The adjournment of Parliament was a decisive step for European politics. Occupied with the war against Sweden, and robbed at the same time of the help of England, the allies were not capable of accomplishing much against Louis XIV. Their successes were limited to the capture of Philipsburg. On the other hand the French maintained their hold upon Maestricht; they took Aire, Bonchain, Condé, and, what was most important to them, were able, at the beginning of the year 1677, to strike a decisive blow against Valenciennes. Their most splendid success in the year 1676 was obtained at sea. The Dutch had joined with the Spaniards to defend Sicily; three times the allied squadrons were beaten by the French, who, with a comparatively untried fleet, remained masters of the Mediterranean.

Whilst Louis XIV filled the world with the fame of the French arms, and maintained his preponderance in the face of a great continental coalition, Charles II gave himself up to the enjoyments of peace. He gave his desires full scope, and they became, as is so often the case with princes, the subject of calculation and intrigue.

In January 1676 there arrived in London Hortensia, the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, of whose marriage with Charles II there had formerly been so much talk. She had been married by her uncle to Armand de la Meilleraye, who took the title of Duke of Mazarin, but she had left him again, because he indulged too much for her taste in religious rhapsodies; she now came from Italy to England, ostensibly to visit her cousin, the Duchess of York.