very preparation had been made for a protracted
resistance. A fleet of nine ships of the line lay off the harbour, and
a formidable besieging train was brought up from Antwerp and Brussels.
Trenches were opened on the 28th June; the counterscarp was blown in
on the 6th July; and the day following, the besieged, after a
fruitless sally, capitulated, and the Flemish part of the garrison
entered the service of the Allies. The garrison was still five
thousand strong, when it surrendered; two ships of the line were
taken in the harbour; and the total loss of the besiegers was only
five hundred men.

Menin was next besieged, but it made a more protracted resistance. Its
great strength was derived from the means which the governor of the
fortress possessed of flooding at will the immense low plains in which
it is situated. Its fortifications had always been considered as one
of the masterpieces of Vauban; the garrison was ample; and the
governor a man of resolution, who was encouraged to make a vigorous
resistance, by the assurances of succour which he had received from
the French government. In effect, Louis XIV. had made the greatest
efforts to repair the consequences of the disaster at Ramilies.
Marshal Marsin had been detached from the Rhine with eighteen
battalions and fourteen squadrons; and, in addition to that, thirty
battalions and forty squadrons were marching from Alsace. These great
reinforcements, with the addition of nine battalions which were in the
lines on the Dyle when the battle of Ramilies was fought, would, when
all assembled, have raised the French army to one hundred and ten
battalions, and one hundred and forty squadrons--or above one hundred
thousand men; whereas Marlborough, after employing thirty-two
battalions in the siege, could only spare for the covering army about
seventy-two battalions and eighty squadrons. The numerical
superiority, therefore, was very great on the side of the enemy,
especially when the Allies were divided by the necessity of carrying
on the siege; and Villeroi, who had lost the confidence of his men,
had been replaced by the Duke de Vendome, one of the best generals in
the French service, illustrated by his recent victory over the
Imperialists in Italy. He loudly gave out that he would raise the
siege, and approached the covering army closely, as if with that
design. But Marlborough persevered in his design; for, to use his own
words, "The Elector of Bavaria says, he is prom