NAPLES. Athénaïs Antoine de Rocquemont, Baroness d'ARLINCOURT, wife of General Charle-Marie Prévost d'Arlincourt (1787-1864), and lady-in-waiting to Queen Caroline. 75 L.A.S. "Athénaïs", Naples 1811-1815, to her husband Baron d'Arlincourt; 194pages in-8 or in-4, gilt edges, watermarks with Napoleon's effigy, some addresses. Very interesting correspondence on the Court of Naples and Murat's reign, and on the eruption of Vesuvius... The letters were written during the Baron d'Arlincourt's absences, and give a vivid insight into the life of a family of officers living in the Acton palace in Naples during Murat's reign, and the events that punctuated it: life at Court, relations with Caroline Bonaparte and Murat, the eruption of Vesuvius, Murat's betrayal, etc. We will mention only three letters, all of which are in French. We will mention just 3 letters, representative of the whole.September 6, 1811, during Charles's trip with Caroline Bonaparte to Paris. "I confess to you, my dear Charles, the only thing I desire is that you return only with the Queen, you left with her, you must return with her [...]. My position here is not a happy one, but I am consoled by the idea that you are close to the Queen, that you can be useful to her, and it means a great deal to me, that you can show her our attachment; all my desire is that she continue her kindness to me and make me come close to you [...]. Marshal Pérignon arrived yesterday morning, he was in despair not to have seen the Queen, you know how attached he is to her, he is always good as usual. The King received him very well, how could it be possible to give such a brave man a bad reception? [...] I sent the Queen several fans, there are only three left so that all those she told me to have made can be finished; I'll give her another chance, there are always others. [...] I can't tell you too often, it's your behavior in Paris that will determine our future; you'll say my wife is a nag, but I know you, you're so good [...]. Caroline and Achillina [their daughters] are doing wonderfully; Caroline is as sweet as a button, she's been squinting a lot less since you left [...]. Tell Mme Exelmans that her husband is the example of husbands, he thinks only of her, and that's quite natural, he goes to bed every night at eleven, he never goes to the show, he comes to see us a few times in the evening; yesterday maman and I went to the Villa Reale where it was a beautiful moonlight, we talked a lot about Amélie. The King treats her very well"... December 28, 1813, on the eruption of Vesuvius. "I'll tell you that Vesuvius has been giving us a beautiful but truly frightening spectacle for the past two days; on Christmas Day at six o'clock in the evening, the eruption began, the tramontana wind had reigned all day and Vesuvius had been covered with a thick black cloud; When night came, this cloud turned to fire, and spread by the force of the wind to a prodigious height; add to this the detonations that made everything tremble; this beautiful horror lasted about two hours, the wind calmed down, the lava was still flowing but without frequent eruptions; the night was very quiet. The next day, the weather was very fine when I got up; I had breakfast at ten o'clock and started reading; I had been reading for about half an hour when I thought I heard a cannon shot, so I got up and went to my terrace to see if it was a ship entering the port; There was nothing, but as I turned towards Vesuvius, I saw a cloud rising at the same moment, spreading so rapidly that in a quarter of an hour it came to throw small stones at us, all the way to St Lucia. The beautiful sun was completely obscured, the detonations that had seemed loud the day before were nothing compared to those of the following day; the windows of the gay Domon were broken and in our palace we had the idea of what an earthquake can be. I assure you it was very frightening, and if it had lasted a little longer, all the inhabitants of Portici and the rest of the world would have arrived in Naples. The King was obliged to go there to calm the spirits; there was nothing more singular than to see the road to Portici covered with these unfortunates, who carried their cauldrons, their cooking pots, their blankets, their mattresses, and their children to the other side"...January 12 and 22, 1814, after Murat's treachery, allying himself with Austria: "the King preserved his kingdom by dealing with the enemies; the Count of Mier arrived last night and Marshal Pérignon leaves in twenty-four hours. I'm a woman, my friend, so I have no advice to give you other than to tell you to be careful.