 William III 'did often declare that he had never employed two ministers of greater vigilance, capacity and virtue than yourself, my Lord, and the Reverend Mr Hill' (according to a 1720 dedication to John Robinson, bishop of London, who had been Lord Privy Seal).He was given a final appointment to Brussels, but he retired in 1710 due to ill-health, entering holy orders in the Church of England.He refused a bishopric in the hopes of taking that of Ely, and became a fellow of Eton College in 1714.