ed.

(M953)

After a brief stay in England, where he had arrived at the opening of the
new year (1706), Marlborough again crossed over to Holland before the
spring. A few weeks only elapsed before he gained fresh laurels by another
signal defeat of the French at the little village of Ramillies (12 May,
o.s.).(1915) On the 24th May the Common Council voted an address to the
queen congratulating her majesty on the victory.(1916) The 27th June was
set apart as a day of public thanksgiving, for which the City made the
usual preparations.(1917) But seeing that these gala days followed so
closely on one another the Court of Aldermen resolved that the new crimson
velvet gown with which the lord mayor was furnished on these occasions at
the City's expense should no longer be appropriated by him, but should be
carefully laid up by the hall keeper for future use.(1918) At the humble
request of the lord mayor (Sir Thomas Rawlinson) her majesty graciously
consented to bestow the trophies and colours recently taken in Flanders
upon the City to the intent that they might be hung up in the Guildhall.
It was not, however, until the 19th December, when the Duke of Marlborough
was sumptuously entertained at Vintners' Hall, that twenty-six standards
and sixty-three colours, taken at Ramillies, were brought into the city in
great state, there to be displayed on the walls of the Guildhall.(1919)

(M954)

These successes were not achieved without great expenditure of blood and
money. At the close of the previous year (1705) the lord mayor had
received an order under the royal sign manual requiring him and the Court
of Aldermen to forthwith impress 1,000 men--such as had no visible means of
subsistence--for service by land or sea,(1920) whilst in the following
March (1706) it was found necessary to open a subscription at Mercers'
Chapel for furnishing Prince Eugene with L250,000 to assist him in
carrying on the campaign in Italy. Notwithstanding the depressed state of
the Corporation finances, the city abounded in wealth, and by the close of
the first day no less than L160,000 of the whole loan had been
underwritten, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Sir William Scawen, Sir James Bateman
and Sir Henry Furnese making themselves each responsible for the sum of
L4,000.(1921) With the pecuniary assistance thus afforded him, and with
the reinforcements which Marlborough despatched to him from Holland, the
prince was enabled to raise the siege of Turin (7