LOUIS NICOLAS DAVOUT (1770-1823) Autograph letter signed to his wife Aimée Leclerc. SKIERNIEWICE, 1 March [1808] with date stamp of 15 March 1808.

2 pp. in-4, address on back, remnant of red wax seal with shield bearing his initials on marshal’s batons, red postmark «N° 43. GRANDE ARMÉE»; 2 tears with lacks to the address leaf due to the opening without affecting the text. «I had requested in the lems... the general HULLIN [Pierre-Augustin Hulin, commander of the place of Berlin] to send you from Berlin two trunks, two small cases, the whole containing cards. This general made known to me in the meantime that he had sent you the whole as well as a trunk of cards belonging to Alexandre [General Alexandre Davout, brother and aide-de-camp of the marshal]. You did not... let me know if you had received these objects. In the event that they have not reached you, as THERE ARE VERY PRECIOUS CARDS, I beg you to speak to General Hulin so that he can make inquiries and claim these boxes wherever they are found. I received your little letter of the 16th this morning, my dear Aimée. From my letters, which were written long before the reply you were impatiently awaiting, you will have seen that I wanted our reunion no less than you did. Now that the reasons which opposed it no longer exist, I ASK YOU TO ASK THE EMPEROR FOR A PERIOD OF LEAVE ... I hope you did not wait for my reply to your letter of the 15th to make this request. I WILL OBSERVE TO YOU, MY VERY GOOD FRIEND, THAT IT IS MORE APPROPRIATE FOR YOU TO ASK FOR THIS LEAVE YOURSELF. THE EMPEROR DOES NOT LIKE HIS GENERALS-IN-CHIEF TO MAKE THESE KINDS OF REQUESTS. I beg you, my dear friend, not to give in to discouragement and not to be guilty of doubting my feelings, they are as strong as they ever were and my esteem alone has increased and can increase with time, but not my feelings, which never change. Take care of your health, it is precious to me. With the cold weather we have been having for the last fortnight, I do not regret having prevented you from making the journey. How would you stand a cold of -24 degrees Réaumur [30 degrees Celsius below zero]... How would our Josephine [their eldest daughter, born in 1804] stand it. I AM IN PERFECT HEALTH, I FEAR NEITHER COLD NOR HEAT. A thousand caresses to our little ones, a thousand and one kisses to their excellent and beautiful mother. All yours for life. Your good husband Louis Davout».