4 - ÉON (Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste Timothée de Beaumont, Chevalier d’). Autograph letter signed “Charlotte-Geneviève-Louise-Auguste d’Éon de Beaumont, citizen of the new French Republic, fellow citizen of the former Republic of Letters, and cosmopolitan of the universe,” addressed [TO GERMAINE DE STAEL]. London, August 14, 1802. 3 pp. in-8, mounted on a tab on a folio sheet of paper in-4.

ÉON (Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste Timothée de Beaumont, Chevalier d’). Autograph letter signed “Charlotte-Geneviève-Louise-Auguste d’Éon de Beaumont, citizen of the new French Republic, fellow citizen of the former Republic of Letters, and cosmopolitan of the universe,” addressed [TO GERMAINE DE STAEL]. London, August 14, 1802. 3 pp. in-8, mounted on a tab on a folio sheet of paper in-4. ≪ Please accept..., my most sincere thanks for your kindness in sharing with me the latest letter that our lovely, incomparable Madame de Cheminot wrote to you. You know that her presence is always before me, her heart within my own. I wish her strength, health, and prosperity for her personal happiness, and for that of all her friends in general. I see that Madame Cheminot will not be able to come see you until next year; in my impatience, I will be compelled to go see her this year. I lack nothing in terms of goodwill, but I lack health, the ability to travel, and money. RESPECTABLE ENGLISHMEN WHO ARE AWARE OF MY SITUATION ARE PROPOSING TO ORGANIZE A SPECIAL PUBLIC FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN to enable the former French Minister Plenipotentiary [himself] to return to his homeland. THIS PUBLIC FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN WILL NOT BRING HONOR TO THE GLORY OF THE NEW FRENCH REPUBLIC —WHICH, for twelve years, despite the annual pension of twelve thousand livres guaranteed to me by the last two kings, HAS NOT SENT ME A SINGLE SOL SINCE 1792. However, I have never chased after the smoke of honors, the mud of riches, or the filth of pleasures. May God’s will be done. I obey[d] His will—His providence... ≫ TRANSVESTITE AND DIPLOMAT UNDER LOUIS XV, THE EXTRAVAGANT CHEVALIER D’EON (1728–1810), successfully carried out diplomatic missions in Saint Petersburg (1756–1760) and then in London (1762–1763). But he caused a scandal there by falling out with the French ambassador and refusing to return documents compromising France—unless he received financial compensation; it was ultimately after negotiations with Beaumarchais that he returned them in 1777. Beginning in 1769, he began to attract attention for his eccentric behavior, notably by cross-dressing and calling himself the “Chevalier d’Eon”; upon returning to France in 1777, he appeared at court dressed as a woman. Ruined by the Revolution, he eked out a living by giving fencing lessons to women and ended his life in exile in London, in dire financial straits. THE CHEVALIER D’EON SERVED AS THE MODEL FOR BEAUMARCHAIS’S CHARACTER CHERUBIN IN *THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO*. Provenance: auction in Paris, Silvestre auction house, May 14, 1845 (lot 108 in the catalog).