The centre was never engaged; for the regiment, on its
extreme left, seeing itself flanked by the French in pursuit of Conde,
precipitately abandoned its position, and the example was successively
imitated by the whole line. But, in the meanwhile, the duke of York had
rallied his broken infantry, and while they faced the English, he charged
the latter in flank at the head of his company of horse-guards. Though
thrown into disorder, they continued to fight, employing the butt-ends of
their muskets against the swords of their adversaries, and in a few minutes
several squadrons of French cavalry arrived to their aid. James was
surrounded; and, in despair of saving himself by flight, he boldly assumed
the character of a French officer; rode at the head of twenty troopers
toward the right of their army; and, carefully threading the different
corps, arrived without exciting suspicion at the bank of the canal, by
which he speedily effected his escape to Furnes.[1] The victory on the part
of the allies was complete. The Spanish cavalry made no effort to protect
the retreat of their infantry; every regiment of which was successively
surrounded by the pursuers, and compelled to surrender. By Turenne and his
officers the chief merit of this brilliant success was cheerfully allotted
to the courage and steadiness of the English regiments; at Whitehall it was
attributed to the prayers of the lord-protector, who, on that very day,
observed with his council a solemn fast to implore the blessing of heaven
on the operations of the allied army.
Pages:
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773