Autograph letter signed from Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham to Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, written from Paris and dated 13 April 1726
Autograph letter signed from Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham to Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, written from Paris and dated 13 April 1726
Autograph letter signed from Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham to Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, written from Paris and dated 13 April 1726.
Detailed Summary:
Robinson writes of an accident that has become the talk of Paris, noting that the week before, Mr. du Fournier, a member of the grand conseil, shot himself in Mme. Tansin’s [Tancin’s] house, having excused himself to her cabinet to write a letter. Mme. Tansin sent immediate notice to the grand conseil and they, to avoid any disgrace, took possession of the body and took it away. They then committed Mme. Tansin to prison. Robinson notes that Mr. du Fournier was ruined in his fortunes and frequently spoke of killing himself, adding that he had recently quarelled with Mme. Tansin and that her friends were speaking ill of him for his malicious decision to choose her house as the scene of his death and bring Mme. Tansin into trouble. He then turns to the extraordinary will that Mr. du Fournier had prepared just before his death, noting that he had drawn up a list of Mme. Tansin’s admirers and, having no possessions of his own, distributed her favours to them all, including Mr. Fontenelle, Saladin, and Tronchin. Robinson calls this ‘a new kind of jealousy yt never was thought of by Shakespear.’ He concludes the letter by begging the pardon of Horation Walpole, and of Voltaire for havin in a former letter committed him to the Bastille. He notes that an undated letter from Voltaire has since come to light.