Marlborough: Britain’s Greatest General. Richard Holmes

       EPIGRAPH

      Our horsemen had now the better of the fight; but soon we beheld fresh bodies of horsemen, hastening to the relief of their half-defeated squadrons. Marlborough was at the head of this reserve of cavalry … I can still see him as, undaunted and serene, he rode forward amid the cheers of his troops, shouting ‘Corporal John’, the name they had given their hero; he was surrounded by his staff, evidently receiving his commands. I fell on his men with my whole regiment; he narrowly escaped being made prisoner – oh! That heaven was so unpropitious to France – but he was extricated, and my troopers were compelled to retreat.

       COLONEL GERALD O’CONNOR, commanding anIrish regiment in French service, Ramillies, 1706

      This is a world that is subject to frequent revolutions

       SARAH DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH