LE CHEVALIER D'ÉON (Charles Geneviève Louis... - Lot 36 - Osenat

Lot 36
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LE CHEVALIER D'ÉON (Charles Geneviève Louis... - Lot 36 - Osenat
LE CHEVALIER D'ÉON (Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste Timothée de Beaumont). Autograph note. 1 p. in-8, mounted at the head of an in-folio manuscript volume. "Although my sacrifice is not voluntary, I am becoming accustomed to this sacrifice, which frees me from so many sorrows, troubles, cares, worries and difficulties, and makes me partaker of a tranquility and bliss that will no longer be subject to end or change. What, O my God, can such hope not sweeten? Should we not, without hesitation, sacrifice everything we hold most dear to our salvation: goods, fortune, honors, pleasures? There you have my present conduct, to come, absolutely regulated by the order of the law. How many considerations together draw me away from the world, force[nt] me to change my life, to pull myself out of the tumult of the fracas where it is so difficult to recognize oneself." TRAVESTI AND DIPLOMATE OF LOUIS XV, L'EXTRAVAGANT CHEVALIER D'ÉON (1728-1810), was first employed in St. Petersburg in 1755 as agent to the King's Secret, then in 1756 as secretary to the ambassador, Duc de Nivernais. He followed the latter to London in 1762, again as ambassadorial secretary, to assist him in the peace talks with England, and it was he who reported to Louis XV the ratification of the peace treaty - the king rewarded him with the title of minister plenipotentiary. That same year, however, the Chevalier d'Éon quarreled with the Duke's successor, the Comte de Guerchy, to whom he refused to hand over secret diplomatic papers that could compromise France in the eyes of England. On the one hand, he accused the Count of trying to have him assassinated, resulting in a huge public scandal; on the other, he demanded money from Versailles to return the papers. At the same time, from 1769 onwards, he began to be known for his eccentric behavior, including cross-dressing and calling himself the "Chevalière d'Éon". In 1777, after negotiations with Beaumarchais, he agreed to return the papers he had kept, and was authorized to return to France, but presented himself to the Court dressed as a woman. Ruined by the Revolution, he survived by giving lessons in female fencing, and ended his life in financial ruin as an emigrant in London. THE CHEVALIER D'ÉON SERVED AS A MODEL FOR BEAUMARCHAIS' CHARACTER CHERUBIN IN LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO. The manuscript at the head of which the autograph folio has been mounted, is a copy of the 28 PREMIERES "MEDITATIONS" DU DUC DU MAINE, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon (1670-1736), devoted to the Sermon on the Mount (192 pp., ivory vellum bradel, wetness). An early handwritten note erroneously attributes the entire bound manuscript to the Chevalier d'Éon: "Extrait des méditations tirées du cerveau de la chevalière d'Éon, en retraite à l'abbaye royale des dames Hautes-Bruyères, près Saint-Hubert à quatre lieues de Versailles en 1778." During his monastic retreats, Chevalier d'Éon would have pious works copied for his reflection: perhaps this manuscript was one of them.
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