[45] Parker, 133.
[46] See [Appendix 2 (B)].
[47] Other contemporary writers say that a large number of soldiers found a miserable death in the sea of mud through which the army had to struggle.
[48] Owing to the number of villages dotted over the battlefield of Oudenarde it is almost impossible to give a clear description of it in words. Reference to map No. 1 will enable the reader to follow the letterpress without difficulty.
[49] In this cavalry affair the electoral Prince of Hanover, afterwards George II., in charging at the head of a squadron, had a horse shot under him. His rival, the Pretender, served at this battle in the French army.
[50] During the night a large number of French soldiers lost their bearings and strayed into the lines of the Allies. Eugene caught many of them by ordering the drummers to beat the French “retraite,” while Huguenot officers shouted out the rallying cries of various regiments. The unlucky soldiers who answered to the call were pounced upon, disarmed, and marched to the rear.
[51] See [Appendix 2 (B)].
[52] The Duke of Berwick was a natural son of James II.; he was in the service of France, and greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Almanza in Spain by defeating an army of the Allies, in which were a considerable number of British troops. Almanza has curious points of likeness to Fontenoy, for in both battles the British won a great local success, but being unsupported by their Allies were defeated at the end of the day.
[53] Fortescue, vol. i. p. 504.
[54] Millner remarks drily that after the French had flooded the country they thought “they had our Army in a Pound, but searching into the depths thereof they at last found themselves most snared therein.”