He had lately made a proposal to the Prince of Orange to marry one of his natural daughters.

"The first notice I had of the marriage," wrote the king, "was through the bonfires lighted in London." "The loss of a decisive battle could not have scared the King of France more," said the English ambassador, Lord Montagu.

For more than a year past negotiations had been going on at Nimeguen; Louis XIV.

resolved to deal one more great blow.
[Illustration: An Exploit of John Bart's----446] The campaign of 1676 had been insignificant, save at sea.

John Bart, a corsair of Dunkerque, scoured the seas and made foreign commerce tremble; he took ships by boarding, and killed with his own hands the Dutch captain of the Neptune, who offered resistance.