Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 36.djvu/169

There she of every one inquired,
"Is Macareus with you retired?"
Hearing that name the witlings there
To laugh and smile could scarce forbear.
"Madam," said they, "who is this squire
Macareus, for whom you inquire?
Madam, his character display,
Or else we shan't know what to say."
"He is a man," returned the fair,
"Possessed of each endowment rare,
A man of virtue so refined,
He hated none of human kind;
To whom no man e'er owed a spite,
Who always knew to reason right,
Who void of care lived still at ease,
And knew all human kind to please."
The courtiers answered with a sneer,
"You are not like to find him here,
Mortals with such endowments rare
But seldom to the court repair."
The fair then to the city bent
Her way, and stopped at a convent.
She thought that in that calm retreat
She might her tranquil lover meet.
"Madam," then said the under-prior,
The man for whom you thus inquire
We long have waited for in vain,
To visit us he ne'er did deign.
But such a loss to compensate,
We've idle time and vigils late;
We have our stated days of fasting
With discord and divisions lasting."