"A king of England," said Gourville, "who will be the man of his people, is the greatest king in the world; but if he will be any thing more, he is nothing at all." The king heard at first this discourse with some impatience; but being a dexterous dissembler, he seemed moved at last, and laying his hand on Temple's, said, with an appearing cordiality, "And I will be the man of my people." Temple, when he went abroad, soon found that the scheme of mediating a peace was likely to prove abortive.

The allies, besides their jealousy of the king's mediation, expressed a great ardor for the continuance of war.

Holland had stipulated with Spain never to come to an accommodation, till all things in Flanders were restored to the condition in which they had been left by the Pyrenean treaty.

The emperor had high pretensions in Alsace; and as the greater part of the empire joined in the alliance, it was hoped that France, so much overmatched in force, would soon be obliged to submit to the terms demanded of her.

The Dutch, indeed, oppressed by heavy taxes, as well as checked in their commerce, were desirous of peace; and had few or no claims of their own to retard it: but they could not in gratitude, or even in good policy, abandon allies to whose protection they had so lately been indebted for their safety.