&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
198
VOLTAIRE (1694 - 1778)
The item was sold for 2 636 €
Fees include commission and taxes.
VOLTAIRE (1694 - 1778)
L.S. "le Suisse V" with 3 autographed lines, at Les Délices near Geneva 14 March 1759, [to Bernard CHAUVELIN]| the piece is written by his secretary Jean-Louis WAGNIÈRE| 2 1/2 pages in-4.
About his conflict with the fermiers généraux.
He has received Chauvelin's letter, "with the memorandum of my enemies the fermiers generaux, and the extract of the declaration of the Roy [...] I cannot thank you too much for the kindness with which you deign to enter into my little troubles, and to give me the reason for the refusals of the council [...] Allow therefore your servant the Job of the Alps to rebeck against his lord again, and to send him this time cy a very serious memorandum. It is only as a good Frenchman that I had the stupidity to have my contract scribbled by a notary from Gex| I could also have used a Swiss Tabelion| and then the farmers general would never have heard of me| I could still have left the thirteen Cantons and the grey leagues to you| we are jealous of our freedom, we Helvetians, and we are of the Swiss.
We are jealous of our freedom, we Helvetians, and we are good people, who believe that treaties must be executed to the letter| thus, Monsieur, as a Swiss, as a Frenchman, and as your former courtier, I still dare to beg you to review my case for the last time. Made Denis is very sensitive to the honor of your memory| we are all equally attached to your person and to everything that bears your name| but, in spite of all my sensitivity to you, I think that the water of the Rhone is as good as the water of the Seine and that it will matter very little to my light figure to be eaten by the worms of Mount Jura, or those of the parish of St. Roch| Everything that has been done in Paris for the last few years seems to me the height of human folly, and I would think myself crazier than all of Paris if at my age I did not know how to live in seclusion| it is true that I will always regret your society and your kindnesses| but one must know how to withdraw when one is no longer fit for the world. Besides, whether or not the Farmers General knock me down, mea virtute me involvo"...
He adds in his hand: "For the rest of my life and with all the feelings of a man who respects you and who loves you, the Swiss V".
Correspondence (Pléiade), t. V, n° 5448.
L.S. "le Suisse V" with 3 autographed lines, at Les Délices near Geneva 14 March 1759, [to Bernard CHAUVELIN]| the piece is written by his secretary Jean-Louis WAGNIÈRE| 2 1/2 pages in-4.
About his conflict with the fermiers généraux.
He has received Chauvelin's letter, "with the memorandum of my enemies the fermiers generaux, and the extract of the declaration of the Roy [...] I cannot thank you too much for the kindness with which you deign to enter into my little troubles, and to give me the reason for the refusals of the council [...] Allow therefore your servant the Job of the Alps to rebeck against his lord again, and to send him this time cy a very serious memorandum. It is only as a good Frenchman that I had the stupidity to have my contract scribbled by a notary from Gex| I could also have used a Swiss Tabelion| and then the farmers general would never have heard of me| I could still have left the thirteen Cantons and the grey leagues to you| we are jealous of our freedom, we Helvetians, and we are of the Swiss.
We are jealous of our freedom, we Helvetians, and we are good people, who believe that treaties must be executed to the letter| thus, Monsieur, as a Swiss, as a Frenchman, and as your former courtier, I still dare to beg you to review my case for the last time. Made Denis is very sensitive to the honor of your memory| we are all equally attached to your person and to everything that bears your name| but, in spite of all my sensitivity to you, I think that the water of the Rhone is as good as the water of the Seine and that it will matter very little to my light figure to be eaten by the worms of Mount Jura, or those of the parish of St. Roch| Everything that has been done in Paris for the last few years seems to me the height of human folly, and I would think myself crazier than all of Paris if at my age I did not know how to live in seclusion| it is true that I will always regret your society and your kindnesses| but one must know how to withdraw when one is no longer fit for the world. Besides, whether or not the Farmers General knock me down, mea virtute me involvo"...
He adds in his hand: "For the rest of my life and with all the feelings of a man who respects you and who loves you, the Swiss V".
Correspondence (Pléiade), t. V, n° 5448.