May, he set out from the Hague to take
the command of this force, which lay in front of the old French
frontier on the river Dyle. Marshal Villeroi had there collected
sixty-two thousand men; so that the two armies, in point of numerical
strength, were very nearly equal.

The English general had established a secret correspondence with one
Pasquini, an inhabitant of Namur, through whose agency, and that of
some other citizens of the town who were inclined to the Imperial
interest, he hoped to be able to make himself master of that important
fortress. To facilitate that attempt, and have troops at hand ready to
take advantage of any opening that might be afforded them in that
quarter, he moved towards Tirlemont, directing his march by the
sources of the Little Gheet. Determined to cover Namur, and knowing
that the Hanoverians and Hessians were absent, Villeroi marched out of
his lines, in order to stop the advance of the Allies, and give battle
in the open field. On the 20th May, the English and Dutch forces
effected their junction at Bitsia; and on the day following the Danish
contingent arrived, Marlborough having by great exertions persuaded
them to come up from the Rhine, upon receiving a guarantee for their
pay from the Dutch government. This raised his force to seventy-three
battalions and one hundred and twenty-four squadrons. The French had
seventy-four battalions and one hundred and twenty-eight squadrons;
but they had a much greater advantage in the homogeneous quality of
their troops, who were all of one country; while the forces of the
confederates were drawn from three different nations, speaking
different languages, and many of whom had never acted in the field
together. Cadogan, with six hundred horse, formed the vanguard of
Marlborough's army; and at daybreak on the 22d, he beheld the enemy's
army grouped in dense masses in the strong camp of Mont St Andre. As
their position stretched directly across the allied line of march, a
battle was unavoidable; and Marlborough no sooner was informed of it,
than with a joyous heart he prepared for the conflict.

The ground occupied by the enemy, and which has become so famous by
the battle of RAMILIES which followed, was on the summit of an
elevated plateau forming the highest ground in Brabant, immediately
above the two sources of the Little Gheet. The plateau above them is
varied by gentle undulations, interspersed with garden grounds, and
dotted with coppice wo