The ambassador Cardenas continued to reside in London, even
after the king's execution, and was the first foreign minister whom the
parliament honoured with a public audience. He made it his chief object
to cement the friendship between the commonwealth and his own country,
fomented the hostility of the former against Portugal and the United
Provinces, the ancient enemies of Spain, and procured the assent of his
sovereign that an accredited minister from the parliament should be
admitted by the court of Madrid. The individual selected[d] for this office
was Ascham, a man who, by his writings, had rendered himself peculiarly
obnoxious to the royalists. He landed[e] near Cadiz, proceeded under an
escort for his protection to Madrid, and repaired[f] to an inn, till a
suitable residence could be procured. The next day,[g] while he was sitting
at dinner with Riba, a renegado friar, his interpreter,
[Footnote 1: Journals, 1650, Dec. 17; 1651, April 4, 11, 22, May 7, 13, 16;
1652, Sept. 30, Dec. 15; 1653, Jan. 5. Whitelock, 486. Dumont, vi. p. ii.
82.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. Jan. 5.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. July 10.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. July 14.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1650. Jan. 31.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1650. April 3.]
[Sidenote e: A.
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