On the continent of Europe the example of Thomson was almost immediately fruitful. Four several translations of "The Seasons" into French contended for the suffrages of the public. Jean François de Saint-Lambert (1716–1803) imitated Thomson in "Les Saisons" (1769), a poem that enjoyed popularity for half a century, and of which Voltaire said that it was the only one of its generation that would reach posterity. Nevertheless, as Madame du Deffand told Walpole, Saint-Lambert is "froid, fade et faux" and the same may be said of Jean-Antoine Roucher (1745–1794) who wrote "Les Mois" in 1779, a descriptive poem famous in its day.