ENCOUNTER WITH A DRAGOON CORPORAL.

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we mistook, and going up the country, fell in with a hogsty, where was a sow with five pigs, one of which I made bold with. I was possessed of it some time, when one Taylor, a corporal, belonging to Brigadier Panton's regiment of horse, attempted to spoil me of my booty; on which some words arising, he drew, and made a stroke at my head, which I warding with my hand, had the sinew of my little finger cut in two; at the same time, with the butt end of my pistol, I struck out one of his eyes. When we returned to our quarters, I got the sinew sewed up. In the interim, our general was taken prisoner by a party of thirty-five soldiers; but got off by means of a sham pass. The next day we heard of this accident, but not of his having escaped. The garrison, as the earl was entirely beloved by all the forces, was greatly alarmed, and the governor of Venlo, placing himself at our head, marched straight to Guelders, to which place he imagined the earl had been conducted, threatening to come to the utmost extremities if he was not delivered up. In the mean while, he received certain advice of our general being in safety; on which we marched back to our quarters, without attempting any action, and soon after had the joyful news of the queen having rewarded his virtues with the titles of Marquis of Blandford and Duke of Marlborough ; on which the rejoicings customary were made, and we were regaled at our bonfires with good liquor.

As we lay quiet all the winter, my husband, whom the hurry of the war had in a manner banished, occurred to my memory, and I made what inquiry I could after him, but in vain; wherefore, I endeavoured, as I concluded him for ever lost, to forget him, as the melancholy the remembrance of him brought upon me, profited him nothing, while it consumed me. To do this, I had recourse to wine and company, which had the effect I wished, and I spent the season pretty cheerfully.

The Duke of Marlborough parted from London in March, 1703, N. S., to put himself at the head of the army, and open the campaign. He stayed some little time at the Hague, to be present at, and give his advice in the conferences then held; after which he took upon him the command, and invested Bonn on the 24th of April. This town was the residence of the elector of Cologne, who had received into it a French garrison, for which reason we ravaged the

countries of Berg, Cologne, and Cleves, and wasted them with pillaging and contribution.

We opened the trenches before Bonn, and the fort on the other side of the Rhine, the 3rd of May, in the night. Our fire was so brisk, and we pushed on our attacks with so much fury, that the garrison in the fort set fire to their barracks, blew up their magazines, and got into the town sheltered by the smoke. On the 12th, the breach was large enough for a regiment to mount at a time: we carried the covered way, made a lodgment on the palisades, and everything was ready for a general assault, when Monsieur d'Alegre hung out a white ensign. The capitulation was signed that night, and four days after the garrison marched out through the breach, with only six pieces of cannon, and were conducted the shortest way to Luxemburg.

The duke having provided for the security of this place, the greatest part of the troops employed against it marched towards Brabant to join the grand army, which field-marshal Auverquerque had drawn together at Maestricht, and which observed the motions of marshal Boufflers and Villeroy. After this junction, the allies marched towards the lines the French had thrown up from the Scheld to the Maes, near Namur, to cover Brabant.

On the other hand, Baron Spar and Monsieur Coehorn, with a part of the army, put great part of Flanders under contribution. The grand army was designed to attack the French lines in Brabant, and in case of succeeding, to, afterwards, besiege Antwerp; and to this end, Baron Obdam had taken post at Ekeren, pretty near that city, with thirteen battalions and twenty-six squadrons. The grand army was marched to encamp before the lines, between Courselle and Beringhen.

The distance between the two armies, and the feebleness of that commanded by the baron, made Boufflers resolve on surrounding him; and accordingly, having placed troops in all the passes through which the Dutch must necessarily retreat, with fifty-three battalions, seventy companies of grenadiers, and fifty-two squadrons drawn out of the neighbouring garrisons, on the 29th of June, in the night, he began his march, which was so secret and expeditious, that the baron, though he had information of the enemy being in motion, had not time to send off his heavy baggage to

BATTLE OF EKEREN AND SIEGE OF HUY.

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Bergopsoom; and when he thought of retreating, he found himself enveloped by the enemy, who attacked him so briskly, that his men were driven from the posts they had taken. The baron, being gone some distance from the gross of his troops, to give orders, had the misfortune to have his return cut off, and was obliged to fly to Breda. The fight, which began at three in the afternoon, grew hotter and hotter; the Dutch taking courage from their despair, being entirely surrounded, and the French being irritated at so obstinate a resistance, when, on account of their great superiority, they flattered themselves with an easy victory. The battle lasted till night, when the Dutch foot beginning to want powder and ball, with their bayonets fixed, attacked and carried the village of Otteren; took one piece of cannon, two kettledrums, seven colours, with two standards, and passing the night in this village, they retreated in good order to Lillo.

The battle of Ekeren was very bloody; but the Dutch troops gained more honour in it than their general, who if he did not want courage, could lay no claim to conduct.

