After the fall of Tournai, our army took up position at Malplaquet, the right and the left supported by two woods, with hedges and woods before the centre, so that the plain was, as it were, cut in two.  Marlborough and Prince Eugene marched in their turn, fearing lest Villars should embarrass them as they went towards Mons, which place they had resolved to besiege.  They sent on a large detachment of their army, under the command of the Prince of Hesse, to watch ours.  He arrived in sight of the camp at Malpladuet at the same time that we entered it, and was quickly warned of our existence by, three cannon shots that Villars, out of braggadocio, fired by way of appeal to Marlborough and Prince Eugene.  Some little firing took place this day and the next, the 10th of September, but without doing much harm on either side.

Marlborough and Prince Eugene, warned of the perilous state in which the Prince of Hesse was placed—­he would have been lost if attacked hastened at once to join him, and arrived in the middle of the morning of the 10th.  Their first care was to examine the position of our army, and to do so, while waiting for their rear-guard, they employed a stratagem which succeeded admirably.

They sent several officers, who had the look of subalterns, to our lines, and asked to be allowed to speak to our officers.  Their request was granted.  Albergotti came down to them, and discoursed with them a long time.  They pretended they came to see whether peace could not be arranged, but they, in reality, spoke of little but compliments, which signified nothing.  They stayed so long, under various pretexts, that at last we were obliged to threaten them in order to get rid of them.  All this time a few of their best general officers on horseback, and a larger number of engineers and designers on foot, profited by these ridiculous colloquies to put upon paper drawings of our position, thus being able to see the best positions for their cannon, and the best mode, in fact, in which all their disposition might be made.  We learnt this artifice afterwards from the prisoners.

It was decided that evening to give us battle on the morrow, although the deputies of the States-General, content with the advantages that had been already gained, and not liking to run the risk of failure, were, opposed to an action taking place.  They were, however, persuaded to agree, and on the following morning the battle began.

The struggle lasted many hours.  But our position had been badly chosen, and, in spite of every effort, we were unable to maintain it.  Villars, in the early part of the action, received a wound which incapacitated him from duty.  All the burden of command fell upon Boufflers.  He bore it well; but after a time finding his army dispersed, his infantry overwhelmed, the ground slipping from under his feet, he thought only of beating a good and honourable retreat.  He led away his army in such good order, that the