MADAME ROYALE. - Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France,... Lot 46

MADAME ROYALE. - Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France, dite). Autograph manuscript signed and dated "Marie Thérèse Charlotte fecit anno 1786" [i.e., in Latin, "a fait en l'an 1786"]. 2 pp. on a small in-folio bifeuillet mitered on an in-folio paper folio. AMAZING WRITING EXERCISES ACCOMPLISHED IN HIS CHILDHOOD, at the age of eight. After a few attempts with a pen that included an alphabet and a numerical sequence, she wrote: "Henri Quatre was urged to treat with rigor some League places he had reduced by force. The satisfaction we derive from vengeance only lasts a moment, said this generous prince; but that which we derive from clemency is eternal..." After a new alphabet, she signed and dated. On the second page, the exercise consisted in writing a sequence of words whose capital initials follow the alphabetical order, with a few isolated capitals to fill in certain line ends: "Ambition Ardent Need Good Campaign Combat Demand D Committed Error Frank Taste G Honest Immense Praise L Mine Number Orange On Powerful Quidam Bramble King Blood Treasure Sale Xe Yeuse Eyes Zone Zer And" Followed new pen attempts in succession of calligraphic capitals. These two exercises were probably written under the dictation of his teacher. The comments written in the child's own hand on both pages, "quite happy" and "very satisfied with the handwriting and application", are undoubtedly the teacher's own assessments. DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XVI AND MARIE-ANTOINETTE, MARIE-THERESE CHARLOTTE DE FRANCE (1778-1851) was called Madame Royale as sister of Louis XVII. Imprisoned during the French Revolution, she was released in 1795 and lived for a time in exile in Vienna. In 1799, she married her cousin Louis de France, Duc d'Angoulême (son of the Comte d'Artois), returned to France in 1814, and became Dauphine ten years later on the accession of Charles X. The July Revolution again forced her into exile, and she ended her life in Frohsdorf, Austria. Provenance: Arthur MEYER (Mes livres, mes dessins, mes autographes, Paris, s.n., 1921, no. 123, autographs, 2; Paris, Drouot, Francisque Lefrançois et Noël Charavay experts, June 3-6, 1924, no. 129, autographs, 2). - Banker Christian LAZARD (Paris, Drouot, May 19 1967, no. 62). - Robert GERARD (Paris, Drouot, June 19-20, 1996, no. 226).