Any general statement as to the debt owed by early European civilizations to western Asia would at present be premature, for though important discoveries have been made in Crete and Babylonia the best authorities are chary of positive conclusions as to the relations of Cretan civilization to Egypt and Babylonia.
He was in deep poverty, the Estates were chary of supplies, plotters in Scotland had been offering to Cecil to kidnap the king (1598), and his relations both with the English government and with his own subdued but struggling preachers were bitterly unfriendly.
On the contrary, Louvois flatly refused Saint-Mars's request in 1672 to be allowed to do so, and was exceedingly chary of allowing it in 1675 (only "en cas de necessite," and "vous pouvez donner le dit prisonnier a M.