SADE Donatien-Alphonse-François, marquis de (1740-1814). - Lot 176

Lot 176
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2000 - 2500 EUR
SADE Donatien-Alphonse-François, marquis de (1740-1814). - Lot 176
SADE Donatien-Alphonse-François, marquis de (1740-1814). L.A., [end of September 1790], to his lawyer and businessman Gaspard GAUFRIDY; 4 pages in-4. Amazing letter after a theft for which he blames his servant and accomplice Langlois, plotting a scheme to recover his money. "The misfortune that has just befallen me, my dear lawyer, does not allow me to occupy myself with anything else at this time. I have just been robbed of all my money, I was saving, I was doing everything in the world to reach the end of the year, I would have infallibly succeeded without this terrible accident; I had 1500ll left which with the 2000ll that you were going to send me would finish my year at best. A scoundrel, by the blackest and best combined action, penetrates in my room, and takes me absolutely all, he left me with 6ll". He was able to get Mr. Rainaud to advance him 2,000ll, which he instructs his lawyer to reimburse. "That done, and this is the most urgent thing, we must take care of the means to replace the stolen sum of 1500ll. At first, this seems a paradox to you; nevertheless, after the explanation, I hope that the thing will seem quite simple to you. [...] The subject who stole from me was a present from L'Anglois who must now have arrived to you; I give L'Anglois a hundred ecus in pension, and this pension must be withdrawn from him for five years, to punish him". And to find "the means to make this man live without a pension" during these five years, it will be enough to borrow "a sum of 1500 with the clauses to pay it back from year to year during five years at the rate of 300ll per year. I do not doubt for a moment that this business and so simple and so sure cannot be done [...] you renew the lease of the Coste, put to the farmer this clause, he will pay back all gently himself, say to him that such is the clause where I give him my lease [...] if this means there does not succeed find another one my dear lawyer, but succeed". If not, let him find a way to replace this sum which is absolutely necessary to him. As for L'Anglois, he "could have given me a rascal but L'Anglois, as guilty as he may be on this subject, is however not a rascal". To make him live without pension during five years, Sade thinks of calling upon his aunt Mrs. de VILLENEUVE: "Since my freedom, Md de Villeneuve shows me a lot of interest and sensibility"; he is going to ask her "to be kind enough to do me the extreme service of taking L'Anglois near her during the 5 years in question, to lodge him, to feed him &c. I give her my word, at the end of the 5th year, that I will release her from this burden"... She must also know "that if I punish L'Anglois for having given me a bad subject, I am not punishing him for any bad deed; that this imprudent L'Anglois is however neither a rascal nor a villain, that I answer for him body for body, and that the only precaution that there is to take with him, is not to take a servant from his hand. [...] Finally, my dear lawyer, I put the negotiation in your hands [...] As soon as she has said yes, you will serve the judgment on the Anglois, which I think will be very sweet, since he will not lose anything of his existence, and he will make me regain what I lost by his foolishness"... He ends by urging Gaufridy to finish "the exact state of the report of my lands", as well as "the exact account of the receipts and the expenses since 1777 until 1790. I absolutely want to know what my lands have brought in during these 14 years, and where this money has gone"... He adds: "I hope that M. Rainaud will teach you something about my lawsuit with Md de Sade; I can only praise his mediations". Unpublished correspondence (ed. P. Bourdin), p. 273.
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