Recorded by Jean-Charles Tibeaux in "Letters on Frederick II, King of Prussia"
Section from Tibeaux's: "On Algarotti, La Mettrie, d' Arget, abbe Prades, abbe Bastiani, the Marquis of Lucceshtini and others.
"Verses from Voltaire to La Mettrie, when he was sick"
(Voltaire)
I am far from uneasy
If our joyous La Mettrie
Sometimes loses that good health
Which makes his face so glowing
A small dose of Gluttony
With a large dose of pleasure,
Defying the Faculty:
Sweetly take up all his time.
He behaves the way he writes;
When nature he indulges;
For him pleasure always heals
All the ills which pleasure brings.
(La Mettrie's Response)
As for me, I'm quite uneasy,
When the most eminent writer,
In his eleventh lustrum,
Enjoys a weak state of health;
I fear that with his glad days
The brilliant torch might go out:
Muses, graces, charities,
With him ends your reign as well!
But, truly, why should I dread
The death of an immortal;
He for whom, in his deep pains,
The most famous king on Earth
Will set up at Sans-souci
A shrine eternal as he?