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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) TO PRESIDENT HÉNAULT, AUTHOR OF AN EXCELLENT WORK UPON THE HISTORY OF FRANCE. - 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).
TO PRESIDENT HÉNAULT, AUTHOR OF AN EXCELLENT WORK UPON THE HISTORY OF FRANCE. - 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).
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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 PRESIDENT HÉNAULT, AUTHOR OF AN EXCELLENT WORK UPON THE HISTORY OF FRANCE.
Cirey, Sept. 2, 1744.
- Goddess who dost make blessed the earth,
- Health, who to temperance owest thy birth,
- Who pleasures to the wife dispense,
- Whose joys are governed by good sense,
- Who dost with gilded rays adorn
- Our youth, of life the brilliant morn;
- And oft dost cheer life’s gloomy close
- With calm content and soft repose;
- Oh, health-dispensing goddess, now
- Listen propitious to my vow;
- By thy kind star conduct to rest
- A mortal worthy to be blessed.
- All other gods unite to shed
- Their blessings upon Hénault’s head.
- Will you, who hold the place of all,
- Alone prove deaf to Hénault’s call?
- To sweet society once more,
- And to his noble feats restore
- Hénault, whose happy vein of wit
- Can every taste and genius hit.
- To him your needful succor lend,
- For him time’s rapid course suspend;
- So well he knows time to employ,
- So well divides ’twixt care and joy.
- Women, enchanted by his ease,
- Have thought he only knew to please;
- Men, who the depth of science sound,
- Have ever thought him most profound;
- The god of jollity and mirth
- Thinks him the merriest soul on earth.
- Immortal as his works, may he
- Live late posterity to see,
- Live long as all the kings, his pen
- So well brings to the view of men,
- Whose characters so well he draws,
- Their deeds relates, explains their laws.
- Since he so many ways has shone,
- Restore his stomach to its tone.
- Of every talent he’s possessed,
- With every virtue glows his breast;
- The art to please is all his own,
- The art to enjoy to him is known;
- All this, however, is a jest,
- If he’s unable to digest.
- I wonder not that Desfontaines,
- Who tires all mortals with his strain,
- Should in his garret midst his lumber
- Of dusty books have easy slumber,
- That he should still be in good case,
- Though void of virtue and of grace.
- Aglaia or Sylvia ne’er invite
- Pedants who without genius write,
- Whose heaped citations readers tire
- Whose writings dulness’ fumes inspire;
- His company all mortals cloys,
- He is reduced to herd with boys.
- Alas! to geniuses alone.
- These indigestions cursed are known.
After this hymn to the goddess of health, which I have made with the utmost sincerity of friendship, permit me, sir, to add to it mentally a short Gloria Patri. I have as much occasion for it as you, but I am more solicitous about your welfare than my own. May the goddess of health first shower down her favors upon you; drink the waters of Plombières cheerfully, and return with all speed to Cirey before the Austrian hussars enter Lorraine. Such folks give no waters to drink but those of the river Styx. Do not forget that amongst the multitude of your well-wishers there are two here who desire that you should stop awhile in your journey for their sakes.
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