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France PRO 31/3
This is a lengthy transcript entitled "Lists of Despatches of Ambassadors from France to England; Henry VIII—George I; with remarks on their Correspondence. By M. Armand Baschet." The collection for the period of the English Republic, PRO 31/3/98-103, is composed chiefly of letters between Cardinal Mazarin and his ambassadors, but there is a scattering of letters to and from Cromwell, six of which have been identified as Miltonic. These letters were transcribed from copies or originals in the Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, Correspondence Politique, Angleterre, Vols. 66 & 69. They are identified below by volume and folio page number in the French Archives and by the type of document they were transcribed from.
PRO 31/3/98
**1. (15-16, Latin) Perlati Ad Nos, Cromwell to the King of France, May 25, 1655 (Works, 139; Prose, 78); Vol. 66, f. 1, copy; unsigned.
**2. (17-18, Latin) Illatae Nuper, Cromwell to Cardinal Mazarin, May 25, 1655 (Works, 112; Prose, 79); Vol. 66, f. 60, original; signed "Oliver P."
**3. (82-84, Latin) Ex Literis Majestatis Vestrae, Cromwell to the King of France, July 31, 1655 (Works, 56; Prose, 82); Vol. 66, f. 98, copy; unsigned.
#4. (85, Latin) Cum E Re Visum, Cromwell to Cardinal Mazarin, July 31, 1655; Vol. 66, f. 96, original; signed "Oliver P." This letter lies next to and has the same date as Ex Literis Majestatis Vestrae (3 above) in French Archives. It is the original cover letter to the Cardinal, enclosing an information copy of the longer one to the King. It has not been accepted as Miltonic; rather Cum Nobilem Hunc, July 29, 1655 (Works, 57; Prose, 83) is published, since it appears in all three contemporary transcripts. Works suggests that Cum E Re Visum "may be a revision of Cum Nobilem Hunc" (XVIII, 650); Prose dismisses it: "only conjecture could connect it with Milton" (p. 710n). Both letters are to the same effect, however, they enclose the letter to the King and introduce the Ambassador, George Downing. The earlier version, of which Milton kept a copy, was revised, apparently, because it was deemed advisable to mention Downing by name. To suggest that Milton wrote Ex Literis Majestatis Vestrae, which is the subject of Cum E Re Visum, and Cum Nobilem Hunc, which is a rejected earlier draft of it, but that he was not responsible for the wording of the letter finally sent to Mazarin is surely being cautious in the extreme.
PRO 31/3/99
**5. (8, Latin) Cum Videam Vestris, Cromwell to Cardinal Mazarin, April 14, 1655 (Works, 146; Prose, 94); Vol. 66, f. 239, original; signed "Oliver P." The transcript is dated "4 April 1656" in two places and the letter concludes "Alba Aula, decimo quarto die Aprilis 1656," but the "quarto" has been lined through and "4" inserted in the margin, both in pencil.
PRO 31/3/100
**6. (57-8, Latin) Cum Dandae, Cromwell to Cardinal Mazarin, September 25, 1656, (Works, 74; Prose, 113); Vol. 66, f. 112, original; signed "Oliver P."
PRO 31/3/102
**7. (201, Latin) Quum Nuntiato Serenissimi, Cromwell to Cardinal Mazarin, May 20, 1658 (Prose, 150); Vol. 69, f. 59, original; signed "Oliver P."
Comment: Prose lists thirty letters dating from May 25, 1655, when Milton was first employed in French correspondence, to February 22, 1659; and for a number of reasons English-French relations seems a particularly promising area for exploration. To mention a few: (1) Because of the Spanish War, this was a period of close alliance between the two nations. (2) The Baschet transcript is catalogued in the 39th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, App. 8, May 16, 1878. There are six documents listed in the Report which, for some unaccountable reason, are missing from the collection, two of which have the same dates and addresses as known Miltonic letters; Cromwell to the King of France, July 1, 1658 (Works, 143; Prose, 156) and Richard Cromwell to Cardinal Mazarin, September 6, 1958 (Works, 125; Prose, 160). (3) Aside from the seven documents here listed, there are fourteen additional transcripts in the file, eleven of them in French, of letters exchanged by, variously, Louis XIV, Mazarin, Oliver and Richard Cromwell, all written during the period of Milton's employment in French correspondence. Further, there are a number of "Minutes" recording additional letters exchanged among the four, many of them on matters that Milton's letters deal with—the Piedmont Massacre, Lockhart's mission, Fauconberg's mission, the fall of Dunkirk, and Cromwell's death. (4) An idiosyncracy of the correspondence with France makes it clear that we do not have all of Milton's letters to that country. During the 1650's protocol required that each letter to Louis XIV be accompanied by a companion to the regent, Cardinal Mazarin. Milton was responsible for a number of these pairs (see Prose, 78-79, 82-83, 93-94, 146-147, and 148-149 or 150), and the companion to any single letter which he is known to have written to either of these figures may be reasonably attributed to his hand, even though he may not have kept a copy of it. It seems unlikely that the efficient Thurloe would assign two secretaries to compose separate letters, one to the Cardinal and one to the King, on the same matter on the same date.
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