STENDHAL (Henri Beyle, dit) [Grenoble, 1783 - Paris, 1842], - Lot 152

STENDHAL (Henri Beyle, dit) [Grenoble, 1783 - Paris, 1842], French writer. Autograph piece. Civitavecchia, December 27, 1831; 1 large page in-4° (31,7 x 21,2 cm). Stendhal has just been appointed to Civitavecchia, the only port of the Papal States, an "abominable hole" of seven thousand five hundred inhabitants, including one thousand convicts. There, he is overwhelmed by boredom and stupidity: no salon, no friends, no beautiful women, no intellectual discussions. "The S.S. government does not pay pensions. The spirit of the provinces has entirely changed since last March, so there was a movement quite in the direction of the government. In Rome, stones are thrown at night to pedestrians who dare not go out in the evening except in round hats. On December 24, at 9 o'clock in the evening, the cardinals did not dare to go to the Vatican. The people that one fears at this moment, is the same one who in March last year, had the project to assassinate the French. The light people envy the fate of Bologna which, they say, will be Austrian.