of the
fruits of our industry? Besides, if Louis takes one country after
another he will be so strong that you will not be able to resist
him--it is your interest as well as ours. Come and help us in our
sore distress.'

"So Queen Anne sent over an army under Marlborough. Not only did he
save Nymegen, but he took from King Louis the chief fortified town
he had in the neighbourhood--Venlo,--and many others along the
river Maas or Meuse. There was an alliance with the Germans, and
when King Louis heard that a German army was going to join the
British he said, 'Together they will be too strong for me, let us
destroy the German army in the first place.' For this purpose he
sent an army to the Danube.

"For reasons I may tell you afterwards, all great battles are
fought on flat ground. Marlborough thought that if he could get his
army over the hills and into the plains of the Danube, he could
fight the French before they destroyed the Germans. Accordingly he
crossed what is called the 'watershed' between the Rhine and the
Danube. You will find it at Geislingen, between Heidelberg and
here. There is always high ground, and generally a valley in it at
the sources of streams running in different directions. You may see
this in the Pentlands, where the burns on one side run into the
Water of Leith, and those on the other into the Esk."

The end of this letter has unfortunately been lost.

The fragment above quoted serves to illustrate Dr Burton's strong
interest in military history. His accounts of battles and battle-fields
are allowed to be the most striking parts of his Histories. His interest
in such subjects arose partly from the faint infantile recollections
already described. He purchased and studied works on fortification and
military strategy.

"ATHENAEUM CLUB, PALL MALL, S.W.,
_25th April 1877_.

"MY DEAR LOVE,[17]--I got this morning your letter of Tuesday; very
pleasant and refreshing, and more than once read over. But the
exile can't hear too much from home, especially when the conditions
are critical,[18] and I must not yet count that all critical
conditions are at an end; so pray don't let a day pass without
something being posted to me, though it should be but a card with
the briefest inscription.

[Footnote 17: This letter is addressed to the writ