François-René de CHATEAUBRIAND. L.S. with 3 autograph lines, - Lot 184

François-René de CHATEAUBRIAND. L.S. with 3 autograph lines, Paris March 29, 1844, to John Wilson CROKER, in West-Moseley (Surrey); 3 pages in-8 address. He thanks his friend for his remembrance and his "good friendship; it consoles me at the edge of the grave where I shall soon descend". He inserted [in the Mémoires d'outre-tombe] his name "among those of the friends I once had in England. [ ] Alas, we are no longer in those days when two men born under different suns could boast of having only similar feelings: your voice will remain like mine resounding in the desert. [ ] Memories do not die when they are placed in healthy hearts, because they retain the incorruptibility of their birth" With his trembling hand he adds, "My hand, you see, has not returned. I'm leaving in pieces"; a postscript then alludes to the assassination of Princess Lubormiska.