[1796]. Carta de Bento Varedas para Dom João de Almeida de Melo e Castro, diplomata.

Request letter from Bento Varedas to his friend Dom João de Almeida de Melo e Castro, the Portuguese plenipotentiary minister in London.

The author asks for fine writing paper, which he cannot find in Lisbon. He wants quarto sheets for regular letters and octavo sheets for love letters. He sends news from the country and from common friends and expresses how much he misses London.

João de Almeida de Melo e Castro (1756-1814), the 5th Count of the House of Galveias, was a Portuguese diplomat who, given the pluri-continental nature of the monarchy he represented, had to be very subtle, while dealing with foreign powers, in the management of the resulting Portuguese political ambiguity. He was a plenipotentiary minister in London, the Hague and Rome and an ambassador in Vienna. After 1801 he had different government functions: foreign affairs minister, war minister, navy and overseas minister. He had also several honorary titles. He married Dona Isabel José de Meneses but they had no children, so the 6th Count of Galveias was his brother Francisco (1758-1819).