Another French ambassador who was an occupant of Crosby Place was the celebrated Duc de Sully, who lodged here in great splendour on the occasion of his embassy to England in the reign of James the First. On the night after his arrival an unfortunate accident occurred, which very nearly led to Crosby Place becoming the scene of outrage and bloodshed. "I was accommodated with apartments," says Sully in his memoirs, "in a very handsome house, situated in a great square, near which all my retinue were also provided with the necessary lodgings. Some of them went to entertain themselves with women of the town. At the same place they met with some English, with whom they quarrelled, fought, and one of the English was killed. The populace, who were before prejudiced against us, being excited by the family of the deceased, who was a substantial citizen, assembled, and began loudly to threaten revenge upon all the French, even in their lodgings. The affair soon began to appear of great consequence; for the number of the people assembled upon the occasion was presently increased to upward of three thousand, which obliged the French to fly for an asylum into the house of the ambassador. I did not at first take notice of it; the evening advanced, and I was playing at primero with the Marquis d'Oraison, Saint Luc, and Blerancourt. But observing them come in at different times, by three and four together, and with great emotion, |