Charles LECONTE DE LISLE (1818-1894). Autograph poem signed, Le Chapelet des Mavromikhalis; 3pages in-fol. Important poem collected in Poèmes tragiques (Alphonse Lemerre, 1884). It consists of 14 quatrains, and is inspired by the Greek War of Independence, in which the Mavromichalis family distinguished themselves. The rosary is an enfilade of the skulls of beheaded Turks hanging on the walls of Pyrgos. We quote the first and last stanzas. "The Mavromikhalis, the eagles of old Magne, Stalked three hundred Turks in the black gorge, And, from dawn to noon, make it whistle and rain Bullets and rocks from the mountain's hard ridge. [...] Turks' skulls gleam like lilies all around; And the shepherd, dressed in his woolen breeches, Who grazes his black sheep above the plain, Smiles at the rosary of the Mavromikhalis.