Manon Phlipon, Madame ROLAND (1754-1793) the muse of the Girondins; wife (1780) of Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière (1734-1793), she was guillotined. L.A.S. "Phlipon", Paris April 20, 1770, to Mademoiselle Sophie Cannet "la cadette" in Amiens; 2 pages and a half in-4, addressed with red wax seal with her figure crowned with roses (broken; small tear from broken seal with loss of a few letters). Beautiful, unpublished letter from her youth, at sixteen, to her friend at boarding school, the very first of the letters to the Cannet girls (it does not appear in the partly unpublished Lettres de Madame Roland aux demoiselles Cannet, H. Plon, 1867). Manon Phlipon had studied with sisters Sophie and Henriette Cannet at the convent of the Dames de la Congrégation; here she testifies to her deep attachment to and confidence in her friend Sophie."You have at last yielded, dear friend, to the repeated entreaties of your heart, and your laziness, expiring under the efforts of friendship, has been forced to recognize its empire and submit to its laws. This triumph is glorious for him [...] but what am I saying, I'm wrong, the silence we know so well how to keep is a proof of the intimate conviction we are, both of us, of the truth of our feelings and we taste no less the sweetnesses our hearts closely united know how to cross with a rapid flight the space that separates us. [...] Let us enjoy, my dear friend, the pure pleasure that such a beautiful friendship gives us, and let us not forget that the charming knots that bind us may do so even more closely than those of blood ever could. [...] To what satisfaction can one be more reasonably sensitive than to that which two hearts, as one, procure for each other. If one has some sorrow, it is relieved by the share the other takes in it; if a sweet joy is felt, it is increased by the joy he finds in sharing it with his faithful companion. What a sweetness it is to communicate one's thoughts without reserve, without fear, without worry; you gave me a taste of these pleasures in your letter by the confidence you showed me, and you can expect a similar one from me"... She evokes the faithful "hurrying to come and render their prayers and vows to the divine majesty [...] perhaps, alas, we shall still regret that sincerity and innocence which seemed to be the main character of the olden days, when a heap of stone or turf were the rustic monuments which the innocent hands of our first fathers raised to the supreme being [...] Since mortals have erected temples to the divinity who deigns to enclose his immensity within their narrow bounds ÿ to reside in an admirable manner, and for this reason seems bound to attract an even deeper respect, his very goodness seems to give more boldness to offend him, and we are not afraid to go into his sanctuary to outrage him in a way that must shame human beings. Ah que nous sommes heureuses ma chere amie de pouvoir ainsi nous communiquer nos réflexions elles seraient trouvés bien ridicules par de certaines personnes parce que nous regardons les choses d'une œil bien différent quelles"... She concludes with a protest of friendship...