he talked nonsense unworthy of his capacity.  He, like the rest of his party, could see in the usurper nothing but what was odious and contemptible, the heart of a fiend, the understanding and manners of a stupid, brutal, Dutch boor, who generally observed a sulky silence, and, when forced to speak, gave short testy answers in bad English.  The French statesmen, on the other hand, judged of William’s faculties from an intimate knowledge of the way in which he had, during twenty years, conducted affairs of the greatest moment and of the greatest difficulty.  He had, ever since 1673, been playing against themselves a most complicated game of mixed chance and skill for an immense stake; they were proud, and with reason, of their own dexterity at that game; yet they were conscious that in him they had found more than their match.  At the commencement of the long contest every advantage had been on their side.  They had at their absolute command all the resources of the greatest kingdom in Europe; and he was merely the servant of a commonwealth, of which the whole territory was inferior in extent to Normandy or Guienne.  A succession of generals and diplomatists of eminent ability had been opposed to him.  A powerful faction in his native country had pertinaciously crossed his designs.  He had undergone defeats in the field and defeats in the senate; but his wisdom and firmness had turned defeats into victories.  Notwithstanding all that could be done to keep him down, his influence and fame had been almost constantly rising and spreading.  The most important and arduous enterprise in the history of modern Europe had been planned and conducted to a prosperous termination by him alone.  The most extensive coalition that the world had seen for ages had been formed by him, and would be instantly dissolved if his superintending care were withdrawn.  He had gained two kingdoms by statecraft, and a third by conquest; and he was still maintaining himself in the possession of all three in spite of both foreign and domestic foes.  That these things had been effected by a poor creature, a man of the most ordinary capacity, was an assertion which might easily find credence among the nonjuring parsons who congregated at Sam’s Coffee-house, but which moved the laughter of the veteran politicians of Versailles.

While Middleton was in vain trying to convince the French that William was a greatly overrated man, William, who did full justice to Middleton’s merit, felt much uneasiness at learning that the Court of Saint Germains had called in the help of so able a counsellor.440 But this was only one of a thousand causes of anxiety which during that spring pressed on the King’s mind.  He was preparing for the opening of the campaign, imploring his allies to be early in the field, rousing the sluggish, haggling with the greedy, making up quarrels, adjusting points of precedence.  He had to prevail on the Cabinet of Vienna to send timely succours into Piedmont.  He had to keep