i86

A Sketch oftheHiSTOKî Let. 7.

turn of fortnne, as insatiable as prosperity hadrendered hirn.

Aster he had made peace with ail the powerswith whom he had been iri vvar, he contínued tovex both Spain and the empire, and to extend hisconquests in the Low Countries, and on theKhine, both by the pen and the sword. Heerect d the charnbers of Metz and of Brifach,where his own subjects were prosecutors, witneíTes,and judges ail at once Upon the décisions ofthefe tribunals, he feized into his own hands,nnder the notions of dependencies and the pretenceof réunions, whatever towns or districts of countrytempted his ambition, or fuited his conveniency:and added, by thefe and by other means, in themídst of peace, more territories to thofe the latetreaties had yielded to him, than he could hâvegot by continuing the war. He acted afterwards,in the support of ail this, without any bounds orlimits. His glory was a reason for attackingHolland in one thousand six hundred and seventytwo, and his conveniency a reason for many ofthe attacks he made on others afterwards, Hetook Luxemburgh by force: he ftole Strafburgh ;he bought Cassai : and, whilst he vvaited theopportunity of acquiring to his family the crownof Spain , he was not without thonghts , n orhopes perhaps, of bringing into it the impérialcrown likewise, Some of the cruelties he exercifedin the empire may be ascribed to his difappoint-ment in this view : I faid some of them, becausein the war that ended by the treaty of JN'imeghen,