CHAMFORT NICOLAS: (1741-1794) French Writer. Chamfort is best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He served as secretary to Louis XVI´s sister and of the Jacobin club. Rare autograph statement, two pages, small 12mo, in French. The autograph manuscript being a spiritual moral anecdote, states `Mylord Halifax jouait et tenait la banque, a un prix énorme. On propose un pari de deux millions. Il ne veut pas tenir. Un des assertants lui dit Mylord tenu je suis de moitié. Mylord joue et perd. Il se tourne vers son associé qui lui dit Mylord je suis un miserable et se tournant du coté de l´assemblée, vous conviendrez, Messieurs, que si Mylord eut gagné, ma fortune était faite. Il est juste que je sois puni et n´étant qu´un polisson je presente mon derriere… ce qu´il y eut de plaisant c´est que personne ne lui dit un mot…´ (Translation: `Mylord Halifax gambled and held the bank, at a huge cost. We offer a bet of two million. He doesn't want to hold it. One of the assertors told him My lord I hold half of it. Mylord plays and loses. He turns to his partner who tells him Mylord I am a wretch and facing the assembly, you will agree Gentlemen, that if Mylord had won, my fortune was made. It is right that I am punished and being only a scamp I present my ass... what was pleasant is that no one said a word to him…´) Uneven left and bottom edge, otherwise G

 

In September 1793, Chamfort found himself unable to tolerate the prospect of being imprisoned once more, and ecided to lock himself into his office and shot himself in the face. The pistol malfunctioned and he did not die even though he shot off his nose and his right eye. He then repeatedly stabbed his neck with a razor, but failed to cut an artery. He finally used the razor to stab himself in the chest and to cut his own hocks. He dictated to those who came to arrest him the well-known declaration “Moi, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, déclare avoir voulu mourir en homme libre plutot que d'étre reconduit en esclave dans une maison d'arrét” (Translation "I, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, hereby declare my wish to die as a free man rather than to be brought (again) as a slave in a prison") His butler found him unconscious in a pool of blood. From then until his death in Paris the following year, he suffered intensely.