BIB_ID
404275
Accession number
MA 4644.61
Creator
Berard, Louis, active 18th century.
Display Date
1708 May 17.
Credit line
Purchased, 1989.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 22.3 x 17.9 cm
Notes
Address panel with seal and postmark to "His Grace The Duke of Leeds / at his house in Wimbleton / England / London." The original address was given as "at his house in Holborn": the word "Holborn" has been crossed out.
Docketed.
The letter is double-dated July 6 / 17, 1708.
Louis Berard was hired by the Duke of Leeds to tutor his grandsons William Henry Osborne, Earl of Danby (1690-1711) and Peregrine Hyde Osborne, Viscount Dunblane (1691-1731). He provided weekly accounts of the education of the two boys in this collection of letters.
Docketed.
The letter is double-dated July 6 / 17, 1708.
Louis Berard was hired by the Duke of Leeds to tutor his grandsons William Henry Osborne, Earl of Danby (1690-1711) and Peregrine Hyde Osborne, Viscount Dunblane (1691-1731). He provided weekly accounts of the education of the two boys in this collection of letters.
Provenance
Purchased on the Fellows Fortieth Anniversary Fund from the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Foundation, 1989.
Summary
Writing that he guesses the Duke has already heard of the allies' victory at the battle of Oudenarde, since the Duke of Marlborough had sent the Earl of Stair to England the previous Thursday to bring the news to Queen Anne; noting that General Cadogan was sent at night with "16 battaillons, 30 Squadrons, & 24 pieces of Canon" to the little town of Heyne, on the opposite side of the Schelde River, to make preparations for the entire army to cross; giving a detailed description of the course of the battle, with information about the number and types of troops, their movements, and the topography of the battlefield; describing the rout of the French forces; praising the bravery of all ranks of the allied forces; reckoning the dead and those taken prisoner on both sides; conveying a request from the Duke's grandsons for new silver hilts, which are in fashion: "their Lordships Swords are very old, & we can find no pretty ones here"; apologizing for the blots and confusion in his accounts, and promising that "I shall endeavour to mend it by my next."
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