the wall. 
  In vain the thronging enemy by force
  Would clear the ramparts, and repel their course;
  They break through all, for William leads the way,
  Where fires rage most, and loudest engines play. 
  Namur’s late terrors and destruction show
  What William, warmed with just revenge, can do: 
  Where once a thousand turrets raised on high
  Their gilded spires, and glittered in the sky,
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  An undistinguished heap of dust is found,
  And all the pile lies smoking on the ground,
     His toils, for no ignoble ends design’d,
  Promote the common welfare of mankind;
  No wild ambition moves, but Europe’s fears,
  The cries of orphans, and the widow’s tears;
  Oppressed religion gives the first alarms,
  And injured justice sets him in his arms;
  His conquests freedom to the world afford,
  And nations bless the labours of his sword.
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     Thus when the forming Muse would copy forth
  A perfect pattern of heroic worth,
  She sets a man triumphant in the field,
  O’er giants cloven down, and monsters kill’d,
  Reeking in blood, and smeared with dust and sweat,
  Whilst angry gods conspire to make him great. 
     Thy navy rides on seas before unpress’d,
  And strikes a terror through the haughty East;
  Algiers and Tunis from their sultry shore
  With horror hear the British engines roar;
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  Fain from the neighbouring dangers would they run,
  And wish themselves still nearer to the sun. 
  The Gallic ships are in their ports confined,
  Denied the common use of sea and wind,
  Nor dare again the British strength engage;
  Still they remember that destructive rage
  Which lately made their trembling host retire,
  Stunned with the noise, and wrapt in smoke and fire;
  The waves with wide unnumbered wrecks were strow’d,
  And planks, and arms, and men, promiscuous flow’d.
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     Spain’s numerous fleet, that perished on our coast,
  Could scarce a longer line of battle boast,
  The winds could hardly drive them to their fate,
  And all the ocean laboured with the weight. 
     Where’er the waves in restless errors roll,
  The sea lies open now to either pole: 
  Now may we safely use the northern gales,
  And in the Polar Circle spread our sails;
  Or deep in southern climes, secure from wars,
  New lands explore, and sail by other stars;
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  Fetch uncontrolled each labour of the sun,
  And make the product of the world our own. 
     At length, proud prince, ambitious Louis, cease
  To plague mankind, and trouble Europe’s peace;
  Think on the structures which thy pride has razed,
  On towns unpeopled, and on fields laid waste;
  Think on the heaps of corps and streams of blood,
  On every guilty plain, and purple flood,
  Thy arms have made, and cease an impious war,
  Nor waste the lives intrusted to thy care.