Among the claimants were the mightiest sovereigns of the continent; there was little chance that they would submit to any arbitration but that of the sword; and it could not be hoped that, if they appealed to the sword, other potentates who had no pretension to any part of the disputed inheritance would long remain neutral.

For there was in Western Europe no government which did not feel that its own prosperity, dignity and security might depend on the event of the contest.
It is true that the empire, which had, in the preceding century, threatened both France and England with subjugation, had of late been of hardly so much account as the Duchy of Savoy or the Electorate of Brandenburg.

But it by no means followed that the fate of that empire was matter of indifference to the rest of the world.

The paralytic helplessness and drowsiness of the body once so formidable could not be imputed to any deficiency of the natural elements of power.

The dominions of the Catholic King were in extent and in population superior to those of Lewis and of William united.