1.  Venez, mes ch`eres D`eesses,
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-a-vis.

2.  Quand le chagrin me d`evore,
Vite `a 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 on 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 `a l’amour;
Que Bacchus nous donne `a boire;
A ces deux fasions la cour.

4.  Passons ainsi notre vie,
Sans rover IL ce qui suit;
Avec ma ch`ere Sylvie,(1039)
Le tems trop Vite me fuit. 
Mais si, par Un malheur extr`eme,
Je perdois cet objet charmant,
Oui, cette compagnie m`eme
Ne me tiendroit Un moment.

5. me livrant `a ma tristesse,
Toujours plein de mon chagrin,
Je n’aurois plus d’all`egresse
Pour mettre Bathurst(1040) en train: 
Ainsi pour vous tenir en joie
Invoquez toujours les Dieux,
Q Qu’elle vive et qu’elle soit
Avec nous toujours heureuse!

Adieu!  I am in a great hurry.

(1037) Since called the battle of Fontenoy. (The Marshal de Saxe commanded the French army, and both Louis XV. and his son the Dauphin were present in the action.  The Duke of Cumberland commanded the British forces.-D.)

(1037) William, Lord Petersham, eldest son of the Earl of Harrington.

(1038) The Hon. Philip Yorke, in a letter to Horace Walpole, the elder, of the following day, says,"the Duke’s behaviour was, by all accounts, the most heroic and gallant imaginable:  he was the whole day in the thickest of the fire.  His Royal Highness drew out a pistol upon an officer whom he saw running away."-E.

(1038) Frederick, Prince of Wales.  The following song was written immediately after the battle of Fontenoy, and was addressed to Lady Catherine Hanmer, Lady Fauconberg, and Lady Middlesex, who were to act the three goddesses, with the Prince of Wales, in Congreve’s Judgment of Paris, whom he was to represent, and Prince Lobkowitz, Mercury.-E.

(1039) The Princess.

(1040) Allen, Lord Bathurst.

415 Letter 162
To George Montagu, Esq. 
Arlington Street, May 18, 1745.

Dear George, I am very sorry to renew our correspondence upon so melancholy a circumstance, but when you have lost so near a friend as your brother,(1041) ’tis sure the duty of all your other friends to endeavour to alleviate your loss, and offer all the increase of affection that is possible to compensate it.  This I do most heartily; I wish I could most effectually.