Villars, the only great French marshal as yet undefeated, was intrusted with the duty of checking the victorious advance of Eugene and Marlborough. His name, and the newly roused patriotism of the country, raised the spirits of the army, though they were in want of many of the necessaries of life. Villars, determined to act upon the defensive, saw Tournay fall without moving. Thence the conquerors advanced to Mons, the capital of Hainault. It seemed necessary, if possible, to prevent the siege of this town. The rapidity of the movements of the allies prevented Villars from attaining that object, but the investment was scarcely formed when he crossed the Scheldt at Valenciennes, and appeared with his army in the immediate neighbourhood. The corner of the country between the Haine river on the north, and the Trouille on the east, in which Mons stands, is crossed by a barrier of high ground, rendered more difficult by large woods and forests. To approach Mons from the south and west this ridge has to be crossed, and the only convenient passage is by the _Trouée_, or open gap, between the woods of Lanière towards the east, and Taisnière towards the west. Between these woods the high land falls by several ravines into the plain of Mons. On the crown of the ridge is the heath and village of Malplaquet. Marlborough and Eugene, supposing that the object of Villars would be to pass through this gap and attempt to raise the siege of Mons, brought their army to the foot of the ascending ravines. But Villars, under whom Boufflers, though his senior in rank, was serving as a volunteer, feeling certain that at all events a battle would be fought, determined to adopt a defensive position, and during the night and day after his arrival at Malplaquet strongly fortified the flanking woods and the crown of the hill. Marlborough was anxious to attack before the fortifications were complete, but Eugene thought it necessary to await the arrival of troops coming from the siege of Tournay. A day was thus lost, and time allowed to render the fortifications much stronger. The battle, which began upon the 11th of September, was the most bloody and hardly contested of the war. In their first assaults the allies were repeatedly driven back, but the pressure upon the wood of Taisnière was so strong, especially when it was outflanked and threatened from the extreme right of the allies under Withers, that Villars had to weaken his centre to hold his ground. Marlborough perceived the weakness and took advantage of it. The entrenchments in the centre of the line were broken through and captured, and thus the position forced. Villars had been severely wounded, and the command had devolved upon Boufflers, who brought off the French army in perfect order, and the fruit of the hard-earned victory was nothing but the field of battle. The English encamped the following night upon the French position, having lost in their disastrous victory 20,000 men. Mons fell, but the campaign had