it exhaled in
several bitter complaints in his confidential correspondence.[3] But,
like a true patriot and man of perseverance, he did not give way to
despair when he found nearly all that had been promised him awanting;
but perceiving the greater designs impracticable, from the want of all
the means by which they could be carried into execution, prepared to
make the most of the diminutive force which alone was at his disposal.

At length, some of the German reinforcements having arrived,
Marlborough, in the beginning of June, though still greatly inferior
to the enemy, commenced operations. Such was the terror inspired by
his name, and the tried valour of the English troops, that Villars
remained on the defensive, and soon retreated. Without firing a shot,
he evacuated a strong woody country which he occupied, and retired to
a strong defensive position, extending from Haute Sirk on the right,
to the Nivelles on the left, and communicating in the rear with
Luxembourg, Thionville, and Saar-Louis. This position was so strong,
that it was hopeless to attempt to force it without heavy cannon; and
Marlborough's had not yet arrived, from the failure of the German
princes to furnish the draught-horses they had promised. For nine
weary days he remained in front of the French position, counting the
hours till the guns and reinforcements came up; but such was the
tardiness of the German powers, and the universal inefficiency of the
inferior princes and potentates, that they never made their
appearance. The English general was still anxiously awaiting the
promised supplies, when intelligence arrived from the right of so
alarming a character as at once changed the theatre of operations, and
fixed him for the remainder of the campaign in the plains of Flanders.

It was the rapid progress which Marshal Villeroi and the Elector of
Bavaria, at the head of seventy-five thousand men, were making in the
heart of Flanders, which rendered this change necessary. General
Overkirk was there entrusted with the army intended to cover Holland;
but it was greatly inferior to the enemy in point of numerical amount,
and still more so in the quality and composition of the troops of
which it was composed. Aware of his superiority, and of the timid
character of the government which was principally interested in that
army, Villeroi pushed his advantages to the utmost. He advanced boldly
upon the Meuse, carried by assault the fortress of Huys, and, mar