of Nimeguen was signed, he began to meditate a second
coalition. His contest with Lewis, transferred from the field to the
cabinet, was soon exasperated by a private feud. In talents, temper,
manners and opinions, the rivals were diametrically opposed to each
other. Lewis, polite and dignified, profuse and voluptuous, fond of
display and averse from danger, a munificent patron of arts and letters,
and a cruel persecutor of Calvinists, presented a remarkable contrast
to William, simple in tastes, ungracious in demeanour, indefatigable and
intrepid in war, regardless of all the ornamental branches of knowledge,
and firmly attached to the theology of Geneva. The enemies did not long
observe those courtesies which men of their rank, even when opposed to
each other at the head of armies, seldom neglect. William, indeed,
went through the form of tendering his best services to Lewis. But this
civility was rated at its true value, and requited with a dry reprimand.
The great King affected contempt for the petty Prince who was the
servant of a confederacy of trading towns; and to every mark of contempt
the dauntless Stadtholder replied by a fresh defiance. William took his
title, a title which the events of the preceding century had made one of
the most illustrious in Europe, from a city which lies on the banks of
the Rhone not far from Avignon, and which, like Avignon, though inclosed
on every side by the French territory, was properly a fief not of the
French but of the Imperial Crown. Lewis, with that ostentatious
contempt of public law which was characteristic of him, occupied Orange,
dismantled the fortifications, and confiscated the revenues. William
declared aloud at his table before many persons that he would make the
most Christian King repent the outrage, and, when questioned about these
words by the Count of Avaux, positively refused either to retract them
or to explain them away. The quarrel was carried so far that the French
minister could not venture to present himself at the drawing room of the
Princess for fear of receiving some affront. [220]

The feeling with which William regarded France explains the whole of his
policy towards England. His public spirit was an European public spirit.
The chief object of his care was not our island, not even his native
Holland, but the great community of nations threatened with subjugation
by one too powerful member. Those who commit the error of considering
him as an English s