* * * * *
My colleagues heartily salute you.
I thought I had given this letter with others to the messenger,
but after he left I discovered my mistake when it was too late. I
suppose you have not heard that the marriage of the Duke of Mantua
with the daughter of Ferdinand has been celebrated at Papia. It is
yet uncertain who is to succeed Paul.[267] War is expected in Italy.
God grant that we may seek peace with himself!
[_Lat. orig. autogr.--Library of Zoffingue._ Vol. i. p. 14.]
[267] Pope Paul III. died on the 20th November 1549, of grief and
rage, on hearing of the treachery of his grandson Octave Farnese,
who, to obtain the restitution of Parma, joined the cause of the
Emperor against his grandfather.--De Thou, b. vi.; Robertson, b. x.