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wished the elder Spens to remain in the Aula Regis and
not to travel to Scotland. For the levies were to be Scotch
only ; their destination Gotheborg.1 In the same year he
was sent to Sweden on diplomatic business, that is to say
to bring Gustavus Adolphus into an alliance then planned
by England and France against the Emperor. In
January 1624 he returned, bearing the king’s demands,
but these were thought extravagant, and the more
moderate ones of Denmark found acceptance. From 1624
to 29 Spens lived in London, though not uninterruptedly.
In 1627 he was sent to invest Gustavus Adolphus with the
Garter,2 and at the same time to visit Danzig and the
Churfiirst of Brandenburg, to concert means how best to
unite forces against the common enemy. After his return
to England the King of Sweden warns him against the
plans of the Danzigers, who were anxious to buy ships and
ammunition in Scotland in order to close the Baltic
against the Swedes.3 The second last letter from his
Swedish master reached him in 1629, when he is informed
of the Earl of Crawford’s wish to raise a few regiments
at his own expense (“ suo ære”). Knowing that Spens
himself was at that time engaged in levying troops, the
king considerately leaves the whole matter to him. In
May 1629 the last letter urges him to bring the soldiers
across as quickly as possible. After that time he seems to
have followed Gustavus Adolphus, in his German campaign,
in his military capacity as General over the Scottish and
English forces. He died, however, in Stockholm in 1632,
from the shock which the news of the king’s death
produced on his already enfeebled constitution.
Spens was a busy man; he was also a much enduring
1 Letter dated 23rd April in Spen3 Corresp. Riks A.
2 Cal. of State Papers, Dom., pp. 62, 119, 180.
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