’Tis not the living colours over each
By Nature’s finest pencil wrought
To shame the full-blown rose, and blooming peach,
And mock the happy painter’s thought.
No--’tis that gentleness of mind, that love
So kindly answering my desire;
That grace with which you look and speak and move,
That thus has set my soul on fire.
The following song, according to Horace Walpole, was written
immediately after the Battle of Fontenoy, and was addressed to Lady
Catherine Hanmer, Lady Falconberg, and Lady Middlesex, who were to act
the three goddesses with Frederick, Prince of Wales, in Congreve’s
mask “The Judgment of Paris,” whom he was to represent, and Prince
Lobkowitz, Mercury.
SONG.
By Frederick, Prince of Wales.
1.
Venez, mes chères Dèesses,
Venez, calmer mon chagrin;
Aidez, mes belles Princesses
A le noyer dans le vin
Poussons cette douce ivresse
Jusqu’ au milieu de la nuit
Et n’ecoutons que la tendresse
D’un charmant vis-à-vis.
2.
Quand le chagrin me devore,
Vite à table je me mets,
Loin des objets que j’abhorre,
Avec joie j’y trouve la paix.
Peu d’amis, restes d’un naufrage
Je rassemble autour de moi
Et je me ris de l’etalage,
Qu’a chez-lui toujours un Roi.
3.
Que m’ importe que l’ Europe
Ait un ou plusieurs tyrans?
Prions seulement Calliope
Qu’elle inspire nos vers, nos chants.
Laissons Mars et toute la gloire
Livrons nous tous à l’amour
Que Bacchus nous donne à boire;
A ces deux faisons la cour.
4.
Passons ainsi notre vie,
Sans rêver à ce qui suit;
Avec ma chère Sylvie,[61]
Le tems trop vite me fuit.
Mais si par un malheur extreme
Je perdois cette objêt charmante;
Oui, cette compagnie même
Ne me tiendroit un moment.
5.
Me livrant à ma tristesse,
Toujours plein de mon chagrin,
Ne n’aurois plus d’allegresse
Pour mettre Bathurst[62] en train
Ainsi pour vous tenir en joie
Invoquez toujours les Dieux,
Qu’elle vive et qu’elle soit
Avec nous toujours heureux.
It may here be stated that in the year 1735 there appeared in Paris a
silly book which was attributed--by his enemies--to Prince Frederick,
or said to be “inspired” by him, if that term could be applied to a
children’s fairy tale, for so it was regarded for many years in France.
It was translated into English and published under the title of “The
Adventures of Prince Titi,” and was supposed to be a travestie of the
King and Queen.
As, however, no evidence exists to connect it with the Prince of Wales,
it deserves no further comment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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