Duc de MONTMORENCY-LAVAL (Mathieu) Militaire, Député en 1789 - Lot 446

Duc de MONTMORENCY-LAVAL (Mathieu) Militaire, Député en 1789 par le Bailliage de MONTFORT-L'AMAURY, Pair de France, Ministre et fait partie de l'Académie Française (Paris 1766 - 1826) - Friendly letter A.S. from ROME (Italy) August 4, 1823, to a Count (the addressee's name has been cut off): "I owe thanks, Monsieur le Comte, to Mr de MURAT, since your interest in him has provided me with a letter as perfectly kind as the one you were good enough to send me in his favor. I have already put his zeal to the test by making him repeat the 400 places he has just covered. He will be able to give an account of the welcome he received in Rome to those who take an interest in him.... The elevated and philosophical reflections you address to me on this Queen of cities must have saddened him when you learned of the St. Paul's Fire, which consumed in a few hours the most ancient, the 1st Basilica in the Universe, older than St. Sophia and the ancient mosque, now Cordoba Cathedral. I saw the magnificent Egyptian columns that once adorned Adrian's mausoleum fall and pile up in ruins... Although the Pope survives his deplorable accident in a sort of supernatural way, we must nonetheless think of a future Conclave. ... the memory of these ancient supports must forever maintain and nourish between us feelings of esteem and friendship..."