ms a proper place to insert a
little description by the Comte de Guiche[58] of his bearing in the
Four Days' Fight, which brings out at once the homely and the heroic
sides of his character.

"I never saw him [during those last three days] other than
even-tempered; and when victory was assured, saying always it
was the good God that gives it to us. Amid the disorders of the
fleet and the appearance of loss, he seemed to be moved only by
the misfortune to his country, but always submissive to the will
of God. Finally, it may be said that he has something of the
frankness and lack of polish of our patriarchs; and, to conclude
what I have to say of him, I will relate that the day after the
victory I found him sweeping his own room and feeding his
chickens."

Nine days after the battle of the Texel, on the 30th of August, 1673,
a formal alliance was made between Holland on the one hand, and Spain,
Lorraine, and the emperor of Germany on the other, and the French
ambassador was dismissed from Vienna. Louis almost immediately offered
Holland comparatively moderate terms; but the United Provinces, with
their new allies by their sides and with their backs borne firmly upon
the sea which had favored and supported them, set their face steadily
against him. In England the clamor of the people and Parliament became
louder; the Protestant feeling and the old enmity to France were daily
growing, as was the national distrust of the king. Charles, though he
had himself lost none of his hatred of the republic, had to give way.
Louis, seeing the gathering storm, made up his mind, by the counsel of
Turenne, to withdraw from his dangerously advanced position by
evacuating Holland, and to try to make peace with the Provinces
separately while continuing the war with the House of Austria in Spain
and Germany. Thus he returned to Richelieu's policy, and Holland was
saved. February 19, 1674, peace was signed between England and the
Provinces. The latter recognized the absolute supremacy of the English
flag from Cape Finisterre in Spain to Norway, and paid a war
indemnity.

The withdrawal of England, which remained neutral during the remaining
four years of the war, necessarily made it less maritime. The King of
France did not think his navy, either in numbers or efficiency, able
to contend alone with that of Holland; he therefore withdrew it from
the ocean and confined his sea enterprises to the Medit