From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: Four lines rhyming alternately.
In "L'Histoire de la Vie Politique et Privée de Louis-Philippe," by Dumas, Vol. I., page 214, may be read the four lines in question, with the following passage :—
"They were about to sell the furniture of one of our most famous pianists. She applied to me ; I sent her letter to the Queen (Marie Amélie, wife of Louis-Philippe), writing beneath the recital of her misfortunes these four lines, of which the only worth lies in the intention." (1)
(1) Lisez avec le coeur la demande touchante
Qu'en humble ambassadeur je mets à vos genoux,
Toute chose ici-bas, Madame, suit sa pente :
L'aiguille tourne au pôle et le malheur à vous.
(Will you read with the heart this so touching lament
Which a humble ambassador lays at your knee ;
Every thing here below, madame, follows its bent :
To the pole turns the needle, misfortune to thee.)
A variation of this is to be found in an album belonging to Antoine de Latour, and sold on the 10th of June, 1886, at the Hôtel Drouot, by Maître Delestre; it formed No 27 of the catalogue prepared by M. Étienne Charavay.
Still another variant appears in a version published by the "Moniteur des Theatres," on Tuesday, April 19th, 1842, in connection with the following passage :—
"M. Alexandre Dumas, studious sojourner at Florence, again found means to make some postscripts which do as much honour to his heart as to his mind. Here is one of those requests which we find at the bottom of a petition addressed to the Queen."
