in
Ghent, he received a letter from the Marechal de Villars, to inform him,
that the Dutch generals, taken at Denain, had told the marechal
publicly, of a sudden revolution expected in Britain; that particularly
the Earl of Albemarle and Mons. Hompesch discoursed very freely of it,
and that nothing was more commonly talked of in Holland. It was then
likewise confidently reported in Ghent, that the Queen was dead; and we
all remember what rumour flew about here at the very same time, as if
Her Majesty's health were in a bad condition.

[Footnote 20: The Dutch had been defeated at Douay, and the Allies had
suffered reverses by the reduction of Quesnoy and Bouchain. [T.S.]]

Whether such vain hopes as these gave spirit to the Dutch; whether their
frequent misfortunes made them angry and sullen; whether they still
expected to overreach us by some private stipulations with France,
through the mediation of the Elector of Bavaria, as that prince
afterwards gave out; or whatever else was the cause, they utterly
refused a cessation of arms; and made not the least return to all the
advances and invitations made by Her Majesty, until the close of the
campaign.

It was then the States first began to view their affairs in another
light; to consider how little the vast promises of Count Zinzendorf were
to be relied on; to be convinced that France was not disposed to break
with Her Majesty, only to gratify their ill humour, or unreasonable
demands; to discover that their factious correspondents on this side the
water had shamefully misled them; that some of their own principal towns
grew heartily weary of the war, and backward in their loans; and,
lastly, that Prince Eugene, their new general, whether his genius or
fortune had left him, was not for their turn. They, therefore, directed
their ministers at Utrecht to signify to the lord privy seal and the
Earl of Strafford, "That the States were disposed to comply with Her
Majesty, and to desire her good offices with France; particularly, that
Tournay and Conde might be left to them as part of their barrier,
without which they could not be safe: That the Elector of Bavaria might
not be suffered to retain any town in the Netherlands, which would be as
bad for Holland as if those places were in the hands of France:
Therefore the States proposed, that Luxembourg, Namur, Charleroy, and
Nieuport, might be delivered to the Emperor. Lastly, That the French
might not insist on excepting the