As William, however, resolutely maintained that the terms which he had offered, hard as they might seem, were the only terms on which England and Holland could suffer a Bourbon to reign at Madrid, Lewis began seriously to consider, whether it might not be on the whole for his interest and that of his family rather to sell the Spanish crown dear than to buy it dear.  He therefore now offered to withdraw his opposition to the Bavarian claim, provided a portion of the disputed inheritance were assigned to him in consideration of his disinterestedness and moderation.  William was perfectly willing and even eager to treat on this basis.  The first demands of Lewis were, as might have been expected, exorbitantly high.  He asked for the kingdom of Navarre, which would have made him little less than master of the whole Iberian peninsula, and for the duchy of Luxemburg, which would have made him more dangerous than ever to the United Provinces.  On both points he encountered a steady resistance.  The impression which, throughout these transactions, the firmness and good faith of William made on Tallard is remarkable.  At first the dexterous and keen witted Frenchman was all suspicion.  He imagined that there was an evasion in every phrase, a hidden snare in every offer.  But after a time he began to discover that he had to do with a man far too wise to be false.  “The King of England,” he wrote, and it is impossible to doubt that he wrote what he thought, “acts with good faith in every thing.  His way of dealing is upright and sincere."13 “The King of England,” he wrote a few days later, “has hitherto acted with great sincerity; and I venture to say that, if he once enters into a treaty, he will steadily adhere to it.”  But in the same letter the Ambassador thought it necessary to hint to his master that the diplomatic chicanery which might be useful in other negotiations would be all thrown away here.  “I must venture to observe to Your Majesty that the King of England is very sharpsighted, that his judgment is sound, and that, if we try to spin the negotiation out, he will very soon perceive that we are trifling with him."14

During some time projects and counterprojects continued to pass and repass between Kensington and Versailles.  Something was conceded on both sides; and when the session of Parliament ended there seemed to be fair hopes of a settlement.  And now the scene of the negotiation was again changed.  Having been shifted from France to England, it was shifted from England to Holland.  As soon as William had prorogued the Houses, he was impatient to be again in his native land.  He felt all the glee of a schoolboy who is leaving harsh masters and quarrelsome comrades to pass the Christmas holidays at a happy home.  That stern and composed face which had been the same in the pursuit at the Boyne and in the rout at Landen, and of which the keenest politicians had in vain tried to read the secrets, now wore an expression but too