such powerful efforts to support him, he thought himself obliged in honour to continue firm in the alliance. The generals of the allies were so exasperated at this disappointment, that they sent out detachments to ravage the country of Bavaria, as far as Munich: upwards of three hundred towns, villages, and castles, were inhumanly destroyed, to the indelible disgrace of those who countenanced and conducted such barbarous practices. The elector, shocked at these brutal proceedings, desired in a letter to the duke of Marlborough, that a stop might be put to acts of violence so opposite to true glory. The answer he received implied, that it was in his own power to put an end to them by a speedy accommodation. Incensed at

this reply, he declared, that since they had obliged him to draw the sword, he would throw away the scabbard. The duke and prince Lewis, finding it impracticable to attack the elector in his strong camp, resolved to undertake the seige of Ingoldstadt, and for that purpose passed the Paer near the town of Schrobbenhausen, where they encamped, with their left at Closterburgh. On the fifth day of August the elector of Bavaria marched to Biberach, where he was joined by Tallard. He resolved to pass the Danube at Lawingen, to attack prince Eugene, who had followed the French army from the lines of Bichi, and lay encamped at Hochstadt. Next day, however, he made a motion that disappointed the enemy. Nevertheless, they persisted in their design of passing the Danube, and encamping at Blenheim. The allies resolved that prince Lewis should undertake the siege of Ingoldstadt, whilst prince Eugene and the duke should observe the elector of Bavaria. Advice being received that he had actually crossed the Danube at Lawingen, the duke of Marlborough joined the forces of prince Eugene at the camp of Munster on the eleventh day of August, prince Lewis having by this time marched off towards the place he intended to besiege. Next day the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene observed the posture of the enemy, who were advantageously posted on a hill near Hochstadt, their right being covered by the Danube and the village of Blenheim, their left by the village of Lutzungen, and their front by a rivulet, the banks of which were steep, and the bottom marshy.

§ XVII. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the generals resolved to attack them immediately, rather than lie inactive until their forage and provision should be consumed. They were moreover stimulated to this hazardous enterprise, by an intercepted letter to the elector of Bavaria from mareschal Villeroy, giving him to understand, that he had received orders to ravage the country of Wirtemberg, and intercept all communication between the Rhine and the allied army. The dispositions being made for the attack, and the orders communicated to the general officers, the forces advanced into the plain on the thirteenth day of August, and were ranged in order of battle. The cannonading began about nine in the morning, and continued on both sides till one in the afternoon. The French and Bavarians amounted to about sixty thousand men. Mareschal Tallard commanded on the right, and posted seven-and-twenty battalions, with twelve squadrons, in the village of Blenheim, supposing that there the allies would make their effort: their left was conducted by the elector of Bavaria, assisted by Marsin, a French general of experience and capacity. The number of the confederates did not exceed five-and-fifty: their right was under the direction of prince Eugene, and their left commanded by the duke of Marlborough. At noon the action was begun by a body of English and Hessians under major general Wilkes, who having passed the rivulet with difficulty, and filed off to the left in the face of the enemy, attacked the village of Blenheim with great vigour; but were repulsed after three successive attempts. Meanwhile the troops in the centre, and part of the right wing, passed the rivulet on planks in different places: and formed on the other side without any molestation from the enemy. At length however, they were charged by the French horse with such impetuosity, and so terribly galled in flank by the troops posted at Blenheim, that they fell in disorder, and part of them repassed the rivulet: but a reinforcement of dragoons coming up, the French cavalry were broken in their turn, and driven to the very edges of the village of Blenheim. The left wing of the confederates being now completely formed, ascended the hill in a firm compacted body, charging the enemy's horse, which could

no longer stand their ground, but rallied several times as they gave way. Tallard, in order to make a vigorous. effort, ordered ten battalions to fill up the intervals of his cavalry. The duke, perceiving his design, sent three battalions of the troops of Zell to sustain his horse. Nevertheless, the line was a little disordered by the prodigious fire from the French infantry, and even obliged to recoil about sixty paces; but the confederates advancing to the charge with redoubled ardour, routed the French horse; and their battalions being thus abandoned, were cut in pieces. Tallard, having rallied his broken cavalry behind some tents that were still standing, resolved to draw off the troops he had posted in the village of Blenheim, and sent an aide-de-camp to Marsin, who was with the elector of Bavaria on the left, to desire he would face the confederates with some troops to the right of the village of Oberklau, so as to keep them in play, and favour the retreat of the forces from Blenheim. That officer assured him, he was so far from being in a condition to spare troops, that he could hardly maintain his ground. The fate of the day was now more than half decided. The French cavalry being vigorously attacked in flank were totally defeated. Part of them endeavoured to gain the bridge which they had thrown over the Danube between Hochstadt and Blenheim; but they were so closely pursued, that those who escaped the slaughter threw themselves into the river, where they perished. Tallard, being surrounded, was taken near a mill behind the village of Sonderen, together with the marquis de Montperouz, general of horse, the major generals de Seppeville, de Silly, de la Valiere, and many other officers of distinction. Whilst these occurrences passed on the left wing, Marsin's quarters at the village of Oberklau, in the centre, were attacked by ten battalions, under the prince of Holstein Beck, who passed the rivulet with undaunted resolution: but, before he could form his men on the other side, he was overpowered by numbers, mortally wounded, and taken prisoner. His battalions being supported by some Danish and Hanoverian cavalry, renewed the charge, and were again repulsed: at length the duke of Marlborough in person brought up some fresh squadrons from the body of reserve, and compelled the enemy to re

