Henry IV

By Francis Saltus Saltus (1849–1889)

Henry the Fourth, better known as King Henry of Navarre, was assassinated May 14, 1610, by a fanatic named Ravaillac.

“LONG live our king, good Harry of Navarre!”

Shouted the soldiery through Ivry’s heat;

Thou led’st them on to victory complete,

Proud in the glamor of thy Huguenot star!

Good king, thy glorious deeds immortal are;

France, old in years, thy memory still doth greet,

And peasants love thy great name to repeat,

Sapient in council, valorous in war.

I see thy Béarn face as histories tell,

Frank, open, winning, resolutely free;

I see thee armed with helmet and poitrel.

And then again, in thy broad Tuilerie,

I hear thy joyous oath “Ventre-saint-Grés,”

And see thee kiss thy swan-necked Gabrielle!