After his elevation to the bishopric he ceased to produce the light verse in which he excelled, though his scruples did not prevent him from preparing a new edition of his Recueil de quelques vers amoureux (1602) in 1606.
His Essais en vers et en prose (1797) contains the Marseillaise, a prose tale of the sentimental kind called Adelaide et Monville, and some occasional poems.
The principal literary results of his early years here were the Discours en vers sur l'homme, the play of Alzire and L'Enfant prodigue (1736), and a long treatise on the Newtonian system which he and Madame du Chatelet wrote together.
With it were printed thirteen odes entitled Vers lyriques.
The poem stands absolutely unrivalled, even among French contes en vers.
