At the very last moment, in the hope of breaking off the negotiation which he knew to be all but concluded, he fought one of the most bloody and obstinate battles of that age.

From the day on which the treaty of Nimeguen was signed, he began to meditate a second coalition.

His contest with Lewis, transferred from the field to the cabinet, was soon exasperated by a private feud.

In talents, temper, manners and opinions, the rivals were diametrically opposed to each other.

Lewis, polite and dignified, profuse and voluptuous, fond of display and averse from danger, a munificent patron of arts and letters, and a cruel persecutor of Calvinists, presented a remarkable contrast to William, simple in tastes, ungracious in demeanour, indefatigable and intrepid in war, regardless of all the ornamental branches of knowledge, and firmly attached to the theology of Geneva.