Du plus bel esprit de la Grece,
Ne me dedaigne pas; viens-t'en loger chez moi:
Tu n'y seras pas sans emploi:
J'aime le jeu, l'amour, les livres, la musique,
La ville et la campagne, enfin tout; il n'est rien
Qui ne me soit souverain bien,
Jusqu'au sombre plaisir d'un coeur melancolique.
Viens donc....

The characteristic grace and playfulness of this seem to defy
translation. To the mere English reader, the sense may be roughly given
thus:--

Delight, Delight, who didst as mistress hold
The finest wit of Grecian mould,
Disdain not me; but come,
And make my house thy home.
Thou shalt not be without employ:
In play, love, music, books, I joy,
In town and country; and, indeed, there's nought,
E'en to the luxury of sober thought,--
The sombre, melancholy mood,--
But brings to me the sovereign good.
Come, then, &c.

The same Polyphile, in recounting his adventures on a visit to the
infernal regions, tells us that he saw, in the hands of the cruel
Eumenides,

------Les auteurs de maint hymen force