tire. By this time prince Euguene had obliged the left wing of the enemy to give ground, after having surmounted a great number of difficulties, sustained a very obstinate opposition, and seen his cavalry, in which his chief strength seemed to lie, three times repulsed. The duke of Marlborough had no sooner defeated the right wing, than he made a disposition to reinforce the prince, when he understood from an aide-du-camp, that his highness had no occasion for assistance; and that the elector, with monsieur de Marsin, had abandoned Oberklau and Luttingen. They were pursued as far as the villages of Morselingen and Teissenhoven, from whence they retreated to Dillengen and Lawingen. The confederates being now masters of the field of battle, surrounded the village of Blenheim, in which, as we have already observed, seven-and-twenty battalions and twelve squadrons were posted. These troops, seeing themselves cut off from all communication with the rest of their army, and, despairing of being able to force their way through the allies, capitulated about eight in the evening, laid down their arms, delivered their colours and standards, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war, on condition that the officers should not be rifled. This was one of the most glorious and complete victories that ever was obtained. Ten thousand French and Bavarians were left dead on the field of battle: the greater part of thirty squadrons of horse and dragoons perished in the river Danube: thirteen thousand were made prisoners; one hundred pieces of cannon were taken, with twenty-four mortars, one hundred and twenty-nine colours, one hundred and seventy-one standards, seventeen pair of kettledrums, three thousand six hundred tents, four-and-thirty coaches, three hundred laden mules, two bridges of boats, fifteen pontoons, fifteen barrels and eight casks filled with silver. Of the allies, about four thousand five hundred men were killed, and about eight thousand wounded or taken. The loss of the battle was imputed to two capital errors committed by mareschal Tallard; namely, his weakening the centre, by detaching such a number of troops to the village of Blenheim, and his suffering the confederates to pass the rivulet, and form unmolested. Certain it is, these circumstances contributed to the success of the duke of Marlborough, who rode through the

hottest of the fire with the calmest intrepidity, giving his orders with that presence of mind and deliberation which were so peculiar to his character. When he next day visited Tallard, he told that general, he was sorry such a misfor tune should happen personally to one for whom he had a profound esteem. The mareschal congratulated him on having vanquished the best troops in the world; a compliment to which the duke replied, that he thought his own the best troops in the world, seeing they had conquered those upon whom the mareschal had bestowed such an encomium.

§ XVIII. The victorious generals having by this decisive stroke saved the house of Austria from entire ruin, and entirely changed the face of affairs in the empire, signified their opinion to prince Lewis of Baden, that it would be for the advantage of the common cause to join all their forces, and drive the French out of Germany, rather than lose time at the siege of Ingolstadt, which would surrender of course. This opinion was confirmed by the conduct of the French garrison at Augsburgh, who quitted that place on the sixteenth day of August. The magistrates sent a deputation craving the protection of the duke of Marlborough, who forthwith ordered a detachment to take possession of that important city. The duke having sent mareschal de Tallard under a guard of dragoons to Franckfort, and disposed of the other prisoners of distinction in the adjacent places, encamped at Sefillingen, within half a league of Ulm. Here he held a conference with the princes Eugene and Lewis of Baden, in which they agreed that, as the enemy retreated towards the Rhine, the confederate army should take the same route, excepting threeand-twenty battalions and some squadrons, to be left for the siege of Ulm, under general Thungen. They began their march on the twenty-sixth day of August, by diffe rent routes, to the general rendezvous at Bruschal, near Philipsburgh. Then they resolved, that prince Lewis of Baden should undertake the siege of Landau, in order to secure the circle of Suabia from the incursions of the garrison. Considering the consternation that prevailed all over France, nothing could be more impolitic than this measure, which gave the enemy time for recollection, and