campaign of 1703 he was again victorious; he captured Bonn, Huy, and Limburg; but his career of victory was impeded by the jealousy or timidity of the Dutch, which he bore in a manner corresponding with the greatness of his mind. On the 25th of April, 1704, he was appointed colonel of the first foot guards. The succeeding campaign was splendid in glorious achievements. He led his army from the ocean to the Danube; forced the heights of Schellenberg on the 2nd July, 1704, and compelled the enemy to take shelter behind the lines of Augsburg. New armies and new generals appeared, and their overthrow, at the decisive battle of Blenheim on the 13th of August, added new lustre to the reputation of the British commander: there the heaps of slain gave dreadful proofs of British valour, and whole legions of prisoners of their mercy. This victory displayed the distinguishing character of MARLBOROUGH, and produced important results: Bavaria was subdued; Ratisbon, Augsburg, Ulm, Meninghen,--all were recovered. From the Danube he marched to the Rhine and the Moselle; Landau, Treves, and Traerbach were taken; and the British commander,--courted and honoured by sovereign princes,--applauded by nations, became the pride of armies, and was rewarded with the dignity of a PRINCE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. While his judgment swayed the councils of the states of Christendom, he led their armies to battle and victory. In 1705 he experienced disappointment from the princes he had delivered in the preceding year; but, suddenly changing the scene of his operations, he led his army from the Moselle to the Maese; Liege was relieved; Huy retaken; and the boasted impregnable French lines forced. In the spring of 1706 another campaign opened, when the discipline he had introduced, and the confidence he had inspired, again proved invincible. He met, attacked, and triumphed over the French, Spaniards, and Bavarians, at Ramilies, on the 23rd of May. This decisive action was followed by the surrender of Louvain, Brussels, Malines, Liege, Ghent, Oudenarde, Antwerp, Damme, Bruges, and Courtray; and by the capture of Ostend, Menin, Dendermond, and Aeth,--places which had resisted the greatest generals for months--for years; provinces, disputed for ages, were the conquests of a summer. So great was his reputation, that, throughout the campaign of 1707, the enemy avoided a general engagement: but in the following summer a gallant French army, led by the princes of the blood, was overcome at Oudenarde; and, although new armies and new generals appeared, the career of Marlborough could not be stopped. The barriers of France on the side of the Low Countries,--the work of half a century,--were attacked. A numerous French army were spectators of the fall of Lisle, the bulwark of their barriers. Every campaign added new conquests. In 1709 Tournay was taken; and a powerful French army posted near Malplaquet, in a position covered by thick woods, defended by triple intrenchments, was attacked.