CARDINAL RICHELIEU - Copy of a Letter Written by Cardinal Richlieu [sic], to the French Ambassador at Rome.

[1628, but c. 1820?] Single sheet, 190 x 145 mm. worn on the folds, mounted. A copy of a letter purported to have been written by Richelieu as a reference for a Jesuit priest, Mons. Compigne, to the Ambassador for Rome. Read as it is written it is effusive in its praise of the man, but if folded in half and the left hand side only read, there is a completely different picture. "Mons. Compigne, a Savoyard by birth, Friar to the Order of Saint Benedict, is the Man who will present to you the notification communicated by me in the letter. He is the most discreet, the wisest, and the least vicious Person I have ever known..." "Mons Compigne, a Savoyard by birth, is the Man who will present to you this letter. He is one of the most vicious Persons I have ever known...take special care of this man...there cannot be a more unworthy person in the whole world..." A number of versions of this letter appear to exist and appear in various archive collections in the U.K. but I have been unable to compare them with our copy. It is reprinted in Curiosities for the Ingenious. Thomas Boys, 1821.

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