He had engaged in a negotiation with the prince of Hesse D'Armstadt, who assured him that if he would besiege and take Cadiz, the admiral of Castile, and divers other grandees of Spain, would declare for the house of Austria.

The allies had also determined upon the siege of Keyserswaert, which the elector of Cologn had delivered into the hands of the French; the elector of Hanover had resolved to disarm the princes of Wolfenbuttle; the king of the Romans, and prince Louis of Baden, undertook to invest Landau; and the emperor promised to send a powerful reinforcement to prince Eugene in Italy; but William did not live to see these schemes put in execution.

His constitution was by this time almost exhausted, though he endeavoured to conceal the effects of his malady, and to repair his health by exercise.

On the twenty-first day of February, in riding to Hampton-court from Kensington, his horse fell under him, and he himself was thrown upon the ground with such violence as produced a fracture in his collar-bone.

His attendants conveyed him to the palace of Hampton-court, where the fracture was reduced by Ronjat, his sergeant-surgeon.