DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter... - Lot 4 - Osenat

DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter signed to his wife Aimée Leclerc. Dietrichswald [now Gietrzwald in Poland, near Olsztyn], April 6 [1807]. 3 pp. 3/4 in-4: "You communicate to me through your letters, my dear Aimée, your impressions. The ones you write me in your melancholy fits make me very sad, those written in moments when you are wiser and more resigned give me as much satisfaction as the others make me sad. Thus, since I received your letters of March 23, I have experienced as much pleasure as I am likely to experience being away from my very good little Aimée. I still regret the decision you are taking to continue to live in the Orangery and to give birth there, as this place is no longer habitable because of all that you have told me [the Davouts occupied an apartment in the Tuileries, in the Orangery courtyard, and the marshal was about to give birth to her second child, Adèle, the future countess of Cambaceres, on June 21]. Thus I repeat to you my request to rent a hotel at any cost. You will still give me a proof of attachment to which I put the greatest price. Our little Josephine [their eldest daughter, born in 1804] would, if she knew enough, make the same request of you as I do; she would not want you to continue to stay at the Orangerie and to have your babies there, for a thousand reasons. By the obstinacy I put into making this request, you will be able to judge the importance I attach to seeing it succeed. I await your next letters with great impatience, in the hope that they will tell me that you have agreed to my wishes. IF THE SIGHT OF MY HAT MAY HAVE MADE YOU VERY WARY BY SHOWING YOU THE DANGER I WAS IN [AT THE BATTLE OF AUERSTAEDT, the marshal had his hat pierced by a Biscayan, and sent this souvenir home], THIS SHOULD REASSURE YOU OF THE FUTURE BY GIVING YOU NEW PROOF OF MY HAPPINESS. BELIEVE THAT HE WILL NOT ABANDON ME in new affairs, besides, nothing announces that he will be put to new tests... THE RUSSIANS ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO A NEW BATTLE, THE WOUND OF THAT OF EYLAU IS STILL TOO BLEEDING AND TOO CONSIDERABLE, and we, there would be no interest in going to give it to them since by our position we fulfill what we want, which is to make the seats of the places which we left on our backs - for conclusion, all leads you to be without worry. All the little kindnesses of our Josephine are all the more pleasant to me as they are a new proof of your attachment. If this little girl did not hear you say my name so often, she would not have it in her mouth so often. I send a thousand caresses to this dear little one. I always have a good feeling about her, so I have no worries about the consequences of her teething and her bladder. We cannot judge the weather here in France, but if it were not more beautiful, I would doubly regret your stay in Savigny [Davout's castle in the present township of Savigny-sur-Orge, in the Essonne] and the resolution you have taken to stay there until the time of your birth. Farewell, my little Aimée, receive a thousand kisses from your lover and faithful sposo [faithful husband, in Italian] L. Davout ".