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[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de]
Lettre autographe de Mme Mildred T. Thompson
Culpeper, 22 août 1825
1 p. in-4
LA FIN DU
FAREWELL TOUR
.
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE. LA PETITE NIÈCE DE
WASHINGTON OFFRE AU GÉNÉRAL LES LUNETTES DE
SON ONCLE : “THE PROPERTY OF HER BELOVED UNCLE
WASHINGTON”.
THE END OF THE
FAREWELL TOUR
.
LAFAYETTE’S COPY. WASHINGTON’S GRANDNIECE GIVES
THE GENERAL HER UNCLE’S GLASSES : “THE PROPERTY
OF HER BELOVED UNCLE WASHINGTON”
Lettre à la troisième personne “[she] feels peculiar pleasure in awaiting
herself of the present opportunity for presenting to General Lafayette a
Pair of Reading Glasses, which she hopes is not unworthy of his regard ;
as they were once the property of her beloved Uncle GeorgeWashington”
Washington’s reading-glasses, normally used by him only in
private, have their part to play in the mythos that surrounds his
reputation. The story is recounted that when the meeting of
aggrieved army officers met at Newburgh at the end of the war
and threatened the rule of Congress, he read them an eloquent
appeal. He followed this by a letter from a member of Congress
explaining their financial difficulties :
“The reading of part of this communication, Washington had told
himself, perhaps might confirm whatever impression he had made.
He stumbled through a few sentences, but as the manuscript was
closely written, paused, took out his new spectacles, and put them on.
“Gentlemen,” he said, in effect, as he fumbled with the glasses, “you
must pardon me. I have grown gray in your service and now find myself
growing blind.” That observation completed the rally to Washington”
(D. S. Freeman,
Washington
, 1968, p.501).
Mildred Thornton Thompson née Ball (1786-1854) was a
great-niece of Washington. She was married to William Mills
Thompson (1775-1837), and is recorded as living in Culpepper
County until 1831. Her mother was Frances Thornton
Washington, daughter of Washington’s youngest brother,
Charles, and of Mildred Thornton ; her father was Colonel
Burgess Ball who had served as ADC to his wife’s uncle during
the Revolution.
These very famous glasses were in 1957 part of the collection
of Comte and comtesse René de Chambrun.
RÉFÉRENCE : pour les lunettes, cf. cat.
Lafayette
, Archives Nationales,
Pars, 1957, n° 605 k) : “Boîte contenant les lunettes de Washington”
qui ajoute : “envoyée en souvenir à Lafayette par Martha Washington”,
ce qui semble peu probable
4 000 / 6 000
€
291