He gave a practical illustration of the same view by seizing, with the authority of his grandson, the frontier towns of the Spanish Netherlands, which were garrisoned under a special treaty by Dutch troops.

Though deeply enraged at the bad faith of the most Christian King, William was not dismayed.

The stone which he had rolled up the hill with such effort had suddenly rolled down again, but he was eager to renew his labours.

Before, however, he could act, he found himself, to his utter astonishment and mortification, paralysed by the attitude of the English Parliament.

His alarm at the accession of a Bourbon to the Spanish throne was not shared by the ruling classes in England.