157 - VIGNY, Alfred de (1797–1863).

VIGNY, Alfred de (1797–1863). 29 letters, “Alfred de Vigny,” 1849–1854, to Adolphe BREULIER; approximately 195 pages, in-8 format, with envelopes and addresses. An extensive and beautiful collection of letters to his friend and lawyer Adolphe Breulier Note: (1815–1886), his “kind and poetic friend,” who was a solicitor in Dreux and later a lawyer in Paris, but also a poet and philologist. These long letters consist, as Vigny himself indicates, of two parts: one official, the other personal and literary. The first concerns a financial matter that strongly resembles a scam, of which Vigny was the victim. In 1845, needing to invest 30,000 francs, the poet, on the advice of his notary Dentend, lent the money to the lawyer Bonjour, in exchange for a mortgage on the house the latter was having built at 1 Rue de Fleurus. These letters chronicle Vigny’s struggles as he attempted—in vain—to recover the interest and principal, due in 1851, and to pursue his debtor. In their “unofficial” sections, they also serve as a valuable record of Vigny’s life in Maine-Giraud and his many literary, artistic, and philological interests. We can cite only a few excerpts from this rich correspondence. • March 22, 1850. Vigny is going to see the attorney Roubo, whom Breulier recommended to him: “I will employ the most rigorous measures to obtain justice from the men I have told you about. Enough of these niceties; I want to draw the line at the point where kindness would become a form of deception”... He asks Breulier to keep the duplicate of his holographic will naming his wife as sole heir, and to come as soon as the newspapers announce that the Académie Française has a seat to fill... – May 27. He gave Bocage the manuscript of Breulier’s *The Windsor Wives* for the Odéon... – October 3. A beautiful letter on the architecture and ornamentation of the Château de Fontainebleau. “Do its pretty goddesses still have such large bodies and such small heads? It was the fashion back then to be built that way; see Callot in his engravings of beautiful ladies and gentlemen. Under Louis XIV—or rather under Mignard—one had to have a heart-shaped mouth, a lower lip split like a cherry, and a protruding chin in the Austrian style to please the Queen [...] and, these days, I have seen generals manage to resemble the Emperor so closely as to be mistaken for him [...] I do not know if we were once oysters, frogs, and fish, but I do know that the monkey is still our almighty Lord”... Vigny comments at length on Breulier’s acquisition of an ancient Greek medal.... – November 26. He requests specific information on the real estate value of Mr. Bonjour’s house, which is slated to go on the market. “I’m feeling my way a bit in this darkness. Who would have thought that we’d both be walking in it at a time when you were hesitating to leave what is pompously called the literary career? As if there were such a thing. How right you were to choose your own path! No matter how much we try to keep our distance from worldly affairs, don’t they come after us at every moment like a rising tide, engulfing us—first up to our knees, then up to our necks?”... – December 15. Vigny is delighted to learn that Breulier is moving to Paris; he sends him bottles of cognac: “The Charente is a river of brandy that flows into the ocean, and I am sending you bottles of its water just as it is made back home in Maine-Giraud.” He believes the notary is responsible for this poor mortgage investment... (A copy of Breulier’s reply is attached). – December 18. A long letter on the responsibility of Notary Dentend, and on the approach to take regarding the sale of the house in Bonjour, which Vigny does not wish to purchase, “knowing of nothing more unfortunate than owning real estate, land, or houses in our current, dismal France, where property rights are under attack and being undermined”… Followed by the autograph copy of his letter to attorney Roubo… • January 26, 1851. A beautiful description of brandy distillation, the grape harvest, and wine-drinking festivities. – March 10. A lovely letter on painting, “which is one of my most passionate interests”; on life in Maine-Giraud, its landscapes, and its tranquility... – July 7. A long and interesting letter attesting to Vigny’s Anglophilia, discussing the Great Exhibition in London, the British trade balance, and the admirable punctuality of the country’s businessmen, so different from “French negligence.” – August 2. Political commentary on the discussions regarding the revision of the Constitution... – October 20. Another mention of distillation and the grape harvest; Vigny laments the poor sales of his cognac: “the amph