"If every thing goes well, as I hope in God it will, in Catalonia, by
all I hear, the king of Spain will be easy in letting some troops go to
the duke of Savoy, if Lord Peterborough should have a mind to go with
them.

"By the time the English can join us, I hope we shall have the artil-
lery and every thing that is necessary for our march, which I hope shall
be upon Thursday. I go to-morrow to see the new works at the citadel
of Liege, which I am told are very much improved since I was there.

"The minute you are sure that Barcelona is safe, I should think it
might be of service to let the duke of Savoy know what care her majesty
has taken that troops may come to his relief; for I believe we may take
it for granted that the French will besiege Turin. The loss of that town
would end the war in Italy, which is what we ought to prevent by all
the means possible.

"You will see by the inclosed the unreasonable proceedings at the
court of Berlin."

At this moment, however, brighter prospects appeared to
open. Early in the year the British commander had esta-
blished a secret correspondence with one Pasquier, an in-
habitant of Namur, and conceived the design of surprising
that fortress through his agency. In this design he com-
bined two objects. If he secured Namur he rendered the
defensive system of the enemy inefficient by turning the right
flank of their lines; and if they endeavoured to prevent the
attempt, he hoped to find an opportunity of forcing them to
an engagement. With these views he adopted the resolu-
tion of advancing towards. Tirlemont, which would at once
favour the enterprise on Namur, and enable him to take a
prompt and effectual advantage of the enemy's movements. ^*

The plan succeeded to his most sanguine wishes. Villeroy
received positive orders even to risk a battle for the safety of
Namur, and the cavalry of the detachment under Marsin
was recalled by hasty marches to take a share in the expected
conflict. The English troops had, therefore, no sooner ap-
proached the intended point of junction with the Dutch than
Villeroy and the elector of Bavaria, with their united forces,
passed the Dyle, and directed their march on Tirlemont.
They were influenced in this movement by the knowledge
that the Hanoverians were yet at a distance, and that the
Danish cavalry had refused to march till they had received

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