orders and commissions, and since his return to Ireland as one of the Justices in February, the honest Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, had set himself to reduce the amount of these fees. This unwelcome news reached Prior at the end of July: he wrote to Galway and Winchester:

I entirely submit to any regulation which Your Lordships think proper to be made, and I wish nothing so much as to have been on the place, that the gentlemen of the army (for it is in that part of the list that the regulation is made) might see

1 Bath Papers, III. 114, Hague, May 10 (N.S.), 1697. Villiers obtained for Prior leave of absence from his duties: Hist. MSS. Comm. xvth Rep. 11. (Eliot Hodgkin Papers), p. 83, letter of Villiers to Blathwayt, Hague, May 25, N.S. 1697.

2 Bath Papers, ut sup. 115.

L. P.

5

that I very willingly declined the reception of any fees or perquisites which might give any occasion of grievance1.

But it would seem that to his subordinates, he wrote protesting, and asking for modifications. Anyhow, on August 3, Joshua Dawson sent Prior a letter enclosing the revised tariff of fees in which he expressed his regret that his representations to Lord Galway had been of no avail, and said frankly enough that Prior's "yearly advantage will be far short of what other secretaries have usually enjoyed2." However, in spite of the very drastic reductions effected by Lord Galway, Prior had no very serious grounds of complaint. Instead of £1000, the profits of his office on the first year were £666. 135. 6d.3, which was considerably more than he had ever obtained from the English Treasury in return for his services in Holland.

But Prior was not destined to go to Ireland. He was to receive a diplomatic post far more important than Ratisbon or Lisbon, or the other petty capitals on which he had so freely speculated while at The Hague. He had scarcely been in England six weeks, before he received orders to proceed to France as secretary to Portland's embassy on the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Court of Versailles. Galway, who had been impatient for Prior's arrival in Ireland even before the signature of the peace, made no secret of his disappointment, but buoyed himself up with confidence that Prior's mission would be short5. The new year

1 Bath Papers, III. 142, Prior to Winchester, July 21/31, 1697. 2 Ibid. 144, July 24/Aug. 3, 1697.

3 Ibid. 211, Arthur Podmore to Prior, Dublin, April 16/26, 1698.

4 "Je suis bien fâché que vous vous éloigniez encore de nous." Bath Papers, III. 186 (Dec. 7/17, 1697).

5 "The assurance you give me that your stay in France ought to be a very short one gives me pleasure." Bath Papers, III. 187 (Jan 4/14, 1697/8).