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100 which demanded consummate abilities, filled by a prince of a very limited capacity; and the notion was extensively circulated by the mischievous activity of party, that the calamities of the nation were to be attributed solely to the maladministration of the prince.

Other causes contributed to swell the stream of popular odium which flowed against the stadtholder. His princess, a woman of more than ordinary powers of understanding, was on many accounts extremely disagreeable to the Dutch, and had on some occasions, where the utmost delicacy of management was required, interfered in public measures in a manner unbecoming her situation and sex. Her ascendency over the prince her husband might have been overlooked or applauded, as the natural consequence of superior