not been in great straits for help against the
Turk. But in the year 1652 she resolved to dismiss the representative of
Charles II, then in Venice; and, at the same time, the Government
instructed the ambassador at Paris to send his secretary, Lorenzo
Pauluzzi, to London to open negociations with Cromwell. With Pauluzzi
the series of dispatches from London recommences; but these dispatches
are to be found among the communications from the Venetian ambassador in
Paris, by whom they were forwarded to the Senate. The dispatches of
Pauluzzi are of great importance, and give us a vivid though hostile
picture of Cromwell and his surroundings. 'Nell' universale,' he says,
'ha pochissimo affetto;' and further on, 'non ardiscono tentare alcuna
cosa ne parlare che tra i denti; ma ognuno sta sperando un giorno
verificate le profizie che questo governo non possa a lungo durare.' In
1655 the negociations between England and Venice had advanced so far
that the Republic had determined to send an Ambassador Extraordinary to
the Protector's Court. Giovanni Sagredo, ambassador at Paris, was
chosen, and the closing paragraph of his first dispatch shows how
strongly Cromwell's personality impressed him. 'Per il resto,' he
writes, 'e uomo di 56 anni, con pochissima barba, di complessione
sanguigna, di statura media e robusta e di presenza marziale. Ha una
fisonomia cupa e profonda. Porta una gran spada al fianco. Soldato
insieme ed oratore, e dotato di talenti per persuadere e per operare.'
The result of Sagredo's mission is contained in the long and brilliant
Relazione which he read in the Senate on his return to Venice in 1656.
In this splendid specimen of a Venetian report, he gives, with singular
lucidity and grasp, a brief sketch of the condition of Great Britain; of
the causes of the Civil War; of Cromwell's rise to power; of his foreign
relations; and closes with a portrait of the Protector which confirms
Pauluzzi's unfavourable view, and draws a terrible picture of that
restlessness and dread which clouded Cromwell's last days--'piu temuto
che amato ... vive con sempiterno sospetto.' When Sagredo returned to
Venice, his secretary Francesco Giavarnia was left behind in England, as
Venetian resident, and continued to hold that post till the Restoration,
sending dispatches every week direct to Venice, detailing the close of
the Protectorate, and the return of Charles II., whom he was the first
to welcome at Canterbury the day after his