moment of extremity with two fresh battalions. The gallant manner
in which he brought off the remains of Mackay's division was long
remembered with grateful admiration by the British camp fires. The
ground where the conflict had raged was piled with corpses; and those
who buried the slain remarked that almost all the wounds had been given
in close fighting by the sword or the bayonet.

It was said that William so far forgot his wonted stoicism as to utter
a passionate exclamation at the way in which the English regiments
had been sacrificed. Soon, however, he recovered his equanimity, and
determined to fall back. It was high time; for the French army was every
moment becoming stronger, as the regiments commanded by Boufflers came
up in rapid succession. The allied army returned to Lambeque unpursued
and in unbroken order. [312]

The French owned that they had about seven thousand men killed and
wounded. The loss of the allies had been little, if at all, greater. The
relative strength of the armies was what it had been on the preceding
day; and they continued to occupy their old positions. But the moral
effect of the battle was great. The splendour of William's fame grew
pale. Even his admirers were forced to own that, in the field, he
was not a match for Luxemburg. In France the news was received with
transports of joy and pride. The Court, the Capital, even the peasantry
of the remotest provinces, gloried in the impetuous valour which had
been displayed by so many youths, the heirs of illustrious names. It was
exultingly and fondly repeated all over the kingdom that the young Duke
of Chartres could not by any remonstrances be kept out of danger, that
a ball had passed through his coat that he had been wounded in the
shoulder. The people lined the roads to see the princes and nobles who
returned from Steinkirk. The jewellers devised Steinkirk buckles; the
perfumers sold Steinkirk powder. But the name of the field of battle was
peculiarly given to a new species of collar. Lace neckcloths were then
worn by men of fashion; and it had been usual to arrange them with great
care. But at the terrible moment when the brigade of Bourbonnais was
flying before the onset of the allies, there was no time for foppery;
and the finest gentlemen of the Court came spurring to the front of the
line of battle with their rich cravats in disorder. It therefore
became a fashion among the beauties of Paris to wear round their necks
kerchief