DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). 4 autograph letters signed... Lot 10

DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). 4 autograph letters signed to his wife Aimée Leclerc. Poland, 1807-1808. LE MARECHAL DAVOUT, VERITABLE PROCONSUL DU GRAND-DUCHE DE POLOGNE: Napoleon I, who had a high opinion of his organizational skills and military talent, chose him in August 1807 to command the French troops stationed in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Created by the Treaty of Tilsit despite strong reservations on the part of Alexander I, this political entity was to be placed in the hands of King Frederick-Augustus III of Saxony... who was slow to take possession of it. Marshal Davout carried out the task entrusted to him with great mastery. GRACED WITH THE PRINCIPALITY OF ŁOWICZ. A man of integrity who did not indulge in the depredations and prevarications of other campaigners, he was reluctant to ask the emperor for financial assistance to buy a private mansion in Paris, as his wife had requested. He did, however, receive a substantial endowment from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, based on the assets of the former principality of Łowicz, which included the Skierniewice palace near Warsaw. - Warsaw, September 14 [1807]. "I am taking the decision... to leave here to spend the rest of the good season in SKIERNEVICE, WHICH IS THE MOST HABITABLE CASTLE OF THE BEAUTIFUL PROPERTY I HOLD IN THIS COUNTRY OF THE EMPEROR'S FREEDOM. I could no longer stand the regime of this city always in papers or in audience and shut in. For 3 days now, I've had the most violent headache. I need the country air. There, I swear I'll be with you often, and I'll give you proof of that in my long letters... [He then refers to the marriage plans of his cousin Hélène Davout, who would eventually marry general Louis-François Coutard in Warsaw in 1808]. I'm going to ask you again... to beg you to send me some bézigues [sic for bezicles]. I have lost them all, i.e. the frames, I only have a few ver[r]es left. Please send me 4 to 6 frames by the 1st post... I will fulfill... your conditions for the silver and field service you are sending me, at the end of this month or the beginning of the next. I will send you 10 to 12,000 f. to make my 1st payment. I'LL ALSO ASK YOU FOR... TWO OR THREE SMALL CROSSES OF THE LEGION OF HONOR AND TWO LARGE ONES. ALL THE ONES I HAVE ARE BROKEN..." (4 pp. in-4). - Skierniewice [between Łódź and Warsaw, Poland], "this 27th" [September 1807]. "THIS PLACE IS... ONLY 24 LEYS FROM WARSAW [about 100 km]. I needed some fresh air in the country. I had some furniture put in. My first concern was to see if I could send you some money. I think I can send you 10 to 12,000 f. within a few days. I'm already feeling the effects of the country air, and the malaise I felt in Warsaw has dissipated. In the 4 to 6 days I'll be here, I'll be touring the principality - YOU TALK TO ME OF SERVICES RENDERED, THE EMPEROR REWARDS THEM BEYOND WHAT THEY ARE WORTH, I appreciate this fortune because of you and our children..." (one p. in-4). (one p. in-4). - Skierniewice, January 2 [1808] with date stamp of [1]January 7, 1808. "I AM OCCUPIED, MY DEAR FRIEND, IN TAKING ACCOUNT OF THE REVENUES [OF THE FORMER PRINCIPATE OF ŁOWICZ], this use of time is not at all amusing. I give myself to it with zeal, however, thinking that it is useful to my little Aimée, and to my children. I hope in two weeks to have finished something and to be able to put your mind at rest by providing you with the means to pay our debts. My great means is to demand a year's advance. We're auctioning off 3 mills tomorrow. I don't know if it will succeed. Mil[l]e caresses to my little ones [his daughters Joséphine and Napoléone, born in 1804 and 1807] and a thousand kisses to their excellent mother. All yours for life, your good Louis" (1 p. in-4, address on back, red wax seal with shield bearing his initials on marshal's batons, red postal mark "N° 43. GRANDE-ARMEE"; tear to address leaf due to opening but no damage to text). - Skierniewice, February 19 [1808] with date stamp of March 4, 1808. " ... I WISH YOU TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH SO THAT, SHOULD OUR STAY HERE BE PROLONGED..., YOU WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERTAKE THE LONG JOURNEY TO POLAND IN APRIL. I will send you... an intelligent guide (it will be Desessart [Marshal Davout's brother, General Nicolas-Marin Leclerc Des Essarts, chief of staff of the Friant division in the 3rd corps of the Grande Armée]) who will be agreeable to you... Although the soldiers about whose existence you are asking for information do not belong to