Lot n° 227
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VOITURE Vincent (1597-1648) poet and letter writer, he was o - Lot 227
VOITURE Vincent (1597-1648) poet and letter writer, he was one of the founding members of the French Academy.
L.A.S. "Voiture" (incomplete), Paris January 9 [1647, to Claude de MESMES comte d'AVAUX]; 10 pages in-fol. on 5 leaves.
important fragments, partly unpublished, of one of Voiture's longest letters, speaking of the negotiations of the treaty of Westphalia and of the duchess of Longueville, and answering to the mockery of his age and glasses.
[Claude de Mesmes, comte d'AVAUX (1595-1650), superintendent of Finances, "the man of the robe who had the most beautiful spirit, and who wrote best in French", according to Tallemant des Réaux, had been appointed in 1643, with the duke of Longueville and Abel Servien, to represent France at the conferences of Munster which were to result in 1648 in the treaty of Westphalia, putting an end to the Thirty Years' War. Since 1642, he maintained Voiture as a first clerk at a salary of 4 000 livres.
Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé, duchess of LONGUEVILLE (1619-1679) sister of the Grand Condé and the prince of Conti, and future heroine of the Fronde, had joined her husband in Munster where she charmed all the diplomats, and was celebrated as the "goddess of the Peace and the Concord".
Examination of the folds of the leaves shows that this is the very letter sent to the Count of Avaux, who returned it to Voiture so that he could insert it in his OEuvres ; Étienne Martin de Pinchesne (1616-1680), Voiture's nephew, corrected it, and crossed out with a stroke of the pen many passages, which remained unpublished and do not appear in the edition of this letter CCXV of the "Lettres de Monsieur de Voiture" in the original posthumous edition of the OEuvres de Monsieur de Voiture in 1650 by Augustin Courbé (p. 787-800. It is studded with Latin quotations.
This letter was dismembered leaf by leaf, and patiently reconstituted by successive purchases; it remains however still incomplete, in particular of the beginning (2 or 3 leaves) then of two leaves. Our first folio [stamp of coll. A Juncker] corresponds to p. 792 ("Cependant pour parler [] quo velis"), plus the second page entirely crossed out; the second folio gives the continuation of p. 792 ("Au reste je suis entierement de vos advis [] extremely reussi"), plus the second page entirely crossed out; after a gap of one folio, our third folio [sale of June 25, 1993, no. 249] corresponds to pp. 794-795 ("en me representant la si serieuse [] discourir sur la pointe"); it continues on the fourth folio, corresponding to pp. 795-797 ("d'une esguille. Il reste [] mais vous que jay veu"). After a gap of one leaf, the last leaf [Charavay, cat. 796, October 1989, no. 42619] gives the end of the letter with the polite formula and the signature, pp. 799-800 (since "he is a man of good sense")].
After bantering about the letter he received from Monseigneur, Voiture begins here: "However, Monseigneur, to speak seriously, I am sure that this plan will not make you any less diligent in the conduct of this other one which you have in your hands, and which reguards the repose of so many millions of men. [] I hope that you will put the last stone in this building, as you put the first [] if I know you well, the difficulty of a project will excite you more than it will repel you; and then, if you want to flatter yourself a little, what could you not expect from fortune, you My Lord who have not desired anything from her in your life, comfort, that she has not granted you, who are clever, skilful, gallant, persuasive, insinuating on all the men of the world [] I admire you to tell you the truth, that in the midst of so much care, I admire to tell you the truth, that in the middle of so much care, you can make so long and so admirable letters, and that in the time that you lead the biggest and the most important things of the world, it seems that you think only to write beautiful, and gallant ones " And Voiture to compare the letters of the count to those of the cardinal d' Ossat and the cardinal du Perron. This passage would be in fact copied from a draft to fill a gap in his last letter. "My lord that the comparison that I make of your verses has those of Ciceron does not put you off to make others, my conscience me remorses to have spoken to you about it so roughly, and it seems to me that I made with you, as I have yes to you to say that Ronsard makes with Desportes when he showed him the descent of Rodomont ".
Then he evokes the duchess of LONGUEVILLE, that the count represented "so serious and so political; we have pleasure here to imagine her talking to Mr Lampadius (I was told that usually he is dressed in purple satin) Mr Vulteius and Mr Salvius, and especially this big Dutchman [] I do not know of what she can talk to these gentlemen, [] nor if she speaks to them in a good way, but I have often seen her here in a state of mind.
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