Among his officers there had been none competent to instruct him.

His own blunders and their consequences had been his only lessons.
"I would give," he once exclaimed, "a good part of my estates to have served a few campaigns under the Prince of Conde before I had to command against him." It is not improbable that the circumstance which prevented William from attaining any eminent dexterity in strategy may have been favourable to the general vigour of his intellect.

If his battles were not those of a great tactician, they entitled him to be called a great man.

No disaster could for one moment deprive him of his firmness or of the entire possession of all his faculties.

His defeats were repaired with such marvellous celerity that, before his enemies had sung the Te Deum, he was again ready for conflict; nor did his adverse fortune ever deprive him of the respect and confidence of his soldiers.