Paul Duc de BEAUVILLIERS et Duc de SAINT-AIGNAN [Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher (41) 1648 - 1714]

Important personality of the Kingdom of Louis XIV - First First First Gentleman of the King's Chamber, Louis XIV, who valued his piety and austere life, appointed him Governor of his grandsons: the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Anjou then the Duke of Berry - At the death of Louvois he entered the Council of Up - He had married Colbert's daughter, was the friend of Fénelon and Saint-Simon Letter written and signed by him, 2 pages small in-4, Versailles, March 23rd[1704], to the Bishop of Alet {Charles-Nicolas Taffoureau de Fontaine /1655-1708 /In the 1690s he had been the spiritual director of the Benedictines of Montargis where the Duke of Beauvilliers had placed several of his daughters] - A note from the time, from another hand, specifies: "Mr. the Duke of Beauvillier to Mr. the Bishop of Alet, on Mrs. his sons - the younger one turns to good - he speaks of piety - around 1704] The transcription was made in modern spelling for a better understanding: "I made hold in Paris and MONTARGIS what you were kind enough to address me for my children. One cannot be more sensitive than I am to all that you want to do well for them and which I insist on continuing, as well as to your prayers for the youngest son of my sons who turns well thanks to God, towards the eldest, his dispositions support each other and I have reason to hope that they will not change and that on the contrary they will become stronger. I was edified as I should have been by the humility and complete openness I found in the letter that preceded the one I just received, so I am deeply imbued with the feelings that come into it and the abundance with which God favours your soul. I am not presumptuous enough to tell you about the use to be made of it, it is from you that I would learn it, Sir, if I were in a similar situation and I would believe that it would rather be given to me to strengthen myself in proper work, to destroy so many defects that I have left, than simply to taste their sweetness