Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES. Autograph ma - Lot 496

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  3. Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES. Autograph ma - Lot 496
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Lot n° 496
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Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES. Autograph ma - Lot 496
Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de MALESHERBES. Autograph manuscript, [circa 1780?]; 21 pages, in-4 (plus a few blank pages), bound in marbled paper. On the Académie Française and his grandfather’s refusal to join it, Chrétien-François I de Lamoignon de Basville (1644–1709). Drafts with numerous cross-outs and corrections, and certain passages struck through with two crossed lines, from a long letter or a memorandum likely intended for d’Alembert, in connection with his *History of the Members of the Académie Française from 1700 to 1771, to Serve as a Sequel to the Eulogies Printed and Read in the Public Sessions of That Society* (1785). Malesherbes begins as follows: “You requested, Sir, that I share with you the facts I have been able to gather regarding my grandfather’s refusal of a position at the Académie Française. It seems to you that this anecdote deserves to be clarified”: and he recalls that Duclos had read aloud during a public session of the Academy “the accounts of a secret intrigue that led to this refusal, and you believe that, since I now have the honor of belonging to the Academy, I am obliged to investigate this matter”… He went through his grandfather’s papers and found several letters “written to him by various people at the time of the election and the refusal. I also found there the draft, written and corrected in his own hand, of a letter he wrote at that time on this subject”… Malesherbes had always heard his father say that “Mr. de B. had no desire to be a member of the Academy and that he had never wavered on this point.” […] I confess to you, Sir, that I am not particularly surprised by Mr. de B.’s lack of desire to be admitted to the Academy, or even by the fear he might have felt at receiving this honor. To understand this, one must go back to a time when public opinion regarding such positions was not quite the same as it is today. You know how much opinions change in just a few years. Today, the Academy often admits members from the court, military officers, magistrates, and prelates who have made no name for themselves through any literary works”… He describes the role played by François de Tourreil, who made “such great efforts to bring into the Academy a man who did not wish to be a member.” Basville “might have believed at first that his refusal would be seen merely as an act of modesty, but when he saw that the reaction was different and that more than one academician took offense, he had no choice but to set aside his reluctance”… According to Duclos, “the Academy was divided over the choice it had to make; some were in favor of the Abbé de Chaulieu, while others absolutely wanted Verdurre [?]. The faction supporting the Abbé de Chaulieu proved to be the stronger; the opposing faction devised a plan to enlist the help of M. de B., who counted among his friends the most zealous supporters of the Abbé de Chaulieu, in order to deprive him of their votes. “I hope, Sir, out of devotion to the Academy, that this was the only occasion on which such means were employed. Be that as it may, we now see where the passion that Mr. de Tourreil displayed in this matter came from”… Etc.
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