Address panel with seal and postmark to "His Grace The Duke of Leeds / Recommended to Mr. Robothom at / the General post office / England / London." A note has been added beneath this address but it is illegible.
Docketed.
The letter is double-dated September 14 / 25, 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.
Reporting that the siege of Lille is proceeding more slowly than expected, but it is believed that Monsieur de Boufflers "will be forthwith obliged to capitulate by reason of the taking of an outwork, called Tenail, which our men did carry sword in hand the night betwixt Friday & Saturday last"; writing that the French army, under the command of the Duke of Burgundy--"having Left of [sic] their design to fright the Duke of Marlborough"--is attempting to intercept convoys of provisions and ammunition; commenting that they have not heard anything further about the Duke of Savoy (Victor Amadeus I) since his capture of the fort of Fenestrelle, so they conclude that "the Campagne is near at an end in those parts. it will begin again in Spain, God grant it may go on more Successfully for the Allies in the Autumn then it went in the Spring"; reporting that King Augustus, who had been traveling incognito in Flanders, was at the attack on Tenail, along with Prince Eugene "who received a slight wound in his face on this occasion"; informing the Duke that his grandchildren are all well, and that Lady Bridget "expects every day to hear of a yacht" to take herself and her daughters back to England.