François-René de CHATEAUBRIAND (1768-1848). L.A. [Villeneuve - Lot 174

François-René de CHATEAUBRIAND (1768-1848). L.A. [Villeneuve-sur-Yonne], Friday June 29 [1804], to Delphine de CUSTINE, at Château de Fervaques by Lisieux; 3 pages in-8, addressed (small holes from ink corrosion). He is staying with his friend Joseph JOUBERT and working on Les Martyrs. "You are quite wrong to preach to me about my taste for my new work. It doesn't last me long, and I've already left everything there for two weeks. To work with continuity and taste, you need to be in a position, if not very brilliant, at least tranquil; and it's not when you have no future, that you work for a future that won't come. Besides, it would take a lot of books and a lot of study to make me forget the people I love. I still don't know if anything has been done for my friend, as we were promised. He's in the country and it doesn't seem to me that his position has changed. I must see him tomorrow." [This refers to BERTIN the elder, who, suspected of royalism, must keep himself hidden]. He promises his friend to visit her towards the end of July, "but you know I'm not free. [ ] It's enough that I'm sure I'll see you, so that you won't accuse me of deceiving you. You can see from the tone of this bill that I am very serious and very sad. In addition to the sorrows you can imagine, I've had a fever for the last two days. This, I hope, will be nothing; a few days of quinine will put me back on my feet [ ] I am delighted that you are happy in your good ch[âteau] and I long to see you there" Correspondance générale, t. I, n° 264.