ouvain, Mechlin, Alort,
Luise, and nearly all the great towns of Brabant, opened their gates
immediately after. Ghent and Bruges speedily followed the example; and
Daun and Oudenarde also soon declared for the Austrian cause. Of all
the towns in Flanders, Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, and Dunkirk alone
held out for the French; and to their reduction the Duke immediately
turned his attention. The public transports in Holland knew no bounds;
they much exceeded what had been felt for the victory of Blenheim, for
that only saved Germany, but this delivered themselves. The wretched
jealousy which had so long thwarted the Duke, as it does every other
really great man, was fairly overpowered in "the electric shock of a
nation's gratitude." In England, the rejoicings were equally
enthusiastic, and a solemn thanksgiving, at which the Queen attended
in person at St Paul's, gave a willing vent to the general
thankfulness. "Faction and the French," as Bolingbroke expressed
it,[11] were all that Marlborough had to fear, and he had fairly
conquered both. But the snake was scotched, not killed, and he
replenished his venom, and prepared future stings even during the roar
of triumphant cannon, and the festive blaze of rejoicing cities.[12]

The French army, after this terrible defeat, retired in the deepest
dejection towards French Flanders, leaving garrisons in the principal
fortresses which still held out for them. Marlborough made his
triumphant entry into Brussels in great pomp on the 28th May, amidst
the acclamations of the inhabitants. The Three Estates of Brabant
assembled there, acknowledged Charles III. for their sovereign, and
received, in return, a guarantee from the English government and the
States-general, that the _joyeuse entree_, the Magna Charta of
Flanders, should be faithfully observed. "Every where, says
Marlborough, the joy was great at being delivered from the insolence
and exactions of the French." The victory of Ramilies produced no less
effect on the northern courts, where jealousies and lukewarmness had
hitherto proved so pernicious to the common cause. The King of
Prussia, who had hitherto kept aloof, and suspended the march of his
troops, now on the mediation of Marlborough became reconciled to the
Emperor and the States-general; and the Elector of Hanover, forgetting
his apprehensions about the English succession, was among the foremost
to offer his congratulations, and make a tender of his forces to the
now