Beschreibung:

MARIE ANTOINETTE (Queen of France, 1774-1793). Warrant signed ('Payez Marie Antoinette') addressed to the Treasurer General of her household Marc-Antoine-Francois-Marie-Randon de la Tour, Versailles, 1 April 1785 , instructing him to arrange payment for subsistence and salary to Seigneur Brionne, the dancing master to her pages, 'la somme de trente six livres dix sept sols six deniers', for the previous quarter, signed by the Queen on the left beside a second signature ('Marie Antoinette') written by her secretaire de la main, one page folio (365 x 240 mm) ; and a document with a secretarial signaure of Louis XVI. ELIZABETH MARIE (1764-1793, sister of Louis XVI). Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent, n.p. [Tuileries], 4 October 1791 , beginning 'Je proffite du depart de M . de F. pour te parler encore', referring to a mutual friend, to the forthcoming congress at Aix la Chapelle 'Dieu veuille que cela soit! Au moins nous aurions l'espoir de voir nos meaux finire', and showing her alarm at the situation of the Royal family, 1½ pages, 8vo , blank leaf. One of the principal functions of the secretaire de la main was to imitate the Queen's signature on documents. If, as here, the document was of sufficient importance, Marie Antoinette signed it herself in addition. 'Madame Elizabeth' writes after the re-capture of the Royal Family at Varennes, when they were detained in the Tuileries. 'M . de F' may be the Comte de Fersen, Marie Antoinette's most loyal confidant, who visited them in secret at this period and carried their correspondence. (3)