A Congratulatory Poem: Humbly offered to the KING, UPON His Return Home, After the Taking of NAMUR.  
By Mr. MANNING.  
O Fama ingens, ingentior Armis,  
Justitiaene prius mirer, Belline Laborum?  Virg. Aeneid. lib. xi. 
LONDON, Printed for Peter Buck, at the Sign of the Temple, near Temple-Bar in Fleetstreet, 1695.   

To the KING, UPON His Return Home after the Taking of NAMUR.  

AT length bright Day succeeds the Shades of Night,  
And Sol appears in his own Orb of Light.  
Propitious Heaven with an indulgent Care,  
Sends home a Monarch to dispel our Fear.  
A Fear, we might so justly entertain,  
For where's our Union, when you cease to reign?  
Not us alone your sacred Life secures,  
The Fate of Europe is concerned in Yours.  
All other Lives but single Comforts be,  
You live to save the World from Tyranny.  
Such Theseus was, and such Alcides aim,  
The fall of Tyrants was their rise in famed.  
Such the brave MAURICE, of late Memory,  
That wondrous Man, who made his Country free.  
No wild Ambition urges them to War,  
No Thirst of Blood, or Profit makes the jar:  
'tis virtues self, that ne're Repulse admits,  
And in untainted Honours firmly sits;  
Nor ever has respect to Dignities,  
Exalted with the Noise of Vulgar Cries.   

If to restore one's Country to its Peace,  
And all its Freedoms nobly to increase,  
Be made a Height of virtue and Renown,  
As none will ever make a doubt to own:  
What must yours be, and what proportion bear,  
That has been active in a larger Sphere?  
Not singly to your own you Safety sand,  
Your Charity doth far beyond extend:  
Your prudent Care and Vigilance of State,  
Has freed your Neighbours from approaching Fate.  
Great Race! when Both such Preservations bring,  
The Prince saves Holland, but the World the King.  
Then live( Great Sir) your laurels to advance,  
Go on to kerb the towering Pride of France:  
Namur reduced by your Victorious Hand,  
shows all things possible, where You command.  
A stronger Fort not Alexander won,  
Nor could he boast his Work more bravely done.  
All Arts of War he to Perfection knew,  
His Courage steady, and his Conduct true,  
Great force of Soul! The same appears in You.  
A nobler prise no History can find,  
obtained with utmost Gallantry of Mind.  
Whilst the proud Foe, concerned to save the Town,  
With a puissant Army marches on:  
Collecting all his Strength, and coming near,  
confessed his Weakness, and agreed to Fear.   

Since Victory to be attested loves,  
Great reason 'twas, he should his Motto prove.  
Secure of Time, of Numbers, and of Place,  
He saw your Conquest, and his own Disgrace.   

Proceed, my Muse, and with unspotted Truth,  
Rehearse their Names, who signalized their Youth,  
And such, whose Ages are yet more advanced,  
Give each that Praise, which Valour has inhanc'd.   

Next to the King, whose Courage is supreme,  
Whom first of Men all Nations do esteem:  
Bavaria, the Generous and Great,  
The Empire's Safety, and the Spanish Fate.  
See Vaudemont too, a valiant Prince, and Wife,  
Famous in War, and skilled in Victories.  
His late Retreat, so very finely done,  
At least is equal to a battle won.  
The brave Athlone, so well his Errand wrought,  
That he possessed those Avenues he sought:  
In great Attempts so happy, that his Name,  
Suffices to communicate his famed.  
Holstein and Wirtemberg are seen from far  
With Overkirk, all mighty Men in War.  
Among the English Hero's cuts appears,  
Forward in Dangers, and the last in Fears:  
Observe his Air, how fiercely he disdains  
The Canon's Fury, and the lodgement gains.  
Ormond the Bold, the Generous, and Wise,  
Lays a just Title to his share of Praise:  
And Portland too, whose Goodness all commend,  
That faithful Man, and most unequall'd Friend.  
Let Cohorn, Ramsey, Swerin and La Cave,  
Compose the Rear of Hero's, whilst we leave  
The brave Rivera honoured in his Grave.   

Your Pardon( Sir) if I presume to name  
Four more, no ways inferior in famed,  
Who, tho' they acted in a lower Sphere,  
Do well deserve to be inserted here:  
Brave web and Windsor, Stanhope, Codrington,  
All young, all gallant Men, of high Renown,  
So Fought, that if old Homer had been there,  
To celebrate their famed, had been his Care.   

