LA CHAPPELLE Jean de (1651-1723) poète et financier [AF 1688, 31e f]. L.A.S. "Lachappelle", L'Isle-Adam December 15, 1685, to Monseigneur; 4 pages in-4 (some foxing, last page a little soiled with small tear repaired). Rare and beautiful letter written to a prince after the death of his master the prince of Conti. [Louis-Armand de Bourbon-Conti, prince de CONTI (1661-1685) had died on November 9, having contracted smallpox while nursing his wife. "La Chappelle's letters are very rare" (Raoul Bonnet). He regrets more than anyone the absence of his correspondent, after the misfortunes "which have since overwhelmed us. [The late Monseigneur le prince de Conty had written to you three or four days before he fell ill and had done me the grace of entrusting me with his letter all open, I closed it and carried it to Paris"; not having been able to deliver it, he brought it back to Fontainebleau "where S.A.S. was already ill, she ordered me to keep this letter, I gave it back after her death to Monseigneur his brother who brusqued it without reading it; it contained only an account of the state and the disposition of the court and some advice that he gave you, which I believe are no longer of season, as he is no longer here"... He ends by saying that the new prince of Conti [François-Louis] keeps his office