186 - ABRANTÈS Laure Saint-Martin Permon, Duchess of [Montpellier, 1784 – Paris, 1838], writer, widow of General Junot, mistress of several Romantic writers.

ABRANTÈS Laure Saint-Martin Permon, Duchess of [Montpellier, 1784 – Paris, 1838], writer, widow of General Junot, mistress of several Romantic writers. Signed autograph letter [addressed to Laure de Balzac]. The evening of September 28; 3 pages, in-4°. “How worried you must be, my dear Laure, not having received my letters yet? If this letter reaches you, you will see that it is not my fault. Today I have decided to send you a courier to prevent you from worrying too much about the rumors that are sure to spread about yesterday’s battle. We attacked the enemy army in a formidable position called the Sierra d’Alcoba, at the Bussago monastery, just outside the village of Moïna. We did not take this position, defended by 60,000 men, with only two divisions of the 2nd [...] and one of the 6th. Mo, I didn’t fire a single shot. We have a few wounded who will be a burden to us, so we are taking a different route. That is all I can tell you regarding politics. ” She asks him to kindly give 1,200 réaux to the men delivering the letter. She then explains the shortage of food: “We haven’t had any bread for four days.”