On the Restoration of Louis XVIII., a French Poet Sings

Descend, ye Muses, one and all,
Obedient to a Frenchman's call.
Which of you e'er refused to sing
The feats of a most christian king,
Or help to raise the Oriflamme
Above the towers of Notre-Dame ?
Three cities, three without one blow.
Fell at the trumpet of Boileau :
He would have play'd without a line.
The devil with the Philistine,
No need, against him to prevail.
The weightier broadsword of Corneille.
Voltaire struck down with flash of pen
The League, the Iberian, and Mayenne,
And, if ye help me, with a touch
I doubt not I can do as much.
Then shall ye see the lilies bloom
Upon the seven hills of Rome.
Our Louis never shows the scars
His doublet suffer'd under Mars,