r among other words,
that he was _Hombre el mas ingrato enel mondo_, the ingratest person in
the world to vse his maister so. The Emperour tooke him suddainly with the
word, and said: callest thou me _ingrate_? I tell thee learne better
termes, or else I will teach them thee. Th'Embassadour excused it by his
commission, and said: they were the king his maisters words, and not his
owne. Nay quoth th'Emperour, thy maister durst not haue sent me these
words, were it not for that broad ditch betweene him & me, meaning the
sea, which is hard to passe with an army of reuenge. The Embassadour was
commanded away & no more hard by the Emperor, til by some other means
afterward the grief was either pacified or forgotten, & all this
inconuenience grew by misuse of one word, which being otherwise spoken &
in some sort qualified, had easily holpen all, & yet th'Embassadour might
sufficiently haue satisfied his commission & much better aduaunced his
purpose, as to haue said for this word [_ye are ingrate_,] ye haue not
vsed such gratitude towards him as he hath deserued: so ye may see how a
word spoken vndecently, not knowing the phrase or proprietie of a
language, maketh a whole matter many times miscarrie. In which respect it
is to be wished, that none Ambassadour speake his principall commandements
but in his own language or in another as naturall to him as his owne, and
so it is vsed in all places of the world sauing in England. The Princes
and their commissioners fearing least otherwise they might vtter any thing
to their disaduantage, or els to their disgrace: and I my selfe hauing
seene the Courts of Fraunce, Spaine, Italie, and that of the Empire, with
many inferior Courts, could neuer perceiue that the most noble personages,
though they knew very well how to speake many forraine languages, would at
any times that they had bene spoken vnto, answere but in their owne, the
Frenchman in French, the Spaniard in Spanish, the Italian in Italian, and
the very Dutch Prince in the Dutch language: whether it were more for
pride, or for feare of any lapse, I cannot tell. And _Henrie_ Earle of
Arundel being an old Courtier and a very princely man in all his actions,
kept that rule alwaies. For on a time passing from England towards Italie
by her maiesties licence, he was very honorably enterteined at the Court
of Brussels, by the Lady Duches of Parma, Regent there: and sitting at a
banquet with her, where also was the Prince of Orange, with