[LAFAYETTE, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de] Lettre autographe de Mme Mildred T. Thompson Culpeper, 22 août 1825 1 p. in-4
Estimation :
4000 / 6000
Adjudication :
Invendu
Description
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 George Washington" 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
