Ye numberless suns, his kindred, on high, For six thousand years whom cou'd ye descry; Whom, like him, have seen of meer mortal birth; Tho _Alfred_ and _Edward_ once dignify'd earth? Blush, blush, scepter'd pirates, who trail your faint fire: Ye meteors, that transiently dazzling expire! Whose lust of vain pow'r stains the page of your story: What glow worms ye look, and how lost in his glory? Blush, butchers, whose banners red massacre shames, That _Honest_ and _Great_ should bear different names! Go waste the creation for empire and pelf: The globe you may win, but _he_ conquers himself! To spare he subdues; as he sought to defend; Dire war's his forc'd mean: but fair peace his lov'd end. Tho' trophies in battles o'er your's he can raise; Yet these he accounts but a second rate praise. Who by victories plum'd ne'er thinks it disgrace, To sigh that they're earn'd by the blood of his race. The public's first servant, and humble in station; He found his firm glory on wise legislation. His country's great father, in blessings most blest, Who loses his own for the world's peace and rest! Still only ambitious of fair-won renown, And olives with laurels to wreath in his crown. Say poet, philosopher, critick, divine, What art thou?--Since all, but omniscience is thine. Self-taught, tho' a king! and now destin'd to prove, That _Minerva_, like thee, sprang perfect from _Jove_. Like thee, fam'd for wisdom; like thee for alarms: The goddess of science, and goddess of arms! In his words, in his deeds, we read his great heart; Too gen'rous for fraud, and too wise for mean art. With aw still reflecting whence all grandeur springs; And only dependent on thee, King of Kings! The mate of his vet'rans in each noble feat; The first in the charge, and the last in retreat, A statesman and monarch, yet true to his word; A soldier with honour, more bright than his sword. Whom pow'r ne'er corrupted; whom learning adorns: Who, ev'n in idea, court-turpitude scorns: --Yet why should we wonder, that _this_ he disdains; When the blood of good _George_ flows rich in his veins? _Amer. Mag. and Mo. Chron._, I-551, Aug. 1758, Phila. [Footnote 36: The founder and first legislator of the German nation, to whom after his deification the fourth day of our week was consecrated, now contracted from Wodon's day to Wednesday.] [Footnote 37: The brave assertor of his country's liberty against the Roman invasions, who cut to pieces three legions commanded by _Quintilius Varus_ in the reign of _Augustus Cæsar_.] MR. VOLTAIRE'S LETTER TO HIS PRUSSIAN MAJESTY. Translated.