six o'clock in the morning
Not he who writes : a man may profess to be ever so much a philosopher ; but he who fought on that day must feel a thrill of pride as he recalls it . The French right was posted near to the village of Blenheim , on the Danube , where the Marshal Tallard 's quarters were ; their line extending through , it may be a league and a half , before Lutzingen and up to a woody hill , round the base of which , and acting against the Prince of Savoy , were forty of his squadrons . Here was a village that the Frenchmen had burned , the wood being , in fact , a better shelter and easier of guard than any village . Before these two villages and the French lines ran a little stream , not more than two foot broad , through a marsh -LRB- that was mostly dried up from the heats of the weather -RRB- , and this stream was the only separation between the two armies -- ours coming up and ranging themselves in line of battle before the French , at six o'clock in the morning ; so that our line was quite visible to theirs ; and the whole of this great plain was black and swarming with troops for hours before the cannonading began . On one side and the other this cannonading lasted many hours . The French guns being in position in front of their line , and doing severe damage among our horse especially , and on our right wing of Imperialists under the Prince of Savoy , who could neither advance his artillery nor his lines , the ground before him being cut up by ditches , morasses , and very difficult of passage for the guns . It was past mid-day when the attack began on our left , where Lord Cutts commanded , the bravest and most beloved officer in the English army .