Courtiers as butterflies bright,
Beauties that Fragonard drew,
Talon-rouge, falaba, queue,
Cardinal, duke,—to a man,
Eager to sigh or to sue,—
This was the Pompadour’s fan!
Ah, but things more than polite
Hung on this toy, voyez-vous
Matters of state and of might,
Things that great ministers do;