i6$ A Sketch of the Histoey JLet. 7.

selling vvas once taken, to whom could the íale beruade? To the Dutch? Mo. This meaíure wouldhâve been at lealt as impolitic, and, in that mo-ment, perhaps more odious thari the other. To theSpaniards P They were unable to buy : and aslow as their power was funk, the principle ofopposing it still prevailed. I hâve sometimesthought that the Spaniards, who were forced tomake peace with Portugal , and to renomme ailclaim to that crown, four or five years afterwards,might hâve been induced to take this résolutionthen, if the regaining Dunktrk without anyexpense had been a condition propoíed to them ;and that the Portuguese , wiio, notwithsianctingtheir alliance with Lm>land and the indirect íuc-cours that ï rance afforded thern, were little able,aher the treaty elpecìaliy, to support a war againstSpam, might hâve bée-n induced to pay the priceof Dnnkirk, for so gréât an advantage as immé-diate peace with Spam, and the extinction of ailforeign preteitces on their crown. But this spécu-lation concerning events fo long a go pafled isnotmuch to the puipife here. 1 proceed therefore toobserve, that notwithstanding the sale ot Dunkirk,and the secret leanings of our court to that ofFrance , yet Lngland was íirst to take the alarm,wh<m Lewis the íourteenth invaded the SpaniíîijMetherhmds in 011e thoufand six hundred and sixty-seven: and the triple alliance was the work of anEngiiíh miniíter. It was time to take this alarm;for fnxn the moment that the king of F’kanceelaimed a riglit to the county of Burgundy, the v