Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/248

 242

NOTES AND QUERIES. [12*. in. MARCH 31.1917.

He then quotes Stanhope's ^ version, but

leaves out the word " nearly.

Dr. J. Holland Rose in his classic

' William Pitt and the Great War follows

Stanhope, but also leaves out nearly.

He adds that

"In its terseness and strength, its truth and

modesty, its patriotism and hopefulness, this utterance stands unrivalled (p. 538).

The occasion of Pitt's speech was a re- markable one. He was drawn in triumph Jo the Guildhall, he had to speak of the battle of Trafalgar, and he made the ft reply with reference to his having been Eibed as the saviour of Eng and or Europe, and yet we have no report of the fp^ech " in its entirety." I hope some one can throw further

Inner Temple.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL.

VIII.

THOMAS COXE. correspondence of Thomas Coxe, Envoy

letter from vol. vii., which describes the writer' journey from The Hague to Frank- Sand Nuremberg, and thence to Zurich, s interesting for the light it throws upon the conditions of travel at a time when the Rhine country was still g2jjtopm the ravages which marked the retreat of Louis XlV.'s armies. The account of the wX's reception at St Gall and Zurich is valuable, too, as an instance of the extra- ordinary satisfaction and enthusiasm ermjed by Protestants throughout Europe at the accession of William HI. Coxe himself was a man of considerable experience in foreign affairs. He had lived in Spain, Italy, and HolSnd, and since July, 1689, had busied himself with the relations between England and the Swiss Cantons. By this time hostilities between Louis XIV. and tfte Grand Alliance were in full swing, and for years France had obtained her best supplies of troops from Switzerland. It was one of the a F ims of William III. to prevail upon the Swiss Confederation to disengage itself totally from France, to recall its troops and enlistthem on the side of the Allies ; and this was the object of Coxe s mission The story of the negotiations has been fully tol<

in one of the volumes of the " Schweaer Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft, it need not detain us here, as Coxe s letter- is printed solely as a travel item. It i; enough to say that the negotiations were unsuccessful, and that Coxe returned to- England in 1692 a disappointed man.T

My LordJ

It is now time I should give Yr. Lops some

jssMnsssisSfa^

t&*tt$tt*&t3&

dfe^^^sMi^

joXJTwhic? I being obligd to <lertake in.

SSfe^^^srertS

& ^2?^ H

D'hervart's company first, and then of my -L Paget 7 s [for y most part of my way) had retarded me during a Post or 2 from England, But the former's iourny continuing suspended by his M 8 order, and my I/ not being then quite readv I thought it my duty to lose no more time & havmlreced: my I/ Paget's Assignation to me?t Wm at Colen or Francfort sett forward by the way of Nimmeghen and Cleves for Colen ; where I found my Lord Laxington and young; Count SchSergh (created I thinke Earle of Harwich by y e King) gone together the day before Swlrds Cllv y es (by water) from the siege of Bonn Generall Spaen being arriv'd there 7* same night

awiEatsKrftassg feaw^ffSfcSM^SS

for the safe prosecution of my journy. He e B tertain'd me long, and ^h^^^fM'^

Rhine on the nght

parts adjacent. Presently after my leave of him he sent me his son in Law, Capt.. his owne regim*, with his pass-port to y" Camp, and orders to y same gentleman and

sandten Thomas Coxe in derSchweiz, 1689-169^, bvDr phil.Friedrich Kilchenmann, Zurich, 1914.
 * Band VI. ' Die Mission des englisch en g e ;

t Coxe was the first of a regular series of Envoys to The Swiss Cantons, of whom the most important was Abr. Stanyan .(see as. * hm,. ' T\ TV Tl ' and Coolidge, Swiss Guide-Boots, p?'23 169-7?). I am indebted to Mr. Coolidge For bringing Coxe to my notice, and for referring me to Kilchenmann's work.

J Query Earl of Shrewsbury.

On Oct. 5.