At first it was a retreat orderly enough; but presently the retreat became a rout, and a frightful slaughter of the French ensued on this panic:  so that an army of sixty thousand men was utterly crushed and destroyed in the course of a couple of hours.  It was as if a hurricane had seized a compact numerous fleet, flung it all to the winds, shattered, sunk, and annihilated it:  afflavit Deus, et dissipati sunt.  The French army of Flanders was gone, their artillery, their standards, their treasure, provisions, and ammunition were all left behind them:  the poor devils had even fled without their soup-kettles, which are as much the palladia of the French infantry as of the Grand Seignior’s Janissaries, and round which they rally even more than round their lilies.

The pursuit, and a dreadful carnage which ensued (for the dregs of a battle, however brilliant, are ever a base residue of rapine, cruelty, and drunken plunder,) was carried far beyond the field of Ramillies.

Honest Lockwood, Esmond’s servant, no doubt wanted to be among the marauders himself and take his share of the booty; for when, the action over, and the troops got to their ground for the night, the Captain bade Lockwood get a horse, he asked, with a very rueful countenance, whether his honor would have him come too; but his honor only bade him go about his own business, and Jack hopped away quite delighted as soon as he saw his master mounted.  Esmond made his way, and not without danger and difficulty, to his Grace’s headquarters, and found for himself very quickly where the aide-de-camps’ quarters were, in an out-building of a farm, where several of these gentlemen were seated, drinking and singing, and at supper.  If he had any anxiety about his boy, ’twas relieved at once.  One of the gentlemen was singing a song to a tune that Mr. Farquhar and Mr. Gay both had used in their admirable comedies, and very popular in the army of that day; and after the song came a chorus, “Over the hills and far away;” and Esmond heard Frank’s fresh voice, soaring, as it were, over the songs of the rest of the young men—­a voice that had always a certain artless, indescribable pathos with it, and indeed which caused Mr. Esmond’s eyes to fill with tears now, out of thankfulness to God the child was safe and still alive to laugh and sing.

When the song was over Esmond entered the room, where he knew several of the gentlemen present, and there sat my young lord, having taken off his cuirass, his waistcoat open, his face flushed, his long yellow hair hanging over his shoulders, drinking with the rest; the youngest, gayest, handsomest there.  As soon as he saw Esmond, he clapped down his glass, and running towards his friend, put both his arms round him and embraced him.  The other’s voice trembled with joy as he greeted the lad; he had thought but now as he stood in the court-yard under the clear-shining moonlight:  “Great God! what a scene of murder is here within a mile of us; what hundreds and thousands have faced danger to-day; and here are these lads singing over their cups, and the same moon that is shining over yonder horrid field is looking down on Walcote very likely, while my lady sits and thinks about her boy that is at the war.”  As Esmond embraced his young pupil now, ’twas with the feeling of quite religious thankfulness and an almost paternal pleasure that he beheld him.