Our first success in war make Bacchus crown,
And half the vintage of the year our own. 
The Dutch their wine, and all their brandy lose,
Disarm’d of that from which their courage grows;
While the glad English, to relieve their toil,
In healths to their great leader drink the spoil.

His high command to Afric’s coast extend,
And make the Moors before the English bend;
Those barb’rous pirates willingly receive
Conditions, such as we are pleased to give. 50
Deserted by the Dutch, let nations know
We can our own and their great business do;
False friends chastise, and common foes restrain,
Which, worse than tempests, did infest the main. 
Within those Straits, make Holland’s Smyrna fleet
With a small squadron of the English meet;
Like falcons these, those like a numerous flock
Of fowl, which scatter to avoid the shock. 
There paint confusion in a various shape;
Some sink, some yield; and, flying, some escape. 60
Europe and Africa, from either shore,
Spectators are, and hear our cannon roar;
While the divided world in this agree,
Men that fight so, deserve to rule the sea.

But, nearer home, thy pencil use once more,
And place our navy by the Holland shore;
The world they compass’d, while they fought with Spain,
But here already they resign the main;
Those greedy mariners, out of whose way
Diffusive Nature could no region lay, 70
At home, preserved from rocks and tempests, lie,
Compell’d, like others, in their beds to die. 
Their single towns th’Iberian armies press’d;
We all their provinces at once invest;
And, in a month, ruin their traffic more
Than that long war could in an age before.

But who can always on the billows lie? 
The wat’ry wilderness yields no supply. 
Spreading our sails, to Harwich we resort,
And meet the beauties of the British Court. 80
Th’ illustrious Duchess, and her glorious train
(Like Thetis with her nymphs), adorn the main. 
The gazing sea-gods, since the Paphian Queen
Sprung from among them, no such sight had seen. 
Charm’d with the graces of a troop so fair,
Those deathless powers for us themselves declare,
Resolved the aid of Neptune’s court to bring,
And help the nation where such beauties spring;
The soldier here his wasted store supplies,
And takes new valour from the ladies’ eyes. 90

Meanwhile, like bees, when stormy winter’s gone,
The Dutch (as if the sea were all their own)
Desert their ports, and, falling in their way,
Our Hamburg merchants are become their prey. 
Thus flourish they, before th’approaching fight;
As dying tapers give a blazing light.