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=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/03189 Marcel Proust à Lionel Hauser Mardi soir<nowiki>[29 août 1916]</nowiki>]=  
=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/03189 Marcel Proust to Lionel Hauser Tuesday evening<nowiki>[29 August 1916]</nowiki>]=
<small>(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the ''Corr-Proust'' digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)</small>


Mardi soir<ref name="n1" />
Tuesday evening<ref name="n1" />


Mon cher Lionel
My dear Lionel


Je reçois à l’instant ta lettre et comme j’ai très mal aux yeux je me borne provisoirement à une réponse fort incomplète. Si les trois jeunes hommes (pas si jeunes puisque je suis moi-même vieux hélas — et d’ailleurs sensiblement leur aîné) sont ceux que je suppose, je ne te cacherai pas que j’avais depuis longtemps, fort avant mes pertes d’argent, donné à l’un d’eux le conseil de mettre son argent chez toi<ref name="n2" />. Mais voici la difficulté qui ne rend pas ce projet irréalisable mais très difficile. Tu sais qu’Israël est souvent à la source des fortunes qui l’ont le plus oublié. Or si d’Albufera est destiné à hériter de ses parents<ref name="n3" /> <ref name="n4" /> une belle fortune, le plus clair de celle qu’il a actuellement vient de sa femme, fille de la princesse d’Essling<ref name="n5" />, c’est-à-direpetite-fille de Mme Furtado Heine<ref name="n6" />. Or cette fortune se trouve déposée à la Banque Heine et je ne sais même pas si des dispositions testamentaires ne rendent pas très difficile de l’en retirer ; je me rappelle confusément qu’un obstacle de ce genre s’était dressé quand d’Albufera avait voulu mettre de l’argent à Bruxelles chez M. Lambert.
I have just this moment received your letter but as I am having a lot of pain in my eyes I shall provisionally limit myself to a very incomplete reply. If the three young men (not all that young, rather I myself, alas, am very old - and in any case considerably their elder) are the ones I think they are, I won’t hide from you that for a long time, long before my financial losses, I had advised one of them to place his money with you<ref name="n2" />. But here’s the difficulty, which doesn’t make the plan impossible but very awkward. You know that Israel is often at the source of the fortunes and that that is most often forgotten about. But if d’Albufera is due to inherit a considerable fortune from his parents<ref name="n3" /> <ref name="n4" /> the most evident of what he currently has comes from his wife, the daughter of Princesse d’Essling<ref name="n5" />, that is to say the grand-daughter of Mme Furtado Heine<ref name="n6" />. But that fortune is deposited with the Heine Bank and I don’t even know if the testamentary arrangements won’t make it very difficult to withdraw; I vaguely remember that a similar obstacle came up when d’Albufera wanted to deposit some money in Brussels with M. Lambert.


Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld semble au premier abord n’avoir aucun rapport avec d’Albufera. Mais sa fortune (au moins actuelle) vient de ce qu’il a épousé la fille de la princesse de Monaco, fille elle-même d’autres Heine<ref name="n7" />, non Furtado, mais parents<ref name="n8" /> et extrêmement riches mais banquiers. Enfin Guiche doit sa fortune à ce que sa mère la duchesse de Gramont était née Rothschild (banque idem) <ref name="n9" />. Il est vrai que sa femme Mlle Greffulhe lui vaudra plus un jour, mais actuellement le père et la mère d’icelle sont en parfaite santé<ref name="n10" />. Ces explications peu intéressantes pour toi sont pour te montrer que ce n’est pas manque de désir d’une chose à laquelle j’ai souvent pensé (et je dois dire plus encore dans l’intérêt des déposants que dans le tien) (le mot déposants est inexact mais tu me comprends) si je n’y ai encore jamais abouti. Mais le fait de n’avoir pas vu ces gens depuis tant d’années y est aussi pour quelque chose. Or maintenant que je sais que l’idée ne t’en déplaît pas, dès que je serai en état de recevoir quelqu’un je convoquerai ceux qui ne sont pas mobilisés et si je les convertis je crois que je leur aurai rendu un très grand service. Mais leur rendre un très grand service, si agréable que cela me puisse être, ne me paraît pas une façon très désintéressée de te témoigner ma gratitude. Aussi pour en revenir à mes moutons, tu me ferais bien grand plaisir en élevant à des proportions satisfaisantes un courtage dérisoire. Le jour où j’aurai réussi à fixer chez toi deux ou trois multimillionnaires implorant tes conseils, ce jour-là je consentirai à ce que tu ramènes ce que tu me prends au chiffre actuel. Mais d’ici là, je te demande de tenir compte de ma prière et de croire à ma bien affectueuse reconnaissance.
On first appearances Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld seems to have no connection with d’Albufera. But his wealth (currently at least) came from his marriage with the daughter of the Princesse of Monaco, herself the daughter of the other Heines<ref name="n7" />, not Furtado but relations<ref name="n8" /> and extremely rich, but bankers. Finally, Guiche owes his wealth to the fact that his mother, the Duchesse de Gramont, was born a Rothschild (same bank)<ref name="n9" />. It is true that one day his wife Mlle Greffulhe will be worth more than him, but at present the parents of the said lady are in perfect health<ref name="n10" />. These explanations which are of little interest to you are to demonstrate that it is not through any lack of desire for something I have thought about a great deal (and I must stress in the interests of the depositors rather than yours) (the word depositors is not quite correct but you understand what I mean) even if I have done nothing about it yet. But the fact that I haven’t seen any of these people for so many years is also a consideration. But now I know that the idea is not disagreeable to you, as soon as I am able to receive anybody I shall convene the ones who haven’t been mobilized and if I can convince them I believe I will be doing them a very great service. But however agreeable it might be for me to do them a very great service, it doesn’t quite seem like a disinterested way of showing you my gratitude. So, getting back to my little flock, it would be a great satisfaction to me if you raised your derisory brokerage fee to a satisfactory sum. On the day I succeed in establishing with you two or three multimillionaires imploring you for advice, that is the day I will consent to you once again charging me at the current going rate. But until then I beg you to be mindful of my entreaty and believe in my affectionate gratitude.


Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust


Pour le Crédit Industriel je croyais que tu m’avais dit il y a quelque temps que je devais être créditeur d’environ 2000 francs. Comme je ne leur ai demandé aucun argent (chèques) depuis huit mois, voyant que ces 2000 francs étaient évanouis (je ne parle pas de la baisse des Mexico qui est postérieure) j’avais supposé qu’ils avaient compté des intérêts après le remboursement. Puisque cela n’est pas je n’ai aucune réclamation à leur faire<ref name="n11" />.
For the Crédit Industriel I think that you told me some time ago that I should have been in credit to the sum of approximately 2,000 francs. As I haven’t requested any money (cheques) from them for eight months, seeing that those 2,000 francs have evaporated (I’m not talking about the fall of the Mexico which was before then) I had assumed that they had calculated the interests after the reimbursement. Since that never happened I have no claim to make against them<ref name="n11" />.


<ref name="n12" /> <ref name="n13" />
<ref name="n12" /> <ref name="n13" />
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<references>
<references>


<ref name="n1"> Note 1 </ref>
<ref name="n1"> Proust is replying here to a letter from Lionel Hauser dated 29 August 1916 that he had received "just this moment" (CP 03187; Kolb,XV, no. 123). He is sending his reply that same evening, since 29 August fell on a Tuesday in 1916,  which is confirmed by Lionel Hauser's response dated 1 September 1916: "I have received your letter of Tuesday evening" (CP 03190; Kolb, XV, no. 126). [PK, CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n2"> Note 2 </ref>
<ref name="n2"> Proust, concerned about the "derisory and ridiculously Lilliputian" sum of the commission charged by Hauser (CP 03186; Kolb, XV, no. 122), Hauser had replied to him that he would not change his fees "according to the whims of the client or his social standing" but that he would appreciate it if Proust would recommend his services to certain of his friends: "Since from our recent written exchanges it appears that among your closest friends you count people who are weighed down with a certain quantity of millions, you could perhaps reveal my existence to them, and inform them that it would be in their interest to make use of my agency to invest their funds." (CP 03187; Kolb, XV, no. 123). [CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n3"> Note 3 </ref>
<ref name="n3"> Louis Suchet, marquis d'Albufera (1877-1953) was the eldest son of Raoul Suchet, third duc d'Albufera (1845-1925), and the duchesse, née Zénaïde de Cambacérès (1857-1932). [PK, CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>
<ref name="n4"> In the left hand margin written in pencil in a different handwriting (Hauser's, presumably) is written the word "late". It is impossible to know if this comment (by the recipient?) is contemporary with the receipt of this letter or a later addition. [FL] </ref>


