O DE

Sur la prise de NAMUR, par les armes du Roy, l'année 1692.

Q

Par Monfieur BOILEAU DESPREAUX,

UELLE docte et fainte yvreffe
Aujourd'huy me fait la loy?

Chaftes nymphes du Permeffe,
N'eft-ce pas vous que je voy?
Accourez, troupe fçavante,
De fons que ma lyre enfante;
Ces arbres font réjouis:
Marquez en bien la cadence:
Et vous, vents, faites filence:
Je vais parler de Louis.

AN ENGLISH BALLA D.

On the taking of NAMUR by the KING of
GREAT BRITAIN, 1695.

SOME

Dulce est desipere in loco.

I. and II.

OME folks are drunk, yet do not know it:
So might not Bacchus give you law?

Was it a mufe, O lofty poet,

Or virgin of St. Cyr, you faw?

Why all this fury? what's the matter,

That oaks must come from Thrace to dance?

Muft ftupid stocks be taught to flatter?
And is there no fuch wood in France?
Why must the winds all hold their tongue?
If they a little breath should raise;
Would that have spoil'd the poet's fong;
Or puff'd away the monarch's praife?

Pindar, that eagle, mounts the skies:
While virtue leads the noble way:
Too like a vulture Boileau flies,

Where fordid int'reft fhews the prey.
When once the poet's honour ceases,
From reafon far his tranfports rove:
And Boileau, for eight hundred pieces,
Makes Louis take the wall of Jeve,
VOL, L

E

III.

Neptune and Sol came from above,

Shap'd like Megrigny and Vauban :
They armed these rocks; then show'd old Jove
Of Marli wood, the wond'rous plan.
Such walls, these three wife gods agreed,
By human force could ne'er be shaken :
But you and I in Homer read

Of gods, as well as men, mistaken.
Sambre and Maese their waves may join;
But ne'er can William's force restrain :
He'll pass them both, who pafs'd the Boyn:
Remember this, and arm the Sein.
IV.

Full fifteen thousand lusty fellows

With fire and fword the fort maintain : Each was a Hercules, you tell us;

Yet out they march'd like common men. Cannons above, and mines below

Did death and tombs for foes contrive: Yet matters have been order'd fo,

That most of us are still alive.

V.

If Namur be compar'd to Troy;

Then Britain's boys excell'd the Greeks: Their fiege did ten long years employ; We've done our bus'nefs in ten weeks. What godhead does so fast advance,

What dreadful pow'r thofe hills to gain; 'Tis little Will, the scourge of France; E &

Prefte à foudroyer tes monts?
Quel bruit, quel feu l'environne?
C'eft Jupiter en personne ;

Ou c'est le vainqueur de Mons.

VI.

N'en doute point: c'est luy-mefme.
Tout brille en luy; tout est roy.
Dans Bruxelles Naffau blême
Commence à trembler pour toy.
En vain il voit le Batâve,
Deformais docile efclâve,
Kangé fous fes étendars :
En vain au lion Belgique
Il voit l'aigle Germanique
Uni fous les leopards..

VII.

Plein de la frayeur nouvelle,
Dont fes fens font agités,
A fon fecours il appelle
Les peuples les plus vantéz.
Ceux-là viennent du rivage,
Où s'enorgueillit le Tage
De l'or, qui roule en fes eaux;
Ceux-ci de champs, où la neige
Des marais de la Norvége

Neuf mois couvre les rofeaux.