Most virtuous lady: Although, it is a novelty for me to complain of the ill-usage of the world, it is, nevertheless, no novelty for the world to practise ill-usage. Innumerable are the contests which I have had with it, and I have resisted all its attacks until now, when I find, that neither strength nor prudence is of any avail to me: it has cruelly reduced me to the lowest ebb. Hope in Him who has created us all is my support: His assistance I have always found near at hand. On one occasion, not long since, He supported me with His Divine arm, saying: “O man of little faith, arise, it is I, be not afraid.” I offered myself with such earnest devotion to the service of these princes, and I have served them with a fidelity hitherto unequalled and unheard of. God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth, of which He spoke in the Apocalypse by St. John, after having spoken of it by the mouth of Isaiah; and He showed me the spot where to find it. All proved incredulous; except the Queen my mistress, to whom the Lord gave the spirit of intelligence and the necessary courage, and made her the heiress of all, as a dear and well beloved daughter. I went to take possession of it in her royal name. All wished to cover the ignorance in which they were sunk, by enumerating the inconveniences and expense of the proposed enterprise.