Le Pere de ton Roi, l’Espagne & le Piémont,
Sur toi seul aujourd’hui fondent leurs Esperances.
Arme ton bras vainquer, cours venger leur affront;
L’Allemand pourra-i-il soutenir ta présence?
Les grands Cœurs en tout tems conservent leur valeur,
L’Age respecte en eux leur prémiere vigueur,
Ils savent s’affranchir des Loix de la Nature:
Semblables aux Lauriers que leur main va cueillir,
Qui des ans, des saisons ne craiguent point l’injure,
Les Héros ont le droit le ne jamais vieillir.
i. e.
Villars, thy great Exploits, which sav’d all France,
In future Ages will immortalise thee.
The Peace was the kind Product of thy great Wisdom;
But new Laurels are still to deck thy Brow.
The Father of thy King, Spain, and Piedmont too,
Upon thee alone do now found all their Hopes.
Haste with thy conqu’ring Arm their Quarrel to avenge;
Will Germany be able to withstand thy Presence?
Great Souls always retain their Valour;
To their former Vigour Age itself pays a Respect;
They can shake off the Yoke of Nature’s Laws.
Like to the Laurels gather’d by their Hands,
Which are Proof against the Injuries of Years and Seasons,
Heroes never stoop to old Age.
[69] By Mrs. Arabella Churchill, Sister to the late Duke of Marlborough.
[70] The King, having appointed the Marshal de Villars to command in Italy, thought fit to send the Marshal de Berwic to oppose Prince Eugene, whom the Emperor had nominated for the Command on the Rhine. He began the Siege of Philipsburg; but on the first of June, O. S. 1734, as he went to take a View of the Trenches, he was kill’d with a Cannon Ball between his two Grandsons. He is succeeded in all his Titles by his Son the Duke de Liria, now Duke of Berwic, &c. who has been lately at the Court of Naples.