Note 7 — Chapter XV · THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION AND THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV.
Reading edition
It is sometimes said that he fought Malplaquet, and wasted life unnecessarily there, in order to restore his waning popularity in England, but it must be remembered that in 1709, Mons was the last of the first-class fortresses belonging to the French, and the army of Villars and Boufflers the only real obstacle between Marlborough and Paris. Can any one doubt that had Marlborough been well supported in England, the allies would have been in Paris in 1710?