Namur subdued to all the World is spread,  
What Bays are wanting to adorn your Head?  
This was a finished stroke, a sure Presage  
Of coming Glory, and of conquered Rage.  
Let Boileau now, that Parasite of Gain,  
Bend all the force and beauty of his Brain,  
Consult his Gods with Legs and Arms across,  
To know the cause of this unhappy Loss.  
Such Walls they built no Human Art could frame,  
Impregnable was the least fitting Name:  
But see! the Gods do their own Work decline,  
And fifteen thousand Men the Town resign.   

Neptune and Sol deserve his Trust no more,  
They run in Debt, but never pay the Score  
Boileau, next Year on safer Gods rely,  
Or Dinant shares the fatal Destiny.   

You( Sir) a better Deity implore,  
Great Providence you wisely put before  
All Human Wisdom, frail in every part:  
You conquer Towns with a Religious Dart.  
Let Louis boast of exquisite Vauban,  
Megrigny too get all the Praise he can:  
Let Mareschals of France his Armies led,  
With hopes of Conquest his Ambition feed:  
Des-Preaux unite the Sambre and the Maes,  
And still deserve for Flattery the Bays:  
Both shall your Armies pass, such power is given  
To th' cause of Nations, and the cause of Heaven.   

When Villeroy upon discretion takes  
Two small unvalued 
Dixmuyde and Deynse.  Garrisons, and breaks  
The common Use and Articles of War,  
Abusing those, who are bereft of Power,  
Methinks I see a great, impending change,  
For, Honour gone, no Accident is strange.  
When once a Foe makes use of mean Designs,  
His own Affairs in poor condition finds.   

The Forts thus taken by this wondrous Chief,  
Justice and Art combine for their Relief.  
Your Conduct( Sir) so opportunely shown,  
Obtains their Liberty and safe Return.   

Where Valour and true Policy are joined,  
What may we not expect from such a Mind?  
The one directs to great and useful things,  
Whilst t'other executes th' advice it brings.   

In You these happy Qualities are found,  
Where Royal Grace and Clemency abound:  
Where every virtue has its residence,  
And each Misfortune a secure defence:  
Born to oblige and recommend this Age,  
In spite of Malice, and in spite of Rage.  
You reign over those, whom Sense and Honour tie,  
The Beast will have a Brutal liberty:  
But if exorbitant and wild he grows,  
You know your Power and can see your Foes.  
No Government was ever half so mildred,  
Your Mercy doth above your Justice wield.  
So smooth each Path, and so serene its Course,  
So just your Limits, without Fraud or Force,  
That all confess their Happiness is true,  
And see the Golden Age renewed by You.   

Excellent Prince! who dost ascribe each Praise  
To him, who can reduce, and great ones raise.  
His Angel 'twas, who did before you move,  
And helped you to subdue the Wall of 
The King of France, whom Boileau compares to Jupiter.  Jove.  
tamed savage Hearts, and made Affections bend,  
As Osiers do, saluted by the Wind.  
You nothing own but Heaven's Instrument,  
No Godhead You, but to assert One sent:  
Such Grandeur, in the height of Victory,  
Is scarcely seen with so much Modesty.   

What now remains, or can we wish for more,  
Since you are landed on the British Shore?  
The Darling's Life, secured from any fear,  
Is not more welcome to a Mother's Ear.  
The common People Acclamations bring,  
Accost your Chariot, and bless the King.  
The Citizen removed from all his Frights,  
Now decorates each spacious Street with Lights.  
The Merchant too his grateful Joy relates,  
And gives You Thanks for Russel in the Streights.  
The busy Man of Law suspends a while  
His Application, and consents to smile.  
The Priest, whose Mind a sacred Fury burns,  
Sings Hallelujahs for your Return.  
The Courtier with obsequious Duty bows,  
And gladly pays those Services he owes.   

But most of all, Apollo's humble Train  
Revive their Numbers, and exert their Brain.  
Your safe returns so powerful a Theme,  
That Silence is interpnted a Crime.  
But when you add such store of Argument,  
And Valour's answered by so just event,  
What Man is able to delay your Bays,  
Or not declare so merited a Praise?   

Thrice happy Monarch! whom thy Subjects love,  
Whose equal Government they daily prove.  
Thrice happy Isle! secure from War's alarms,  
Thy princes absence, and intestine harms.   

Your fuller Praise let DORSET's Pen rehearse,  
And undertake a Song in juster Verse.  
He( Sir) can represent with noble Fire  
A Hero, whom I reach but to admire.   
FINIS.