was an able
officer who took a very prominent part in Marlborough's campaigns. In
January, 1709, he was made lieutenant-general, and he was dangerously
wounded at the siege of Mons. He was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower
of London in December.]

[Footnote 75: The news-paragraphs in the earlier numbers of the _Tatler_
are here preserved for the sake of completeness, but for the most part
the details recorded are not of permanent interest, and do not call for
comment. The reader may be reminded generally that in the spring of 1709
the French, after the battle of Oudenarde and the fall of Lille,
followed by a very severe winter, were driven to think of terms of
peace. The negotiations, however, fell through for the time, and the
campaign was begun in the Netherlands, where Marlborough and Prince
Eugene had an army of 110,000 men. The French were entrenched under
Villars between Douay and Bethune, and were strengthened by part of the
garrison of Tournay. Marlborough seized the opportunity of attacking the
half-defended town, which was obliged to surrender on July 29, after a
siege of nineteen days. The French then made a great effort, and brought
an army of 100,000 men into the field, with the result that the battle
of Malplaquet (Sept. 11) was a very bloody and hard-earned victory for
the allies. The subsequent fall of Mons brought the campaign to a
close.]

[Footnote 76: Marlborough.]

[Footnote 77: A merchant entrusted by Lewis XIV. to negotiate terms of
peace with the Dutch.]

[Footnote 78: General Wood played a distinguished part in the battles of
Donauwerth (1704) and Ramilies (1706).]

[Footnote 79: See the Introduction.]

[Footnote 80: "A Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., against what is
objected to him by Mr. Partridge in his Almanack for the present year
1709. By the said Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., London, printed in the year
1709." (Advertisement in folio issue.) In a pamphlet called "Predictions
for the Year 1712. By Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.; in a Letter to the author
of the Oxford Almanack. Printed in the year 1712," this "Vindication" is
thus noticed: "I can't but express my resentment against a gentleman who
personated me in a paper called 'Mr. Bickerstaff's Vindication.' I'm
grieved to find the times should be so very wicked, that one impostor
should set up to reform another, and that a false Bickerstaff should
write against an imaginary Partridge. And I am heartily concerned that
one who shows