The king's household troops had remained motionless for four hours under the fire of the allies: William III.

thought for a moment that his gunners made bad practice; he ran up to the batteries; the French squadrons did not move except to close up the ranks as the files were carried off; the King of England could not help an exclamation of anger and admiration.

"Insolent nation!" he cried.
[Illustration: The Battle of Neerwinden----465] The victory of Neerwinden ended in nothing but the capture of Charleroi; the successes of Catinat at Marsaglia, in Piedmont, had washed out the shame of the Duke of Savoy's incursion into Dauphiny in 1692.

Tourville had remained with the advantage in several maritime engagements off Cape St.Vincent, and burned the English vessels in the very roads of Cadiz.
On every sea the corsairs of St.Malo and Dunkerque, John Bart and Duguay-Trouin, now enrolled in the king's navy, towed at their sterns numerous prizes; the king and France, for a long time carried away by a common passion, had arrived at that point at which victories no longer suffice in the place of solid and definitive success.

The nation was at last tiring of its glory.