oceeded to Brussels, where he was received with
joy and acclamation. He afterwards took post at Oudenarde, so as to
maintain a communication with prince Eugene.

LISLE SURRENDERED, GHENT TAKEN, AND BRUGES ABANDONED.

The besiegers having made lodgements and raised batteries on the second
counterscarp of the citadel, sent a message to Boufflers, intimating,
that if he would surrender before the opening of the batteries, he
should have an honourable capitulation; otherwise he and his garrison
must be made prisoners of war. He chose to avoid the last part of the
alternative: hostages were exchanged on the eighth day of December, and
the articles signed on the tenth; when the mareschal and his garrison
marched out with the honours of war, and were conducted to Douay. In
this great enterprise, spirit and perseverance made amends for want of
foresight and skill, which was flagrant on the side of the confederates;
yet their success was owing in a great measure to the improvidence and
misconduct of the besieged. The French generals never dreamed that the
allies would attempt any thing of consequence after the reduction of
Lisle, considering the advanced season of the year, and therefore they
returned to Paris, after having distributed their army into winter
quarters. But their indefatigable antagonists were determined to strike
another stroke of importance before their forces should separate. On the
twentieth day of December they invested the city of Ghent on all sides;
and on the thirtieth, when the batteries were ready to open, the count
de la Motte, who commanded the garrison, desired to capitulate. On the
third day of January, 1708, he marched out with thirty battalions and
sixteen squadrons, which were conducted to Tournay; while the duke of
Argyle, with six British battalions, took possession of the town and
citadel. Then the enemy abandoned Bruges, Plassendahl, and Leffengen;
and the generals of the allies, having settled the plan of winter
quarters, repaired to Holland, leaving their forces under the command
of count Tilly. The French king was confounded and dismayed at these
conquests in the Netherlands. Nor was he easy on the side of Dauphine:
in spite of all the vigilance and activity of Villars, the duke of Savoy
made himself master of the important fortresses of Exilles, La Perouse,
the valley of St. Martin, and Fenestrells; so that by the end of the
campaign he had secured a barrier to his own frontiers, and