The sincerity and strength of William’s Protestantism was unmistakable. Protestantism had the approval of his intellect, and it penetrated his soul. In him, cold as he was, it existed not merely as an opinion, but as a passion. It accompanied him into the Cabinet and the field, tincturing all his views; it pervaded all his purposes, shaped all his policy. Protestantism for Holland was his first thought, Protestantism for Europe his second; and he saw dependent upon Protestantism the political, commercial, and social prosperity of nations, scarcely less than the spiritual well-being of individuals. Roman Catholicism to his mind was identical with a violation of the law of God and an invasion of the rights of man; yet his large views of toleration embraced Roman Catholics; he would not rob any man of the liberty of conscience, but the ascendency of the Romanist system, and the tendency of its spirit, he thoroughly abhorred as one of the worst foes to the welfare of the race. France at that moment showed herself to be more violently Roman Catholic than the Pope himself, and was seeking to establish control over Europe. Therefore towards France William turned a gaze of defiance, prepared to shed the last drop of his blood in resisting her ambition. Louis XIV. stood forth as William’s personal enemy, but William’s history shows how much more he himself was swayed in this respect by reason than by resentment. At the same time he regarded Holland as one of the last defences of liberty, and desired to see England united with that country in the resistance of a common foe. [Sidenote: PRINCESS MARY IN HOLLAND.] Mary responded to her husband’s sentiments. Although nurtured in a Roman Catholic atmosphere, she proved herself entirely free from Roman Catholic predilections, and indicated a preference for Low Church principles. A woman of reading, she turned her attention to the controversies of the day, and not only resisted the attempts of her father to convert her to Popery, but, with all her respect for Ken, kept herself free from the ecclesiastical views which that devout man resolutely upheld.