e will die together," had
been the king's rejoinder.

France was dying, and Chamillard was by no means a stranger to the cause.
Louis XIV. put in his place Voysin, former superintendent of Hainault,
entirely devoted to Madame de Maintenon. He loaded with benefits the
minister from whom he was parting, the only one whom he had really loved.
The troops were destitute of everything. On assuming the command of the
army of the Low Countries, Villars wrote in despair, "Imagine the horror
of seeing an army without bread! There was none delivered to-day until
the evening, and very late. Yesterday, to have bread to serve out to the
brigades I had ordered to march, I made those fast that remained behind.
On these occasions I pass along the ranks, I coax the soldier, I speak to
him in such a way as to make him have patience, and I have had the
consolation of hearing several of them say, 'The marshal is quite right;
we must suffer sometimes.' '_Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie_'
(give us this day our daily bread), the men say to me as I go through the
ranks; it is a miracle how we subsist, and it is a marvel to see the
steadiness and fortitude of the soldier in enduring hunger; habit is
everything; I fancy, however, that the habit of not eating is not easy
to acquire."

In spite of such privations and sufferings, Villars found the army in
excellent spirits, and urged the king to permit him to give battle.
"M. de Turenne used to say that he who means to altogether avoid battle
gives up his country to him who appears to seek it," the marshal assured
him; the king was afraid of losing his last army; the Dukes of Harcourt
and Berwick were covering the Rhine and the Alps; Marlborough and Prince
Eugene, who had just made themselves masters of Tournay, marched against
Villars, whom they encountered on the 11th of September, 1709, near the
hamlet of Malplaquet. Marshal Boufflers had just reached the army to
serve as a volunteer. Villars had intrenched himself in front of the
woods; his men were so anxious to get under fire, that they threw away
the rations of bread just served out; the allies looked sulkily at the
works. "We are going to fight moles again," they said.

There was a thick fog, as at Lutzen; the fighting went on from seven in
the morning till midday. Villars had yielded the right wing, by way of
respect, to Bouffiers as his senior, says the allies' account, but the
general command nevertheless devolved enti