Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO THE DUKE DELAFEUILLADE. - 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).

Return to Title Page for 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).

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Literature

TO THE DUKE DELAFEUILLADE. - 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.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO THE DUKE DELAFEUILLADE.

  • Preserve, my lord, with ceaseless care,
  • Luxuriant fancy’s follies rare;
  • Pleasantry and true humor too,
  • In which all men must yield to you;
  • Your constitution boast no more,
  • For none think with you on that score.
  • A lady, who long since has known
  • Your person, as it were her own,
  • Declares you well may counterfeit;
  • For, though your mind’s in spring of wit,
  • Though earthly part even now appears
  • In the full autumn of its years.
  • Then governor of high renown
  • Farewell; you rule not o’er a town,
  • But o’er a beauty heavenly bright,
  • Who charms the heart as well as sight;
  • Who by her free licentious spirit,
  • Does honor to her teacher’s merit;
  • But pray, lest Venus should depute
  • In your place, some young substitute,
  • Lest she should let some lusty blade
  • So fine a government invade.