<ref name="n5"> Note 5 </ref>
<ref name="n5"> In 1904 Louis d'Albufera had married Anne (Anna) Masséna d'Essling et de Rivoli (1884-1967), daughter of Victor Masséna prince d'Essling and duc de Rivoli (1836-1910) and his wife, Marguerite, known as Paule, Furtado-Heine (1847-1903): see note 6 below. [PK, CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n6"> Note 6 </ref>
<ref name="n6"> Cécile Furtado, known as  Furtado-Heine (1821-1896), daughter of the Parisian banker Elie Furtado and, through her mother Rose Fould, grand-daughter of the Beers banker  Léon Fould, had married Beer Karl (Charles) Heine, a wealthy Frankfurt banker (1810-1865). Childless widow and the head of a considerable fortune, she adopted, in 1881, a young woman "born of unknown parents", Marguerite, known as Paule (1847-1903), who may have been the natural daughter of her brother Paul Furtado-Fould and his mistress (see the Wikipedia entry for him). Paule, who had married Michel Ney, duc d'Elchingen (1835-1881) in 1866, widowed in 1881, made a second marriage to Victor Masséna, duc de Rivoli et prince d'Esslingen in 1882, with whom she had three children. The eldest, Anne (Anna) Masséna d'Esslingen, husband of Louis d'Albufera, owed in fact part of her fortune to the families of Furtado-Fould and Heine through her mother (died 1903); but Proust seems to forget that her father, Victor Masséna (died 1910), was himself extremely wealthy, descending from a maréchal and prince under the Empire who was known for his considerable fortune which he had amassed during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. [FL]  </ref>


<ref name="n7"> Note 7 </ref>
<ref name="n7"> In 1905 Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld had married Odile Chapelle de Jumilhac du Plessis de Richelieu (1879-1974), daughter of Armand Chapelle de Jumilhac du Plessis de Richelieu, duc de Richelieu (1847-1880) and the duchesse, née Alice Heine (1857-1925), who made a second marriage, in 1889, to Albert I, prince of Monaco. She was the daughter of Michel Heine (1819-1904), French banker and his wife, née Amélie Miltenberger (1832-1915). [PK, CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n8"> Note 8 </ref>
<ref name="n8"> Charles Heine and Michel Heine were first cousins, sons respectively of Isaac Heine, German merchant based in Bordeaux, and of his brother Salomon, Hamburg banker. (A third brother, Samson, also a merchant, was father of the writer Heinrich Heine, who was therefore himself first cousin of Charles and Michel Heine.) At one time associated with the Fould Bank, Michel Heine had founded, in about 1876, along with his brother Armand the bank of MM. A. et M. Heine, renamed the Bank of Heine and Co. in 1883. See the genealogy of the Heine family and the inventory of the Fould Bank and the Heine Bank in the National Archives. [CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n9"> Le duc de Guiche était le fils d'Agénor, duc de Gramont (1851-1925), et de sa deuxième épouse, Margaretha (Marguerite) Alexandrine de Rothschild (1855-1905), qui était une des filles du baron Mayer Carl von Rothschild (1820-1886), un des dirigeants de la banque M A von Rothschild & Söhne à Francfort (voir sa biographie). Voir la généalogie de la famille Rothschild. [CSz] </ref>
<ref name="n9"> The duc de Guiche was the son of Agénor, duc de Gramont (1851-1925), and his second wife Margaretha (Marguerite) Alexandrine de Rothschild (1855-1905), who was one of the daughters of baron Mayer Carl von Rothschild (1820-1886), one of the directors of the bank of M A von Rothschild & Söhne in Frankfurt (see his biography). See the genealogy of the Rothschild family. [CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n10"> Le comte et la comtesse Henri Greffulhe, parents de la duchesse de Guiche, née Elaine Greffulhe, avaient encore en effet de nombreuses années à vivre : le comte décéda en 1932 ; et la comtesse, née Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, en 1952. [PK] </ref>
<ref name="n10">Comte and comtesse Henri Greffulhe, parents of the duchesse de Guiche, née Elaine Greffulhe, had indeed many years to live: the comte died in 1932; and the comtesse, née Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, in 1952. [PK] </ref>


<ref name="n11"> Proust fait ici allusion à un malentendu concernant le solde débiteur de son compte de liquidation lié à la vente d'actions des Tramways de Mexico achetées à terme. Lionel Hauser, après examen des extraits de compte de Proust, vient de lui fournir des explications détaillées et de le dissuader de déposer une réclamation, dans des lettres datées du 26 août 1916 (CP 03184 et CP 03185 ; Kolb, XV, nº 120 et nº 121) et du 29 août 1916 (CP 03187 ; Kolb, XV, nº 123). Sur l'investissement dans les Tramways de Mexico, voir aussi CP 02812 (Kolb, XIII, n° 161), et Rubén Gallo, Proust's Latin Americans, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014, p. 73-89. [CSz, NM] </ref>
<ref name="n11"> Proust is alluding here to a misunderstanding concerning the debit balance of his liquidation account relating to the sale of stocks in Mexico Tranways bought at term. Lionel Hauser, after his examination of Proust's account statements, had just furnished him with detailed explanations to dissuade him from filing a claim, in his letters dating from 26 August 1916 (CP 03184 and CP 03185; Kolb, XV, no. 120 and no. 121) and 29 August 1916 (CP 03187; Kolb, XV, no. 123). On the investments with Mexican Tramways see also CP 02812 (Kolb, XIII, no. 161), and Rubén Gallo, Proust's Latin Americans, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014, p. 73-89. [CSz, NM] </ref>


