"had the honour, on the part of Achilles, to return thanks to Venus."
He is considered to be unrivalled in these gay little pieces of verse, of many of which Madame de Pompadour is the subject, containing compliments by implication, and depending for success on grace and felicity of expression. To say the truth, he occasionally seems to the present writer to be not at his happiest in giving point to these; while compliance with the taste of his times, which was in favour of extensive dealings with the heathen mythology, renders his allusions, relating as they frequently do to goddesses, Fates, Loves, &c., a little trite at the present day. The following "Madrigals" to the three sisters of Frederick the Great are, in the original, excellent specimens of the grace and adroitness which were often needed to excuse his audacity:—
"To the Princess Ulrique.
"Often, amid delusions vain,
A little spark of truth will gleam;
Last night, exalted in a dream,
I did to royal rank attain,
And loved you, Princess—more, my love I spoke:
The gods took not all from me when I woke,
Only my crown did not remain."
"To the Princesses Ulrique and Amélie.
"If Paris were recalled to life
To say which owns the brightest eyes,
He would in half divide the prize,
And so preserve the world from strife."
