COULANGES (Philippe-Emmanuel de) (1633-1716). French magistr - Lot 86

COULANGES (Philippe-Emmanuel de) (1633-1716). French magistrate and man of letters, he was the cousin and intimate of Madame de Sévigné. L.A.S. [to Chrétien-François I de Lamoignon]. Rome, January 30, 1691. 5 ½ pp. in-4. Long letter from Philippe-Emmanuel de Coulanges, to President de Lamoignon, written from Rome, evoking the last moments of Pope Alexander VIII (who died 2 days later, on February 1, 1691). Coulanges and Lamoignon were both friends of the Marquise de Sévigné. "Voilà donc nostre Saint Père qui tire pays, et qui laisse à son successeur l'honneur de nous donner des bulles. Gangrene is in his leg and a good flux fell on him this night on the poictrine, sent us all gentlemen cardinals and good company to console us to see our return to the Greek calendars [...]". He refers to the opinion of the Duc de Chaulnes and Cardinal Toussaint de Forbin-Janson towards him, and denounces the customs of Alexander VIII "who thought only of enriching his family" and showed "sordid avarice" during his pontificate. "God grant that the treasures of the Church may fall into better hands [...]. For the embellishment of a fountain that had no need of it, he spent about one hundred escus, and this is the only place where his arms will appear in Rome to reproach him forever for his sordid avarice. His nephews will show some mortification, but they will laugh at us, for they have our money. Their insolence has become unbearable for me, and I do as Mordecai did, I no longer salute them. He has just dined with Cardinal de Forbin-Janson, and they drank to his health. He replies to her letter, mentions mutual friends, congratulates Lamoignon on the birth of his third son [Armand de Lamoignon, born on December 8, 1690, and who died less than five months later, on April 28, 1691]. "Vous avés donc une grande fille sur le trottoir, et vous aurés bien tost un gendre, mais souvenés vous toujours de choisir lui si bien qu'il ne trouble pas les plaisirs du beau père [she will marry the Marquis de Goussainville] [...] . I'll have to put another thirst quencher in my cassette if the conclave and the business that will follow it take us further than necessary [...]".