cultivate with all
fidelity and constancy the alliance and friendship that existed
between my most glorious parent and your Majesty, and to keep and
hold as valid, with the same diligence and goodwill as himself, the
treaties, counsels, and arrangements, of common interest, which he
established with you. To which intent I desire that our Ambassador
at your Court [Lockhart] shall be invested with the same powers as
formerly; and I beg that, whatever he may transact with you in our
name, you will receive it as if done by myself. Finally, I wish
your Majesty all prosperity.--From our Court at Westminster."

(CXXXIV.) To Cardinal Mazarin, _Sept._ [5], 1658:--Dispatched
with the last, and to the same effect. Knowing the reciprocal
esteem between his late Father and his Eminence, Richard cannot but
write to his Eminence as well as to the King.

(CXXXV.) To Charles Gustavus, King of Sweden. _October_
1658:--"Most serene and most potent King, Friend and Confederate:
As I think I cannot sufficiently imitate my father's excellence
unless I cultivate and desire to retain the same friendships which
he sought, and acquired by his worth, and regarded in his singular
judgment as most deserving to be cultivated and retained, there is
no reason for your Majesty to doubt that it will be my duty to
conduct myself towards your Majesty with the same attentiveness and
goodwill which my Father, of most serene memory, made his rule in
his relations to you. Wherefore, although in this beginning of my
Government and dignity I do not find our affairs in such a position
that I can at present reply to certain heads which your agents
have propounded for negotiation, yet the idea of continuing, and
even more closely knitting, the treaty established with your
Majesty by my Father is exceedingly agreeable to me; and, as soon
as I shall have more fully understood the state of affairs on both
sides, I shall indeed be always most ready, as far as I am
concerned, for such arrangements as shall be thought most
advantageous for the interests of both Commonwealths. Meanwhile may
God long preserve your Majesty, to His own glory and for the
guardianship and defence of the Orthodox Church."--The peculiar
state of the relations between the Swedish King and the English
Government is here to be remembered. The heroic Swede, by his
sudden recommencement of war with Denmark, had brought a hos