So with the continental part of the war with France, in which William had allied himself with the Netherlands, the Austrian empire, and others, because of the aggressive and menacing aspect of Louis XIV., was resuscitated the renown of the English infantry. At Steinkirke fought the predecessors of the Horse Guards, the 4th Hussars, the 3rd, 4th, and 6th Dragoons, the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards, the 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 16th Foot, the 19th, 21st, the 1st Royals, the 25th, and the 26th battalions of the line; and so close was the action that “in the hedge fighting their fire was generally muzzle to muzzle, the hedge only separating the combatants.” Ten battalions of British troops held in check thirty of the French, and one battalion alone “drove four battalions of the enemy from their cannon.” Here it was that “Corporal Trim”--really Corporal James Butler--was ridden down in the retreat, and where he blames Count Solmes: “‘He had saved five battalions, an please your reverence, every soul of them. There was Cutts’,’ continued the corporal, clapping the forefinger of his right hand upon the thumb of his left, and counting round his hand, ‘there was Cutts’, Mackay’s, Angus’s, Graham’s, and Leven’s, all cut to pieces; and so had the English Life Guards too, had it not been for some regiments on the right, who marched up boldly to their relief, and received the enemy’s fire in their faces before any one of their platoons discharged a musket. They’ll go to heaven for it,’ added Trim. ‘Trim is right,’ said my Uncle Toby.” Landen, too, where were present the Coldstreams, Scots Guards, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 16th Foot, etc., as well as much cavalry, and Neerwinden, showed the extraordinary gallantry of the British troops, especially of the 6th Carabineers, and on that field fell Count Solmes himself, as well as one of the most gallant of the Irish leaders in the Boyne campaign--Sarsfield, who was shot, though not at the head of the Irish Brigade he loved so well. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the time, and the stubborn fighting of both sides resulted in 20,000 dead being left on the field. The next summer the soil so fertilised “broke forth into millions of poppies,” and it seemed as if “the figurative prediction of the Hebrew prophet was literally accomplished, that the earth was disclosing her blood and refusing to cover the slain.”