The Online Library of Liberty

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• The Works of Voltaire
• The Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. X— Part I
• ZaÏre
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• An Epistle Dedicatory to Mr. Falkener, an English Merchant, Since Ambassador At Constantinople, With the Tragedy of Zaïre.
• A Second Letter to Mr. Falkener, Then Ambassador to Constantinople.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• CÆsar.
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• The Prodigal
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Preface to Mariamne.
• Preface to Orestes.
• Preface to Catiline.
• Preface to MÉrope.
• Preface to the Prodigal.
• Preface to Nanine.
• 1 Preface to Socrates.
• Note On Mahomet.
• Preface to Julius CÆsar.
• Voltaire the Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems Vol. X— Part Ii
• Author’s Preface to the Lisbon Earthquake.
• The Lisbon Earthquake. *
• Preface to the Poem On the Law of Nature.
• The Law of Nature.
• The Temple of Taste. *
• The Temple of Friendship.
• Thoughts On the Newtonian Philosophy, Addressed to the Marchioness Du ChÂtelet.
• On the Death of Adrienne Lecouvreur, a Celebrated Actress.
• To the King of Prussia On His Accession to the Throne.
• From Love to Friendship.
• The Worldling. *
• On Calumny.
• The King of Prussia to M. Voltaire.
• The Answer.
• On the English Genius.
• What Pleases the Ladies.
• The Education of a Prince.
• The Education of a Daughter.
• The Three Manners.
• Thelema and Macareus.
• Azolan.
• The Origin of Trades.
• The Battle of Fontenoy.
• The Man of the World. *
• The Padlock. *
• In Camp Before Philippsburg, July 3, 1734.
• Answer to a Lady, Or a Person Who Wrote to Voltaire As Such. *
• Envy.
• The Nature of Virtue.
• To the King of Prussia.
• To M. De Fontenelle.
• To Count Algarotti At the Court of Saxony.
• To Cardinal Quirini.
• To Her Royal Highness, the Princess of ***.
• To M. De Cideville.
• To ****.
• Epistle XIII. *
• To the Duke of Richelieu, Marshal of France, In Whose Honor the Senate of Genoa Had Just Before Caused a Statue to Be Erected. *
• To Madam De ***, On the Manner of Living At Paris and Versailles.
• To the Prince of Vendôme.
• To Madam De Gondoin, Afterward Countess of Toulouse, On the Danger She Had Been Exposed to In Passing the Loire In 1719.
• To the Duke Delafeuillade.
• To Marshal Villars. *
• To Monsieur Genonville.
• To the Countess of Fontaine-martel. *
• Written From PlombiÉres to M. Pallu, Intendant of Lyons.
• The Nature of Pleasure.
• The Utility of Sciences to Princes. to the Prince Royal of Prussia, Since King of Prussia.
• Epistle In Answer to a Letter, With Which, Upon His Accession to the Throne, the King of Prussia Honored the Author.
• Epistle to the King, Presented to His Majesty At the Camp Before Freiburg.
• On the Death of the Emperor Charles.
• To the Queen of Hungary.
• Inscribed to the Gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences, Who Sailed to the Polar Circle and the Equator, In Order to Ascertain the Figure of the Earth.
• To M. De Gervasi, the Physician. *
• The Requisites to Happiness.
• To a Lady, Very Well Known to the Whole Town.
• Fanaticism. *
• On Peace Concluded In 1736.
• To AbbÉ Chaulieu. *
• Answer to the Foregoing.
• To President HÉnault, Author of an Excellent Work Upon the History of France.
• Canto of an Epic Poem. *
• Epistle On the Newtonian Philosophy. * to the Marchioness of ChÂtelet.

TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE PRINCESS OF ***.

• • A beauteous princess often may
  • Languish in pleasure’s season gay;
  • The empty forms of haughty state
  • Oft make life tedious to the great.
• • It must the greatest king confound,
  • With all his courtiers circled round,
  • Amidst a splendid court to find,
  • That grandeur can’t give peace of mind.
• • Some think that play can give delight,
  • But soon it grows insipid quite;
  • And monarchs have been often seen,
  • While gaming, tortured with the spleen.
• • A king oft feasts with heavy heart,
  • Pleasures to him no joy impart;
  • While the dull vulgar contemplate,
  • Like gazing idiots, pomp and state,
• • And fondly think who is possessed
  • Of them with bliss supreme is blessed.
  • Soon as the sun’s refulgent rays,
  • Spread o’er the hemisphere their blaze;
• • The king begins another day,
  • Yet knows not where to take his way:
  • Tired of himself he straight repairs
  • To company, to soothe his cares.
• • But pleasure flies from his embrace,
  • It rises not from change of place;
  • This day’s insipid as the last,
  • At night he knows not how it passed.
• • Time’s loss is not to be repaired,
  • Life’s to an instant well compared;
  • What, when life posts away so fast,
  • Can days appear so long to last?
• • Princess, whose worth above thy age,
  • All hearts at two courts can engage;
  • You usefully that time employ,
  • By youth consumed in rapid joy.
• • The genius given by heaven benign,
  • You strive to polish and refine,
  • By studies which at once unite
  • Instructions solid, with delight.
• • ’Tis best the mind should be employed,
  • Indolence leaves a craving void;
  • The soul is like a subtile fire,
  • Which if not fed must soon expire.