ALEMBERT Jean Le Rond d' (1717-1783) philosophe et mathématicien

One of the directors of the Encyclopedia. L.A.S. "d'Alembert", Paris, September 30, 1781, to Charles-Louis de PORTELANCE, in his castle of Thoury by Château-Landon; 2 1/2 pages in-4, address. He was finally able to see the Spanish ambassador, but as he feared, his answer was negative: "he does not want, he says, to meddle in anything that concerns military places, and he moreover assured me that our young man would find nothing to do in Spain in this respect. I am sorry to have made you wait so long for a refusal, but besides the fact that I was not the master of it, you know that I did not count on anything else [...] I wish you more health and rest in your campaign than you have had this summer. I especially urge you to take good care of your eyesight, which I am sure will be preserved by using it only for absolutely necessary things, and consequently by not tiring it. As for me, my health is better at the moment than it was during the great heat, and I am taking advantage of it to do an exercise which contributes to maintain it in this good state"...