An English Diplomat in the Low Countries

Sir William Temple, the most important English ambassador of the 17th century, negotiated the famous Triple Alliance of 1668 when he, with John de Witt, took steps to hinder the expansion of Louis XIV's France. Temple's cooperation with de Witt, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, throws light not only on the workings of diplomacy but also upon domestic affairs in Britain. This study of the most significant period in Temple's diplomatic career will contribute much to an understanding of the writer whose best known work, Observations on the United Provinces (1672), arose from his dealings with the Dutch Republic.