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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO ****. - The Works of Voltaire, Vol. X The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Zaire, Caesar, The Prodigal, Prefaces) and Part II (The Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems).

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TO ****. - Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. X The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Zaire, Caesar, The Prodigal, Prefaces) and Part II (The Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems). [1901]

Edition used:

From The Works of Voltaire, A Contemporary Version, (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901), A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming. Vol. X The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Zaire, Caesar, The Prodigal, Prefaces) and Part II (The Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems).

Part of: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.

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TO ****.

  • Dudefans, Fourmont, who both unite
  • Solidity to graces light,
  • In whom wit’s charms, with sense combined,
  • And eloquence’s power we find;
  • Ye pleasures, which all good contain,
  • Which I still labored to obtain;
  • Philosophers, whose learned lore
  • I vainly labored to explore;
  • From all the efforts I made to know,
  • What are the advantages that flow?
  • Those squares of distances, those springs,
  • Atoms, inexplicable things,
  • That vast abyss of infinite,
  • Can it into my soul pour light?
  • Lectures on bodies are but vain,
  • They can’t ease mine when racked with pain:
  • Does great bliss my soul o’erflow?
  • Better do I my duty know
  • When I have all the visions read
  • In René’s roving fancy bred?
  • Or when with Malebranche I’ve found
  • That I cannot the Godhead sound?
  • Or when by scaling I arise
  • Up to truth’s castle in the skies,
  • With the illustrious Leibnitz’ aid,
  • And see monads alone displayed.
  • Fly quickly hence, deluding dreams!
  • Ye cold chimeras, idle schemes!
  • And since to error we’re consigned,
  • Let us some pleasing errors find.
  • The vulgar mind to method bent,
  • On calculations still intent,
  • If pleased with such a crabbed trade,
  • For nothing nobler e’er was made.
  • From the deep caverns underground,
  • Where dwells philosophy profound,
  • Behold Æmilia, on the plain,
  • Advance with cupids in her train!
  • Had she not been by these befriended,
  • Who to Brussels her steps attended,
  • She would have lost life’s brilliant stage,
  • In poring o’er a German sage.