Alexandre LENFANT (1726-1792) Jesuit, preacher, confessor of Louis XVI, assassinated in the prison of the Abbey during the September massacres. L.A., September 2, 1791, to a friend; 4 pages in-4. A very rare and interesting letter, filled with a small and tight handwriting, with crossed out passages that leave the text readable. The abbot echoes the news, true or false, the rumors, the hearsay that circulate in these uncertain times, one year to the day before the massacres at the Abbey, where he will be assassinated. He quotes a letter from Bruges which announces the investment of Paris before December 15 by the army of the Allies and the Emigrants: "terrible artillery troops approach the borders. The bombs will burst unexpectedly." Letters from England have arrived in Coblentz, and Monsieur is reported to have said "I have never received letters that have given me so much pleasure. [The good understanding that reigns between the chiefs, the excellent treatment given to the emigrant officers and to the nobility, the ardor that animates them [...] assure that the clock is so well set up that one will not be able to succeed in disturbing its cogs"... In the countryside where he was, the opinion of the people was changing significantly. It is claimed that there was an insurrection in Bordeaux where they "tore all the three-colored cockades and wore the white cockade. [...] Nothing transpires from the Cabinet des Princes. You will love M. de Calonne when you know what we owe to his genius and his activity. Money abounds according to the report which comes to us from several officers". The newspapers confirm that "all is in movement and in march to save the king. A letter written by the king of Prussia to Monsieur is more formal than ever on the intentions of this monarch". The émigrés in Brussels celebrated Saint Louis' day, and attended a performance of Richard the Lionhearted: "'At the words the universe abandons you, all the Frenchmen went up to the theater and swore with their naked swords never to abandon Louis. According to other letters, "one wants to attach all the powers to declare Monsieur regent of the kingdom and M. le Cte d'Artois lieutenant general"... The daughter of the Prince of Condé had printed the letter that the emperor wrote to her father "by which he invites him to choose from among his best troops 30 thousand men of whom he will take the command [...] Tomorrow the Constitution must be presented to the King" who will examine it only if it is signed by all the deputies. The assignats devalue: "the murmurs of the people increase in proportion to the fall of the paper, on top of that the bread also increases in price and decreases in quality" One says that one watches very closely the migrants in the foreign countries, for little that they are suspicious [......] that 30 propaganda emissaries had very large sums of money intended to corrupt the foreign troops"... There was an insurrection in Trier; in Bordeaux, the national guards refused to go and fight on the borders of Spain; in Toulon, there were 13 men killed by the workers of the Arsenal. A letter from Coblentz "says that the Russian Empr has just sent there a few days ago 3 millions"... Three men in Strasbourg say that they have been paid to assassinate the Count of Artois, the Prince of Condé and the Marquis of Bouillé. "The rumor went around today that the king had been stripped of his inner guards at the Tuileries castle [...] I heard yes and no". Six regiments of Lorraine were said to be in insurrection, 600 bodyguards were gathered in Coblentz, etc.