<ref name="n12"> (Notes de traduction) </ref>  
<ref name="n12"> Translation notes: </ref>  


<ref name="n13"> (Contributeurs) </ref>
<ref name="n13"> Contributors: Yorktaylors. </ref>


</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 07:31, 16 January 2022


Other languages:

Marcel Proust to Lionel Hauser Tuesday evening[29 August 1916]

(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)

Tuesday evening[1]

My dear Lionel

I have just this moment received your letter but as I am having a lot of pain in my eyes I shall provisionally limit myself to a very incomplete reply. If the three young men (not all that young, rather I myself, alas, am very old - and in any case considerably their elder) are the ones I think they are, I won’t hide from you that for a long time, long before my financial losses, I had advised one of them to place his money with you[2]. But here’s the difficulty, which doesn’t make the plan impossible but very awkward. You know that Israel is often at the source of the fortunes and that that is most often forgotten about. But if d’Albufera is due to inherit a considerable fortune from his parents[3] [4] the most evident of what he currently has comes from his wife, the daughter of Princesse d’Essling[5], that is to say the grand-daughter of Mme Furtado Heine[6]. But that fortune is deposited with the Heine Bank and I don’t even know if the testamentary arrangements won’t make it very difficult to withdraw; I vaguely remember that a similar obstacle came up when d’Albufera wanted to deposit some money in Brussels with M. Lambert.

On first appearances Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld seems to have no connection with d’Albufera. But his wealth (currently at least) came from his marriage with the daughter of the Princesse of Monaco, herself the daughter of the other Heines[7], not Furtado but relations[8] and extremely rich, but bankers. Finally, Guiche owes his wealth to the fact that his mother, the Duchesse de Gramont, was born a Rothschild (same bank)[9]. It is true that one day his wife Mlle Greffulhe will be worth more than him, but at present the parents of the said lady are in perfect health[10]. These explanations which are of little interest to you are to demonstrate that it is not through any lack of desire for something I have thought about a great deal (and I must stress in the interests of the depositors rather than yours) (the word depositors is not quite correct but you understand what I mean) even if I have done nothing about it yet. But the fact that I haven’t seen any of these people for so many years is also a consideration. But now I know that the idea is not disagreeable to you, as soon as I am able to receive anybody I shall convene the ones who haven’t been mobilized and if I can convince them I believe I will be doing them a very great service. But however agreeable it might be for me to do them a very great service, it doesn’t quite seem like a disinterested way of showing you my gratitude. So, getting back to my little flock, it would be a great satisfaction to me if you raised your derisory brokerage fee to a satisfactory sum. On the day I succeed in establishing with you two or three multimillionaires imploring you for advice, that is the day I will consent to you once again charging me at the current going rate. But until then I beg you to be mindful of my entreaty and believe in my affectionate gratitude.

Marcel Proust

For the Crédit Industriel I think that you told me some time ago that I should have been in credit to the sum of approximately 2,000 francs. As I haven’t requested any money (cheques) from them for eight months, seeing that those 2,000 francs have evaporated (I’m not talking about the fall of the Mexico which was before then) I had assumed that they had calculated the interests after the reimbursement. Since that never happened I have no claim to make against them[11].

