es were brought so near each other that a
mutual cannonading ensued. The French army, amounting to one hundred
and twenty thousand men, were posted behind the woods of La Merte and
Tanieres, in the neighbourhood of Malplaquet. The confederates, nearly
of the same number, encamped with the right near Sart and Bleron, and
the left on the edge of the wood of Laniere; the head quarters being
at Blaregnies. The enemy, instead of attacking the allies, began
to fortify their camp, which was naturally strong, with triple
intrenchments. In a word, they were so covered with lines, hedges,
intrenchments, cannon and trees laid across, that they seemed to be
quite inaccessible. Had the confederates attacked them on the ninth, the
battle would not have been so bloody, and the victory would have proved
more decisive; for they had not then begun to secure the camp; but
Marlborough postponed the engagement until they should be reinforced by
eighteen battalions which had been employed in the siege of Tournay;
and in the meantime, the French fortified themselves with incredible
diligence and despatch. On the eleventh day of September, early in the
morning, the confederates, favoured by a thick fog, erected batteries
on each wing and in the centre; and about eight o'clock, the weather
clearing up, the attack began. Eighty-six battalions on the right,
commmanded by general Schuylemburgh, the duke of Argyle, and other
generals, and supported by two-and-twenty battalions under count Lottum,
attacked the left of the enemy with such vigour, that, notwithstanding
their lines and barricadoes, they were in less than an hour driven from
their intrenchments into the woods of Sart and Tanieres. The prince of
Orange and baron Fagel, with six-and-thirty Dutch battalions, advanced
against the right of the enemy, posted in the wood of La Merte, and
covered with three intrenchments. Here the battle was maintained with
the most desperate courage on both sides. The Dutch obliged the French
to quit the first intrenchment; but were repulsed from the second with
great slaughter. The prince of Orange persisted in his efforts with
incredible perseverance and intrepidity, even after two horses had been
killed under him, and the greater part of his officers either slain or
disabled. The French fought with an obstinacy of courage that bordered
on despair, till seeing their lines forced, their left wing and centre
giving way, and their general, Villars, dangerously wo