ld come to light. All that we now know is that in a council of war
held upon the Monday on the side of the allies, it was thought well to
wait until all the troops from Tournai should have come up (though these
were few in number), and necessary to send 9000 men to hold the bridge
across the Haine at St Ghislain in order to secure retreat in case of
disaster.[10]

The English historians blame the Dutch, the Dutch the English, and the
Austrians and Prussians blame both.

Perhaps there would have been an attack upon the Tuesday at least had not
Villars spent all the Monday and all the Monday night in exacting from
his men the most unexpected labours in constructing entrenchments of the
most formidable character. Marlborough and Eugene, riding out before their
lines to judge their chances on the Tuesday, were astonished at the work
that had been done in those twenty-four hours. Nine redans, that is,
openworks of peculiar strength, stretched across the gap to within about
600 yards of the wood of Laniere, and the remainder of the space was one
continuous line of entrenchment. What had been done in the woods could not
be judged from such a survey, but it might be guessed, and the forcing of
these became a very different problem from what it would have been had an
attack been delivered on the Monday. Behind this main line Villars drew up
another and yet another series of earthworks; even Malplaquet itself, with
the reserve in the rear, was defended, and the work was continued without
interruption even throughout the Tuesday night with relays of men.

When at last, upon the Wednesday morning, the allies had arrived at their
tardy agreement and determined to force an action, their superiority in
numbers, such as it was (and this disputed point must be later
discussed), was quite negatived by having to meet fortifications so
formidable as to be called, in the exaggerated phrase of a witness, "a
citadel."

One last point must be mentioned before the action itself is described:
the open gap across which the centre of the allies must advance to break
the French centre and encapture the entrenchments was cut in two by a
large copse or small wood, called "The Wood of Tiry." It was not defended,
lying too far in front of the French line, and was of no great consequence
save in this: that when the advance of the allies against the French
defence should begin, it was bound to canalise and cut off from support
for a moment the extreme