either side; the rapidity of the movements
on both having outstripped the slow pace at which those ponderous
implements of destruction were then conveyed.[23]

Hardly were these defensive arrangements completed, when the tempest was
upon them. The whole French right wing, consisting of thirty battalions,
embracing the French and Swiss guards, and the flower of their army,
debouched from the woods and hedges near Groemvelde, and attacking four
battalions stationed there, quickly compelled them to retreat. Advancing
then in the open plain, they completely outflanked the Allied left, and
made themselves masters of the hamlets of Barwaen and Banlaney. This
success exposed the Allies to imminent danger; for in their rear was
the Scheldt, flowing lazily in a deep and impassable current, through
marshy meadows, crossed only by a few bridges, over which retreat would
be impossible in presence of a victorious enemy; and the success against
the Allied left exposed to be cut off from their only resource in such a
case, the friendly ramparts of Oudenarde.

Anxiously observing the rapid progress of the French on his left,
Marlborough successively drew brigade after brigade from his right, and
moved them to the quarter which was now severely pressed. The hostile
lines fought with the most determined resolution. Every bridge, every
ditch, every wood, every hamlet, every inclosure, was obstinately
contested; and so incessant was the roll of musketry, that, seen from a
distance, the horizon seemed an unbroken line of fire. Hitherto
Marlborough and Eugene had remained together; but now, as matters had
reached the crisis, they separated. The English general bestowed on
Prince Eugene the command of his right, where the British battalions,
whose valour he had often praised, were placed. He himself, with the
Prussian horse on the banks of the Norken, kept the enemy's left in
check; while with his own left he endeavoured to outflank the enemy, and
retaliate upon then the manoeuvre which they had attempted against
him. This bold movement was attended with severe loss, but it proved
completely successful. Eugene was soon warmly engaged, and at first
wellnigh overpowered by the superior numbers and vehement onset of the
enemy. But Marlborough, whose eye was every where, no sooner observed
this, than he dispatched Cadogan with his twelve English battalions to
his support. Encouraged by this aid, Eugene moved forward General
Natzmer, at the head