[12] [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Proust is replying here to a letter from Lionel Hauser dated 29 August 1916 that he had received "just this moment" (CP 03187; Kolb,XV, no. 123). He is sending his reply that same evening, since 29 August fell on a Tuesday in 1916, which is confirmed by Lionel Hauser's response dated 1 September 1916: "I have received your letter of Tuesday evening" (CP 03190; Kolb, XV, no. 126). [PK, CSz]
  2. ↑ Proust, concerned about the "derisory and ridiculously Lilliputian" sum of the commission charged by Hauser (CP 03186; Kolb, XV, no. 122), Hauser had replied to him that he would not change his fees "according to the whims of the client or his social standing" but that he would appreciate it if Proust would recommend his services to certain of his friends: "Since from our recent written exchanges it appears that among your closest friends you count people who are weighed down with a certain quantity of millions, you could perhaps reveal my existence to them, and inform them that it would be in their interest to make use of my agency to invest their funds." (CP 03187; Kolb, XV, no. 123). [CSz]
  3. ↑ Louis Suchet, marquis d'Albufera (1877-1953) was the eldest son of Raoul Suchet, third duc d'Albufera (1845-1925), and the duchesse, née Zénaïde de Cambacérès (1857-1932). [PK, CSz]
  4. ↑ In the left hand margin written in pencil in a different handwriting (Hauser's, presumably) is written the word "late". It is impossible to know if this comment (by the recipient?) is contemporary with the receipt of this letter or a later addition. [FL]
  5. ↑ In 1904 Louis d'Albufera had married Anne (Anna) Masséna d'Essling et de Rivoli (1884-1967), daughter of Victor Masséna prince d'Essling and duc de Rivoli (1836-1910) and his wife, Marguerite, known as Paule, Furtado-Heine (1847-1903): see note 6 below. [PK, CSz]
  6. ↑ Cécile Furtado, known as Furtado-Heine (1821-1896), daughter of the Parisian banker Elie Furtado and, through her mother Rose Fould, grand-daughter of the Beers banker Léon Fould, had married Beer Karl (Charles) Heine, a wealthy Frankfurt banker (1810-1865). Childless widow and the head of a considerable fortune, she adopted, in 1881, a young woman "born of unknown parents", Marguerite, known as Paule (1847-1903), who may have been the natural daughter of her brother Paul Furtado-Fould and his mistress (see the Wikipedia entry for him). Paule, who had married Michel Ney, duc d'Elchingen (1835-1881) in 1866, widowed in 1881, made a second marriage to Victor Masséna, duc de Rivoli et prince d'Esslingen in 1882, with whom she had three children. The eldest, Anne (Anna) Masséna d'Esslingen, husband of Louis d'Albufera, owed in fact part of her fortune to the families of Furtado-Fould and Heine through her mother (died 1903); but Proust seems to forget that her father, Victor Masséna (died 1910), was himself extremely wealthy, descending from a maréchal and prince under the Empire who was known for his considerable fortune which he had amassed during the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. [FL]
  7. ↑ In 1905 Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld had married Odile Chapelle de Jumilhac du Plessis de Richelieu (1879-1974), daughter of Armand Chapelle de Jumilhac du Plessis de Richelieu, duc de Richelieu (1847-1880) and the duchesse, née Alice Heine (1857-1925), who made a second marriage, in 1889, to Albert I, prince of Monaco. She was the daughter of Michel Heine (1819-1904), French banker and his wife, née Amélie Miltenberger (1832-1915). [PK, CSz]
  8. ↑ Charles Heine and Michel Heine were first cousins, sons respectively of Isaac Heine, German merchant based in Bordeaux, and of his brother Salomon, Hamburg banker. (A third brother, Samson, also a merchant, was father of the writer Heinrich Heine, who was therefore himself first cousin of Charles and Michel Heine.) At one time associated with the Fould Bank, Michel Heine had founded, in about 1876, along with his brother Armand the bank of MM. A. et M. Heine, renamed the Bank of Heine and Co. in 1883. See the genealogy of the Heine family and the inventory of the Fould Bank and the Heine Bank in the National Archives. [CSz]
  9. ↑ The duc de Guiche was the son of Agénor, duc de Gramont (1851-1925), and his second wife Margaretha (Marguerite) Alexandrine de Rothschild (1855-1905), who was one of the daughters of baron Mayer Carl von Rothschild (1820-1886), one of the directors of the bank of M A von Rothschild & Söhne in Frankfurt (see his biography). See the genealogy of the Rothschild family. [CSz]
  10. ↑ Comte and comtesse Henri Greffulhe, parents of the duchesse de Guiche, née Elaine Greffulhe, had indeed many years to live: the comte died in 1932; and the comtesse, née Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, in 1952. [PK]
  11. ↑ Proust is alluding here to a misunderstanding concerning the debit balance of his liquidation account relating to the sale of stocks in Mexico Tranways bought at term. Lionel Hauser, after his examination of Proust's account statements, had just furnished him with detailed explanations to dissuade him from filing a claim, in his letters dating from 26 August 1916 (CP 03184 and CP 03185; Kolb, XV, no. 120 and no. 121) and 29 August 1916 (CP 03187; Kolb, XV, no. 123). On the investments with Mexican Tramways see also CP 02812 (Kolb, XIII, no. 161), and Rubén Gallo, Proust's Latin Americans, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014, p. 73-89. [CSz, NM]
  12. ↑ Translation notes:
  13. ↑ Contributors: Yorktaylors.
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