not make a real attack for half-an-hour, halted when CHAP. VII. 1709. v. 44-46. Marlb. iii. some Austrian battalions, who originally formed the 1 Kausler, extreme right of Schulemberg's corps, but were unable 786. Coxe, to cross a marsh which lay in their front-stole unper- Hist. de ceived, amidst the tumult in front, into the north-eastern 107, 108. angle of the wood of Taisuière,1 and were making some i. 94. progress, when they were met by three battalions of Rousset, CHAP. French troops, and a vehement fire of musketry soon rang in the recesses of the wood. VII. 1709. 49. Marlborough, after Meanwhile, Marlborough in person led on d'Auvergne's cavalry in support of Lottum's men, who a desperate speedily were engaged in a most terrific conflict. They carries the bore without flinching the fire of the French brigade du Taisnière. Roi, which manned the opposite works, and, crossing a conflict, wood of ravine and small morass which had been deemed impassable, rushed with fixed bayonets, and the most determined resolution, right against the intrenchment. So vehement was the onset, so impetuous the rush, that some of the leading files actually reached the summit of the parapet, and those behind pushing vehemently on, the redoubt was carried amidst deafening cheers. But Villars was directly in its rear, and he immediately led up in person a brigade in the finest order, which expelled the assailants at the point of the bayonet, and regained the work. Marlborough upon this charged at the head of d'Auvergne's cavalry; and that gallant body of men, three thousand strong, dashed forward, and entered the intrenchments, which were at the same time turned on their right, and surrounded by some of Lottum's battalions. While this desperate conflict was going on in front and flank of the wood, Withers, with his corps brought up from Tournay, was silently, and with great caution, entering the wood on the side of La Folie, and had already made considerable progress before any great 1 Rousset, efforts were made to expel them. The advance of this corps in his rear rendered it impossible for Villars any longer to maintain the advanced line of works in the front of the wood; it was therefore abandoned, but 109, 110. slowly, and in admirable order-the troops retiring through the trees to the second line of works in their i. 94, 95. Kausler, 786, 787. Coxe, v. 48-50. Hist. de Marlb. iii. rear, which they prepared to defend to the last extremity. CHAP. 1709. 50. Bloody re pulse of the Orange on While this bloody conflict was raging in and around the wood of Taisnière, the half-hour during which the Prince of Orange had been directed to suspend his Prince of attack had elapsed, and that gallant chief, impatient of the left. inactivity when the battle was raging with such fury on his right, resolved to move forward in good earnest. His troops, almost all auxiliaries in the service of Holland, were of various nations, but all veterans of the most determined bravery. The Scotch Brigade, led on by the Marquess of Tullibardine, headed the column on the left; to their right were the Dutch, under Spaar and Oxenstiern; while the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with twenty-one squadrons, was in reserve to support and follow the infantry into the works, when an opening was made. On the word "march" being given, the troops of these various nations, with rival courage, advanced to the attack. The Scotch Highlanders, headed by the gallant Tullibardine,* eldest son of the Duke of Atholl, rushed impetuously forward to the assault despite a tremendous fire of grape and musketry which issued from the works, and succeeded in reaching the top of the intrenchment. A second line of intrenchments was carried in like manner; and if an adequate reserve had been at hand to support them, this part of the line would have been secured, and the battle gained. But the assailants were too weak, the enemy too strong, for immediate success. The Prince of Orange had no reserve; all his troops had hurried to the assault: he had only forty battalions to the French seventy opposed to them. The regiments of Tullibardine and Hepburn were almost all Atholl Highlanders. CHAP. VII. 1709. 788. Coxe, v. 51-53. But before they could deploy they were charged by the French infantry in close order, and driven out of the intrenchments. Tullibardine met a glorious death in the redoubt he had won. Equally gallant was the assault, and unfortunate in the end the result, of the Prince of Orange's attack on the left of the right towards the French centre. There, too, by a vehement rush, the intrenchment was carried; but the men which surmounted it had no sooner penetrated it than they were attacked by Boufflers, at the head of fresh troops in close order in front, while a powerful battery opened 1 Kausler, with grape on their flank. This double attack proved irresistible; the assailants were pushed out of the works with dreadful slaughter. Spaar lay dead on the spot ; Hamilton was carried off wounded.1 Rousset, i. 94, 95. 51. ineffectual Prince of Orange to restore the combat. Seeing his men recoil, the Prince of Orange seized Heroic but a standard, and advancing alone to the slope of the inefforts of the trenchment, said aloud, "Follow me, my friends; here is your post." But it was all in vain: it was no longer possible to force the enemy's works. Boufflers' men from the French second line had now closed up with the first, which lined the works, and a dense mass of bayonets, six deep, bristled at their summit behind the embrasures of the guns. A dreadful rolling fire issued from them; their position could be marked by the ceaseless line of flame, even through the volumes of smoke which enveloped them on all sides; and at length, after displaying the most heroic valour, the Prince of Orange was obliged to draw off his men, with the loss of three thousand killed, and twice that number wounded. Instantly the brigade of Navarre issued with loud shouts out of the intrenchments. Several Dutch battalions were driven back, and some colours, with an advanced Boufflers sup CHAP. VII. battery, fell into the enemy's hands. ported this sally by his grenadiers-à-cheval; but the Dutch infantry, even in the moment of repulse, presented 1709. so steady a front that they overawed their pursuers. As they slowly retired, discharging volleys all the ii. 182-185. way, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel came up with his well- Hist. de appointed squadrons on the other side, and, after a 110, 111. short struggle, drove the French back into their works. 1 1 Ledyard, Coxe, v. 55. Marlb. iii. 52. ens to the spot, and battle. Hearing that matters were in this precarious state on the left, Marlborough galloped from the right centre, Marlboaccompanied by his staff, where Lottum's infantry and rough hastd'Auvergne's horse had gained such important advan- restores the tages. Matters ere long became so alarming that Eugene also followed in the same direction. The attack on the left was renewed with the aid of four battalions of Hanoverians under general Rantzau, and the intrenchment in front of them, in the French left centre, carried; but after they got in, the assailants were again mowed down by grape-shot from the works behind, and, charged by Steckomberg, driven out with dreadful loss. All the Hanoverian officers, except three, were killed or wounded; and the French, in this terrible struggle, also sustained a grievous loss, including Steckomberg, who here closed his long and honourable career. On his way along the rear of the line the English general had at once ocular demonstration of the terrible reverse which had been experienced, and of the heroic spirit with which his troops. were animated; for he saw the shattered remains of the Dutch infantry reluctantly measuring back their steps beyond the reach of grape-shot, and numbers of the wounded Dutch and Hanoverians, whose hurts had just been bound up by the surgeons, again hastening to the front, to join their comrades-though some, faint from |