just outside it,
as far as the fields in front of Malplaquet village, were the troops under
command of the French general D'Artagnan. Among the regiments holding this
part was that of the Bourbonnais, the famous brigade of Navarre (the best
in the service), and certain of the Swiss mercenaries. The last of this
body on the left was formed by the French Guards. The entrenchments in the
centre were held by the Irish Brigades of Lee and O'Brien, and by the
German mercenaries and allies of Bavaria and Cologne. These guarded the
redans which defended the left or northern part of the open gap. The
remainder of this gap, right up to the forest of Sars, was held by
Alsatians and by the Brigade of Laon, and the chief command in this part
lay with Steckenberg. The forest of Sars was full of French troops,
Picardy, the Marines, the Regiment of Champagne, and many others, with a
strong reserve of similar troops just behind the wood. The cavalry of the
army formed a long line behind this body of entrenched infantry; the
Household Cavalry being on the right near the wood of Laniere, the Gens
d'armes being in the centre, and the Carabiniers upon the left. These last
stretched so far northward and westward as to come at last opposite to
Withers.

* * * * *

Such was the disposition of the two armies when at half-past seven the sun
pierced the mist and the first cannon-shots were exchanged. Marlborough
and Eugene had decided that they would begin by pressing, as hard as might
be, the assault upon the forest of Sars. When this assault should have
proceeded for half an hour, the opposite end of the line, the left, under
the Prince of Orange,[13] should engage the French troops holding the wood
of Laniere. It was expected that the forest of Sars would be forced early
in the action; that the troops in the wood of Laniere would at least be
held fast by the attack of the Prince of Orange, and that the weakened
French centre could then be taken by assault with the use of the reserves,
of Orkney's men, and of detachments drawn from the two great masses upon
the wings.

The reader may here pause to consider the excellence of this plan--very
probably Marlborough's own, and one the comparative ill-success of which
was due to the unexpected power of resistance displayed by the French
infantry upon that day.

It was wise to put the greater part of the force into a double attack upon
the forest of Sars, for this for