 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
443
[What shall we do, dear Maintenon? my Son]
The Figures in this Cut represent Lews the XIV. in a mortal Fright on an Eclipse of the Sun the 12th of May 1706. and Philip the Fifth's being driven out of Spain. That young Prince is drawn upon his Knees, petitioning his Grandfather for leave to come home again. And Madam Maintenon advises Louis le Grand to send the Confederates a Blank to procure a Peace.
What shall we do, dear Maintenon? my Son
Flies from the Foe, and we are all undone.
Brabant and Flanders to the Austrian yield,
So much we suffer'd when we lost the Field;
O why am I thus wretched!
Maint.
To be plain,
I'll tell you why, to flatter you's in vain:
The fam'd Partition-Treaty was the Cause,
And England's just Resentment, and Nassau's:
You own'd a Prince whom they refus'd to own,
And poor Bavaria's by your Arts undone;
You trickt the Portuguese.
Lou.
The Sun, my Dear,
Is now eclips'd, and bodes some Ill, I fear.
Philip.]
Good Grandsire, take me in again, my Fall
Is great, and you have been the Cause of all.
Lou.]
My Love, my Queen, now tell me what to do,
For on thy Counsel I depend.
Maint.
Be true,
Keep to your Word, forgo your usual Fraud,
For which you're curst at home, and loath'd abroad,
Send the Confederates a Blank.
Lou.
'Tis done;
What other way was left to save my Crown?
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