Folio 173. To Cresset. Acknowledges letters, one from Celle, of Dec 21 and one from...

Folio 173. To Cresset. Acknowledges letters, one from Celle, of Dec 21 and one from Hanover, of Dec 29. Explains delay of his reply: he had to deal, as a matter of urgency, with a packet of papers received from Paget. Gives a precis of Paget's dispatch of Oct 2 [1693, see f.168, ante] and comments sharply on the raising of the siege of Belgrade. - Asks Cresset to thank the electoress Sophia for her appreciative interest in himself. - Describes his audience of the electoress of Saxony from her sick-bed. - There is a rumour of [Benoit Bidal, baron] d'Asfeld coming to Dresden 'to show favours'. At his, Stepney's, behest, Ilten sounded the elector, but is satisfied that d'Asfeld, 'that accomplice of [Sieur Barthélemy de Livières] Grandval' will get no encouragement. - To-day is 'Ausschuss-or Deputationstag', i.e. deputies of the political estates of the electorate will meet in committee, at which Gersdorff will propose a 'further supply' in the elector's name. Stepney does not think that the degree of their compliance will be 'proportionable' to the elector's 'wants or expectations'. - [Bodo von] Oberg [Hanoverian diplomat] is on his way to Vienna. PS. Warmly recommends [? William] Storer (see ff.11v and 33v, ante) whom Cresset has taken into his service and whom, he says, he has known for seven years. - Acknowledges letter of Jan 5. - The [French] peace proposal is justly ridiculed wherever it is considered, particularly by the electo [of Saxony]. - Regarding the 'inclinations of the elector of Bavaria, Leibniz will tell him, Cresset, what Stepney, when asked about his opinion, intimated to him ten months ago, namely 'I gave it for whoring.... He has something of King Charles's humour & I believe for a mistriss would reject not only the Netherlands but even the reversion of the kingdome of Spain if France would offer that likewise as a bait for a peace...' .

Date and Place: 1694 Jan 12/22 Dresden