It was now resolved, in a grand council of war, since we could not bring the enemy to a battle, which had been often, in vain, offered them, to draw together all the troops dispersed in different posts, and besiege Huy; it being thought too hazardous to attack them in their lines, where they had sheltered themselves.

When our army drew near to Huy, the garrison withdrew into the castle, and we took possession of the town. Before I proceed, I must take notice of one action, which had liked to have slipped my memory. Monsieur de Villeroy, some little time before we opened the trenches before the town, spread it abroad that he would give us battle; upon which our army drew up, but he not liking our countenances, altered his mind, if before he was in earnest, and retired into his lines. Our lieutenant, with thirty of our dragoons, fell in with a party of forty horse of the enemy, but they took to flight at the first fire, and we pursued them to the barriers of their intrenchments; and being there ordered to stand our ground, we maintained it, in the midst of many smart fires, till we had taken a view of the enemy's situation, which was the errand our regiment and some others were sent upon.

The Baron de Trogné opened the trenches before Fort St.

Joseph on the 17th of August, N. S., and, the next day ground was broke before Fort Picard. They surrendered on the 27th, and Count Sinzendorf taking possession of the place for the emperor, we prepared for another siege. Monsieur de Bulau, lieutenant-General of the Hanoverian troops, was, on the 8th of September, detached with twentyfour squadrons to invest Limbourg, and the rest of the troops designed for this siege having joined him, they immediately carried part of the suburbs, and on the 21st took the lower town. As the garrison was pretty much straitened in what was still in their possession, five battalions were left to blockade and starve them to a surrender; but, tired with this tedious method, on the 26th the besiegers began to batter the place with forty-two pieces of cannon from four batteries, and with twenty mortars. The fire continued very vigorous till about the next day at noon, when the governor seeing great part of the ampart demolished, beat the chamade, and surrendered prisoners of war. However, all the officers were handsomely treated, and nothing taken from them, or even their soldiers, arms excepted.

The grand army did nothing more this campaign, than observe the enemy, to favour the Brandenburghers, who were sate down before Gueldre, which they took, after an obstinate defence, having been battered, after a blockade of the whole summer, with fifty-one pieces of cannon, twenty culverins, and twenty mortars, which reduced the town to a heap of rubbish, from the 7th of October to the 17th of December.

The emperor having made cession of his right to the Spanish monarchy, to his elder son the King of the Romans, and he again to the archduke his brother, who was set out to take possession of Spain, the Duke of Marlborough left the army, and set out for the elector Palatine's court, to meet and compliment the new king, Charles III., in the name of our queen.

The success attending the arms of the French and the Elector of Bavaria in Germany, alarming England and Holland, they resolved to seek them, even in the heart of Germany. To this end, their forces, about the end of April, 1704, were assembled upon the Maes, between Venlo and Maestricht, where we were joined, in the beginning of May, by the Duke of Marlborough and field-marshal Auverquerque. After a council of war had been held, the army was divided into two

WOUNDED ON THE LIP BY A BALL.

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corps, one of which, strong enough to make head against the French in the Low Countries, was left under the command of Monsieur Auverquerque, and the other, commanded by the Duke of Marlborough, passing the Rhine, the Main, and the Nekre, by long and tiresome marches, which greatly harassed our foot, made for the Danube. I cannot help taking notice in this place, though it breaks in upon my narrative, of the Duke of Marlborough's great humanity, who seeing some of our foot drop, through the fatigue of the march, took them into his own coach.

The French, following the example of the allies, drew twenty thousand men out of the Low Countries, who began their march the 18th of May, and passed by Luxemburg to re-enforce the Elector of Bavaria in Germany, under the command of Villeroy. But, before he came to the end of his march, the Duke of Marlborough had joined the Prince of Baden at Lutshausen, which obliged the elector to withdraw to Dilling, a very advantageous post, and strongly fortified, leaving eighteen of his regiments, and eight squadrons, with the Count of Arco, who posted himself on the hill of Schellenberg by Donawert, in intrenchments in a manner inaccessible, that he might cover Bavaria. The resolution was, notwithstanding, taken to attack him, and to open a passage, by forcing his post, to the very heart of the electorate.

We decamped the 2nd of July from Onderingen, and advanced to Ubermargen, within a league of Donawert; but our vanguard did not come in sight of the enemy's intrenchments till the afternoon: however, not to give the Bavarians time to make themselves yet stronger, the duke ordered the Dutch General Goor, who commanded the right wing, composed of English and Dutch, with some auxiliary troops, to attack, as soon as possible: thus we did not stay for the coming up of the imperialists. We began about six o'clock, and were twice repulsed, with very great loss; but this did not abate anything of our courage; our men, rather animated by this resistance, gave a third assault, at the time the Prince of Baden arrived with the German troops of the right wing, who attacked on his side. The slaughter, which was very great, had lasted above an hour, when the Duke of Wirtemberg had the good fortune, with seven squadrons, to empty the enemy s trenches, by the covered way of Donawert, and fell upon their rear. The Bavarians were now zoon routed,