The King of France might levy troops and exact taxes without any limit save that which the laws of nature impose on despotism.

But the King of England could do nothing without the support of the House of Commons; and the House of Commons, though it had hitherto supported him zealously and liberally, was not a body on which he could rely.

It had indeed got into a state which perplexed and alarmed all the most sagacious politicians of that age.

There was something appalling in the union of such boundless power and such boundless caprice.

The fate of the whole civilised world depended on the votes of the representatives of the English people; and there was no public man who could venture to say with confidence what those representatives might not be induced to vote within twenty-four hours.
[470] William painfully felt that it was scarcely possible for a prince dependent on an assembly so violent at one time, so languid at another, to effect any thing great.