CAMPAN (Jeanne Louise Henriette Genest, called... - Lot 37 - Osenat

CAMPAN (Jeanne Louise Henriette Genest, called Madame). Autograph letter signed to Princess Louise de Beauvau-Craon. S.l., [between 1792 and 1805]. 6 pp. 3/4 in-4, address on the back, crossed out. DISCIPLINARY CASE CONCERNING ONE OF HER PUPILS, PROTECTED BY THE PRINCESS OF FOIX, Louise de Beauvau-Craon: first rewarded ("named to the Rose"), the little girl had been convinced of having written letters in secret, of having denied it and of having given "her word of honor" to cover her lie. " ... I therefore thought it necessary to deploy all the severity possible, and she is undergoing at this moment and for nine consecutive days THE STRONGEST PENITENCE IN MY HOUSE, and which has only taken place there once in three years. SHE WEARS A LARGE BLACK SCARF; A GREY SISTER'S CAP OF YELLOW CLOTH, WITH TWO SCROLLS ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE CAP - MOURNING FOR ALL VIRTUES. Replacement of the Rose. What is abominable is that she is charming under this awful disguise, and that I have great glasses in my class... I must add to this sad account that one must be very careful about the conversations one can have in her presence; She told several teachers and boarders that her father's friends had told her that if she was poor at present, she would be rich one day in the future, that she had a maternal uncle who was taking care of her at the moment, and that she would be very happy to be in England because her father was a man of great quality and that she would have the rank of a princess in that country You see, madam, that WE HAVE TO DIRECT A HEAD THAT WORKS, under apparently very calm features, and A LITTLE HEART DISPOSED TO VANITY, TO LIE AND TO COQUETTERY. I will not neglect any useful means to correct her... " A FAMILY PEDAGOGUE OF THE COURT OF THE FORMER REGIME AND EMPIRE, MADAME CAMPAN (1752-1822), was the daughter of an interpreter at the Foreign Affairs and received a brilliant education, learning, for example, Italian from Goldoni or music from Albanese. She was appointed lecturer to the daughters of King Louis XV, then chambermaid to Marie Antoinette. The Revolution ruined her, but she founded an educational house in Saint-Germain in 1794 which soon met with immense success: she welcomed there, among others, the daughter of the future president Monroe, the daughter of the English ambassador, Hortense and Eugène de Beauharnais, or Pauline and Caroline Bonaparte. Napoleon, for a time befriended her and entrusted her with the superintendence of the educational house of the Legion of Honor in Écouen. In 1815, despite receiving pensions from Louis XVIII and Queen Hortense, she was ruined again and lived a sad end of life. She left a memoir published in 1823 which was a great success.