François-René de CHATEAUBRIAND (1768-1848) Copy of letter with 2 autograph lines, [London] 25 October 1799, to Louis de FONTANES; the letter is in the hand of Céleste de CHATEAUBRIAND 2 pages large folio (portrait attached) Beautiful and long letter on the subject of the Génie du christianisme. At the head of this copy made by his wife, Chateaubriand wrote in his own hand: "This letter, which is not in my handwriting, is the duplicate of another I sent you by H. [Hambourg] I hope that this copy, or the original, will reach you. [The original was found in Sainte-Beuve's papers, coll. Lovenjoul, Bibliothèque de l'Institut]. Chateaubriand expressed all the affection he felt for Fontanes: "Your memory is one of those that moves me most because you are in keeping with the things of my heart and with the idea I had of a man of great expectations. My dear friend, if you only wrote verse like Racine, if you were not good par excellence as you are, I would admire you, but you would not possess all my thoughts as you do today, and my wishes for your happiness would not be so constantly attached to my admiration for your beautiful genius"... Then he recalls with sadness the death of his sister Julie de FARCY: "I have just lost another sister whom I loved dearly and who died of grief in the place of indigence where she had been relegated by the one who often strikes his servants, to test them and reward them in another life. Yes, my dear friend, you and I are convinced that there is another life" .... He directs all his thoughts towards God: "I will direct the little strength he has given me towards his glory, certain as I am that there lies sovereign beauty and sovereign genius; where is an immense God who makes the stars shoot across the sea of heaven like a magnificent fleet, and who has placed the heart of the honest man in a fort inaccessible to the wicked". He then talks about the work he is working on [Génie du christianisme], from which he quotes two long passages on Christian tombs, and then on the tombs of Saint-Denis... The book will be entitled : Des beautés poëtiques et morales de la Religion chrétienne et de sa supériorité sur tous les autres cultes de la terre. "It will form 2 vol. in-8° 350 pages each". He worries about the fate of Fontanes, indicates how to get the letters to him, and ends: "Adieu, may all the blessings of heaven be upon you. May I embrace you again before I die. Correspondance générale, t. I, n° 45, p. 97-100.