Donatien-Alphonse-François, marquis de SADE. 2L.A.S., [Paris] March 17 and November 7 [1792], to his lawyer Gaspard Gaufridy in Apt; 1page in-4 and address, and 4pages in-4. Concerns about his trip to Provence, and looting of Château de La Coste. March 17. He is worried about not receiving any news from his "dear lawyer"; he is only waiting for his reply and "my May quarter to get me on my way". Is it safe to come and see him? "Would it be better for me to stay in a house I could rent in the village than to settle in the château? [...] They say that your province is so tumultuous today, that one doesn't dare venture to go there without being reassured by those who live there and see things more closely. However, my travel is indispensable, and you have urged me to do so, for a thousand and one reasons"... November 7th. He would like to know the truth about "the devastation of the chateau de la Coste"; Rainaud says that "the chateau is ruined and demolished from top to bottom", and Paulet writes to him "that the chateau has been pillaged, that some interior partitions have been destroyed, but that the house is whole and so well that the municipality has had the door bricked up"... He demands "the report of the damage"... He urges Gaufridy (refugee in Lyon): "I see with the greatest pain your delay in going to Provence, don't go to Apt if you think it would be imprudent, but in God's name go to Avignon or the surrounding area, I'll be ruined, I'll die of hunger if you don't go [...Today, 7 9bre 54 days later, I won't know where to go for dinner; misery's approach makes me shudder, and I'll get there without you; in God's name, don't abandon me"... He wants to reclaim what has been looted from him: "Three or four days later, carts from Marceille came to take everything away"... He also complains about his farmer... "Since I'm the one who has to give you news from la Coste, I'll tell you that I know there's been a lot of wine drunk, Paulet tells me word for word, they drank your best wine. If there was still wine for me in my cellar, it's certainly that one, if there's none left, it's the farmer's. [...] Do Messieurs les municipaux de la Coste have the right to stop the wheat in the hands of my farmer, it seems to me that this is still what should be known"... He sympathizes with Gaufridy's suffering, and with the horrible injustice concerning him... Etc.