Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 36.djvu/304

When I'm by indigence oppressed,
Diseased, deprived of needful rest;
Say, shall my lot more blessed appear,
When I our prince's glories hear;
Shall my distresses all be o'er,
If German plains are drenched in gore?
Colbert, whose praises we resound,
Who planted arts on Gallic ground,
France shall revere you as a sage;
Posterity in every age
Shall own you born the land to bless.
And Louvois be applauded less,
Louvois, who with ambition dire,
Set the Palatinate on fire;
And Holland to destroy aspired,
Had with his fury fate conspired.

Let Louis, even in decline,
Still as the greatest monarch shine:
But may he wisely fame acquire,
Not to the conqueror's wreath aspire;
Louis in peace claims just applause,
His subjects all revere his laws;
Their happiness from Louis springs—
Louis, the greatest, best of kings.