THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 
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BALLAD ON FONTENOY. 
“ The English strove with desperate strength; they rallied, staggered fled— 
The green hillside is matted close with dying and with deal. 
Across the plain and far away, passed on that hideous wreck, 
While cavalier and fantassin dash is upon their track. 
On Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, like eagles in the sun, 
With bloody plumes the Irish stand; the field is lost and won.” 
BRITISH COLUMN AT FONTENOY. 
The Duke of Cumberland, whose bravery that day merited the highest 
eulogium, at the head of a great column of 14,000 or 15,000 British and 
Hanoverian infantry, accompanied by 20 pieces of cannon, notwithstanding the 
difficulties of the ground, and the destructive cross tire from the guns of the 
village of Fontenoy, and of the redoubt unassaulted by Ingoldsby, forced his way 
beyond both , into the French centre. “ There was one dreadful hour,” alleges 
the Marquis d’Argenson, a looker-on with Louis XV., “ in which we expected 
nothing less than a renewal of the affair at Dettingen; our Frenchmen being 
awed by the steadiness of the English, and by their rolling fire, which is really 
infernal, and, I confess to you, is enough to stupify the most unconcerned 
spectators. Then it was that we began to despair of our caHse.’ > ' > And no wonder 
they “began to despair ! ” Of their infantry, battalion after battalion of their 
best regiments, of their cavalry, squadron after squadron gave way, shattered by 
the musketry, or smashed by the cannon, of that moving citadel of gallant men, 
from whose ranks, as having penetrated above 300 paces beyond the redoubt and 
village in spite of all that had yet crossed their path, the shouts of anticipated 
victory resounded over the plain ! But, by this time, though its depth seemed 
undiminished, the column had suffered much; it looked as if astonished at finding 
itself in the middle of the French, and without cavalry; it appeared motionless, 
as if without further orders, yet maintaining a tierce countenance, as so far mas.ter 
of the field of battle. Like a noble bull, faced by none with impunity, and 
wounded only at a distance by those still venturing to wound, there it stood, in 
the midst of a hostile amphitheatre, triumphant and bellowing defiance, though 
weakened by past exertions and loss of blood. Had the Dutch now burst through 
the redoubts from Fontenoy to Antoni in support of the Anglo-German column, 
the French would have been not only beaten, but ruined, since there would certainly 
.have been no escape for the mass of their army and, perhaps, no retreat even for 
the King and the Dauphin. 
“SEVEN YEARS’ WAR”—BATTLE OF MINDEN, 1759 
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who commanded in chief, was enchanted with 
the conduct of his English allies, and no wonder, for the enemy were in greatly 
superior numbers, and had designed the entire destruction of the little band. In 
the “ Campaigns of Prince Ferdinand ” these words occur: — 
“ Notwithstanding the loss they sustained before they could get up to the 
enemy; notwithstanding the repeated attacks of the enemy’s cavalry; notwith¬ 
standing a fire of musketry well kept up by the enemy’s infantrv; notwithstanding 
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