France had no Allies but the Electors of Bavaria and Cologn, who suffer'd themselves to be prevail'd on by the Promises of France; the chief of which was, That she would not make an end of the War till she had caus'd the Elector of Bavaria to be declar'd King of Swabia.

The Duke of Savoy was proof against the Advantages offered him by France: And notwithstanding the Marriage of his two Daughters to the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Anjou, King of Spain, he was the most zealous Ally against those two Crowns. He foresaw too very plainly, that as long as those two Powers were united, such was the Situation of his Dominions, that they wou'd hem him in between them; and therefore when the Duchess his Mother, who was a thorow French Woman, ask'd him, What would become of his Daughters, if he dethron'd the King of Spain, and ruin'd France, he reply'd to her, And if I do not, what will become of my Son?

These, Madame, were in general the various Motions that affected Europe when King William of England died: Nor did this Accident occasion any Alteration; for the Princess Anne Stuart, who succeeded him by the Name of Queen Anne, pursued the same Views as her Predecessor, and the War of the Allies against France was carried on with the same Vigor.

By the Death of the King of England, who was the last Prince of the Orange Branch, our King was Heir to all his personal Estate; yet his Right was contested by the Prince of Nassau-Friesland, who, tho' not so nearly related as the King, had the Advantage of Kindred by the

Male Line, and had a Will of King William in his Favor, which intitled him to his Succession. As the States-General of the United Provinces were the Executors of this Will, the King immediately communicated his Pretensions to them, as he did also to Queen Anne, by M. de Spanheim his Ambassador at London. He founded his Right upon a Will of Frederic-Henry Prince of Orange, King William's Grandfather, who had a Son and three Daughters, the eldest of whom married to the Elector of Brandenburg the King's Father; the second to the Prince de Simmeren, a younger Prince of the present reigning Palatine Family, who dying without Issue, left his Right of Succession to the Electorate, to the Branch of Neuburg; and the third was married to the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau.

The Will of Frederic-Henry call'd the Male Descendants to his Succession; and on Failure of them the three Princesses his Daughters; by virtue of which, the King who descended from the eldest, claimed to be the lawful Heir, notwithstanding the Testament of King William, who could not dispose of an Estate which was intail'd. The King, for the better Manifestation of his Rights, set out for the Hague, accompanied by the Margrave Albert, his Brother, who left him at Wesel in order to join the Army at Keiserswaert[5].

At Wesel[6] the King receiv'd Messieurs de Lintelo, Slingenlandt, and Tour, Deputies from the States-General, to whom he paid the same Honors as to Sovereigns, and receiv'd them standing, with only an Arm-Chair behind him. They

gave him an Account of the last Will and Testament of King William, which they had caus'd to be open'd in the Presence of M. Schmettau his Ambassador, Mr. Stanhope the Envoy Extraordinary of England, the Envoys of the Princesses of Anhalt and Nassau-Friesland, the Envoy of the Prince of Nassau-Siegen, the Commissioners of the States appointed for that purpose, and the Counsellors of the Domains of the late King William. They added that they had found in this Will, that the Prince of Nassau, hereditary Governor of Friesland, was call'd to the Succession as universal Heir, and they exhorted the King to own him as such. But notwithstanding all this, he enter'd his solemn Protest against the Will, and then set out for the Hague.

The King at his arrival alighted at the Palace of the Old Court, which was part of the Inheritance of the King of England, and of which he had already taken Possession, as well as of Honslaerdyke, another Palace of the late King of England. The Dutch wou'd fain have secur'd the Succession to the Prince of Nassau-Friesland, but they could not easily do this, without embroiling themselves with the King. Therefore they chose to temporize, and came to no Conclusion while the King staid in Holland, during which they endeavor'd to amuse him by procuring him all the Pleasures that their Country afforded; but the Grand Affair of the Succession to the King of England engross'd all his Thoughts, and he went away very much dissatisfy'd with the Conduct of the States-General at this Juncture.

As soon as he return'd to Berlin, he sent for my Brother and me from Lunenburg, for fear lest my Mother, who was a Lutheran, should persuade us to embrace that Religion. Next year