A LETTER FROM THE King of SPAIN Written to the POPE of ROME.  
Licenced, September 29. 1690.  
Most Holy Father;  
WE have by the Hands of your Nuncio, the Patriarch of the Indies, received a Letter, whereby your Holiness recommends to us a General Peace, and especially that of Italy: And although we have at the Expense of Provinces, States and Dominions, (which were sufficient to make them great Kingdoms) many times with joy facilitated the public Quiet; yet we cannot at this time refrain ourselves, to tell your Holiness, That seeing the King of France doth in no ways keep either Peace or Truce, and having broken his Treaties with all the Princes of Europe, they are obliged to join themselves for their Natural Security, and thereupon have sought the Necessary Means of War, to secure themselves.  
He hath made War upon the Emperor without Cause or Reason, having at the same time raised a Rebellion in Hungary against your Prince, and that he might uphold the said Rebellion, hath brought the Turk into Christendom, hath kindled a Fire even in Austria, by which the innermost Provinces of the Empire have been set on Flames. Christendom trembled at the formidable Siege of Vienna, which City, though manfully defended and preserved by a Miracle, yet the Damages, Devastations, Ruins and Horrors that were the Consequences of it, are unspeakable, and without number. An infinite number of Families carried into Slavery, which lost at once their Souls and Liberty, can sufficiently attest this. The Images have been profaned, and the Rivers died with the Blood of the Innocents'. But to pass over in silence this sorrow, lest the Calamities that befell Christendom should raise another sorrow in the tender Heart of your Holiness, because they were caused by a Prince that styles himself, Most Christian.  
The unjust War in the Palatinate, with such horrible Burn as was never practised by the most barbarous Nations, must be in fresh Memory with your Holiness, seeing the miserable sighs of the Subjects overwhelmed by the Troops of France, are continually in our ears. Your Holiness cannot be ignorant of the violent Spoils committed on the three Electoral Princes of the Empire, viz. of Mentz, Cologne, and Trier; and even your Holiness could not deliver from this Tyranny the City and State of Avignon, it being an old Patrimony of the Holy Sea. What hath he lest undone, against all respect, both by the Clergy in France, and his Ministers at Rome, by Threaten, and other Actions, to show his little regard to your Holiness; but seeing your Holiness knows this too well, it is needless, but just to remark it.  
What Prince, what State, and what Republic is there, which hath not these last Years felt the Ambition of France? Let Genoa speak, which was almost consumed by his Bombs; let the Duke of Savoy tell it, whom he would at last have trampled upon, as well as all Italy, and brought under a vile Yoke of Slavery; and seeing what hath been said, cannot be denied, how can we, Most Holy Father, treat of an Accommodation, before the Power of him be humbled, whom neither Religion, Justice, Faith, nor Oath can restrain: By all which, as well as our Treaties, we find ourselves bound in no wise to part from our Allies, and Confederates; and standing fast in this Resolution, we must represent this only to your Holiness, That the only means to obtain Peace, is to continue the War; and that Italy may be freed and brought to its former tranquillity, the League must be completed, and by the Care of your Holiness, procured with all the Princes, and Christendom at last secured against the Violences of its Common Enemy, and the Emperor afforded the help that your Predecessor of pious Memory, accorded him: We hope for this from the great Justice of your Holiness, and that you will hereunto give your assent, upon the knowledge of Truth, and the strength of our Arguments, and pour out upon us your Holy Blessing. Our Lord keep, etc.   

Printed after the Copy of Jacob Scheltus. 1690.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  

The Folly of Priest Craft, a Comedy.  
The Secret History of the Duchess of Portsmouth, in which an Account is given of the Intrigues of the Court, during her Ministry, and of the Death of King Charles the Second. Both Printed for Richard Baldwin.    

Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane. 1690.