insolence
with which he constantly reminded his neighbours of his own greatness
and of their littleness. He did not at this time profess the austere
devotion which, at a later period, gave to his court the aspect of a
monastery. On the contrary, he was as licentious, though by no means as
frivolous and indolent, as his brother of England. But he was a sincere
Roman Catholic; and both his conscience and his vanity impelled him to
use his power for the defence and propagation of the true faith, after
the example of his renowned predecessors, Clovis, Charlemagne, and Saint
Lewis.

Our ancestors naturally looked with serious alarm on the growing power
of France. This feeling, in itself perfectly reasonable, was mingled
with other feelings less praiseworthy. France was our old enemy. It was
against France that the most glorious battles recorded in our annals
had been fought. The conquest of France had been twice effected by the
Plantagenets. The loss of France had been long remembered as a great
national disaster. The title of King of France was still borne by our
sovereigns. The lilies of France still appeared, mingled with our own
lions, on the shield of the House of Stuart. In the sixteenth century
the dread inspired by Spain had suspended the animosity of which France
had anciently been the object. But the dread inspired by Spain had given
place to contemptuous compassion; and France was again regarded as our
national foe. The sale of Dunkirk to France had been the most generally
unpopular act of the restored King. Attachment to France had been
prominent among the crimes imputed by the Commons to CIarendon. Even in
trifles the public feeling showed itself. When a brawl took place in the
streets of Westminster between the retinues of the French and Spanish
embassies, the populace, though forcibly prevented from interfering,
had given unequivocal proofs that the old antipathy to France was not
extinct.

France and Spain were now engaged in a more serious contest. One of the
chief objects of the policy of Lewis throughout his life was to extend
his dominions towards the Rhine. For this end he had engaged in war
with Spain, and he was now in the full career of conquest. The United
Provinces saw with anxiety the progress of his arms. That renowned
federation had reached the height of power, prosperity, and glory. The
Batavian territory, conquered from the waves and defended against them
by human art, was in extent little su