“That this may come to pass, We on our part are ready to aid you with all the helps that lie in our power, as We have hitherto done. For this end We shall treat in our own name with each of the Kings whom you mention, and strongly commend to them your safety and your kingdom's welfare, as We ought to, being ready at all times to pay you all such good offices of our fatherly goodwill as are deserved by your brave and unconquered spirit, and most manifest care of the Catholic Faith. We shall furthermore, in the lowliness of our heart, beseech Almighty God in our prayers to help you, now that you are labouring under so many misfortunes, that He may vouchsafe mercifully to give you fortitude and perseverance in adversity.
“Given at Saint Peter's, Rome, under Fisherman's ring, January 9th, 1570, in the fourth year of our pontificate.”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Petit.
[2] M. M. Shoemaker.
[3] Petit.
[4] For a narrative of it see Author's work on Mary Queen of Scots, and who wrote the Casket Letters?
[5] Strickland.
[6] State Paper Office.