STORYTELLER - Count Louis de CHEVIGNE (1793-1876, poet, marr - Lot 356

STORYTELLER - Count Louis de CHEVIGNE (1793-1876, poet, married the only daughter of the Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, who built the Château de Boursault near Epernay for the couple) / Signed manuscript of a tale entitled "Les Saints du Paradis", 3 p in-8 - A signed autograph letter (2 p in-12) accompanies this tale, and explains the circumstances of its writing: it is written on March 10, 1865 to a Count; Chevigné explains that he had dropped by his home "to read you a tale whose subject you gave me", he wanted to bring it to him in the evening and accept his invitation, but was prevented from doing so because of "Mr de Morny's desperate state" (NB: the Duc de Morny was indeed due to die that evening), so he puts it in an envelope; he asks for her indulgence, "I rhymed it in memory of one of Boursault's most pleasant evenings" - The tale in 74 verses features the abbess of a convent in Reims, who falls ill and whose modesty revolts at the idea of the bath the apothecary is to administer to her, she will be miraculously saved by "the Saints of Paradise" (NB: Chevigné is known for his "Contes rémois" in verse, with a rather gallant subject).