GOUGES (Olympe de). Address to the Don Quixote of the North. - Lot 99

GOUGES (Olympe de). Address to the Don Quixote of the North. Paris, De l'Imprimerie nationale, 1792. 16-page in-8 booklet, unbound. Remarkable pamphlet by Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), who addresses the King of Prussia to obtain his removal from French territory. Here you are, defeated, disloyal potentate, sad destroyer of giants, little wren of the usurped earth! Endure the epigram, if you have the strength: listen to reason, if you can become wise. I'm not General Dumouriez, to treat you like a great king, or, to put it better, to persiffrate you royally. [...] I'm going to teach you who I am: an extraordinary animal, if you like, but a healthy thinker; one of those beings bent for centuries under the tyrannical yoke of male prejudice; that's enough to tell you that I'm a woman, but one of those women who equal our great men in virtue and courage. [...] You are a king, and therefore small and mediocre: nevertheless, I am willing to talk to you as if you were a man. [...] Believe me, Frederick, be the first to give this example of prudence, if there is still time; strengthen your faltering crown; learn from the school of Louis XVI to become a good king, the friend of your people rather than of your courtiers.