182 MARLBOROUGH AND HIS METHODS OF WARFARE. 
August 6th.—Margyave of Baden despatched to invest Ingoldstadt. 
August 10th and 11th.—Marlborough passes Danube north at Merxheim to 
join Eugene. 
August 11th—Marlborough joins Eugene on the Kessel—Danube on left. 
Kessel in front. 
August 12th.—¥rom tower of Dappheim church the commanders descry Gallo— 
Bavarian army marking out a camp between Blenheim and Lutzingen. 
August 13th.—Battle of Blenheim. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE LINES OF 1705 
* The construction of this formidable barrier which was partly artificial, had 
employed the space of no less than three years. It commenced at Marché au 
Dames, on the Meuse, to the east of Namur, passed by Gerbise to Wasseigue on 
the Mehaigne, and from thence stretching to the Little Gheet, followed the left 
bank to Leuwe, leaving Hanut on the east and Tirlemont on the west. Between 
Leuwe and Aerschot, the Great Gheet and the Demer formed a natural defence, 
and from Aerschot ran a new series of intrenchments to Antwerp. On the flanks 
were the two fortresses of Namur and Antwerp, and in the interval were numerous 
fortified posts, particularly Leuwe, Diest, Sichem, Aerschot, and Lierre. The 
French army, amounting to 70,000 men, was posted in such a manner as to draw 
the utmost advantage from this extraordinary effort of skill and labour. Villeroi, 
with the main body, continued his head-quarters at Mierdorp, and the rest of the 
troops were disposed on different parts of the line, between the Great and Little 
Gheet, in situations from which they could most readily assemble in force on the 
points threatened with an attack. 
To pass a barrier, strengthened with all the resources of art, covered by rivers 
and marshes, and defended by an army superior in numbers, was an enterprise of 
the boldest and most critical kind; and Marlborough, therefore, employed all the 
powers of his inventive genius to distract the attention and baffle the combinations 
of the enemy (p. 289 ‘* Memoirs of the Duke of Marlborough etc,’’—Coxe). 
CONVOY FROM BRUSSELS TO HECHLIN AND LILUE. 
The first to be attempted was Lille, the strongest place in French Flanders, 
and one of the earliest conquests of Louis XIV. But the prospect of success was 
not great: there was only one good road, that from Brussels by which supplies 
could be brought up the road from Ostend, being but a narrow strip of causeway, 
and the autumn rains would soon begin. ‘The siege materials from Holland and 
the Rhine were collected at Brussels, which was sixty miles from Lille. A long 
train twelve miles in length of ninety-four cannons and 3000 tumbrels drawn by 
16,000 horses set out from Brussels on the 6th August and in five days crossed 
the Scheldt. A strong detachment from Hugene’s army covered Brussels, the 
yemainder marched as a convoy, and Marlborough’s army was in readiness to 
move if the enemy gave any indication of disputing its progress. But although 
it was so important to the French to stop it, they did not venture out to attack. 
A detachment of 18,000 advanced from Ghent and Berwick also put a corps in 
motion; but nothing was attempted. Vendome believed that the whole move- 
ment was a feint to entice him out of his position; Berwick believed that Mons 
might be in danger, and therefore dispatched a detachment to secure it; none of 
