24 - CAYLUS, Marthe Marguerite Le Valois de Villette de Mur çay, Marquise de [born in Poitou in 1673 – Paris, 1729], French noblewoman.

CAYLUS, Marthe Marguerite Le Valois de Villette de Mur çay, Marquise de [born in Poitou in 1673 – Paris, 1729], French noblewoman. Set of 3 letters: - Autograph letter to Abbé Alary. June 22; 3 pages, in-8°, with address and seal on the back. Alary is in London and seems to have already seen quite a lot: “With the King’s departure, everyone will head to the countryside. I am convinced that Lasse [Law] will have been very pleased to see you.” She knows that Alary may be happy, but her benefactor does not boast about himself: “ Simplicity is good, but not to the point of being vilified everywhere; this virtue is not of the times, and Scripture teaches us that we must not mix the new with the old—the new drives out the old. Solitude leads me to reflect; I hope, upon your return, to discuss moral matters with you in my hermitage—my own thoughts, in which I have no confidence, unless it has been contradicted by Jean’s wit, for good blood must be able to hold its own against the brilliance of the mind. I do not attack yours, but your excessive complacency, of which I am not fooled” (former Morrison collection) - Autograph letter; 3½ pages, in-8°. She proposes to support Madame Ventadour’s intervention “or to put an end to the poor state of her enterprise, for one never knows how things stand [...] Your coachman is a man of wit; it is hardlythat I did not invite him to dine with me; he has hay on his mind, and Meudon is expensive for provisions; the mountain is difficult to climb, but the Dauphin—who never laughs and talks a great deal—is doing wonderfully and contorts himself when he sees the girls of Meudon dancing ” She is going to retreat for eight days to her convent in Paris. One must obtain the letter of safe conduct before the King’s departure: “One must even be very afraid to request it at this time and in this place; as for me, my strategy will be to hand it over as soon as possible to show that someone is afraid of us—I speak as a Frenchwoman” (former Morrison collection) - Autograph letter signed “La comtesse de Caylus”; 1 page, in-4°. In it, she expresses her desire to hear from her correspondent, who, incidentally, is writing to Abbé Conty, who has just shown her the letter he received.