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Articles

The Last Will and Testament of Donatien-Alphonse-François Sade, Man of Letters

The Marquis De Sade’s actual will, translated into English by R J Dent.

For the execution of the clauses below, I rely upon the filial piety of my children, asking that they may act with regard to the clauses as they have done with regard to me.

First: It is my true wish to herein provide evidence regarding the esteemed lady, Marie-Constance Reinelle, wife of Monsieur Bathasar Quesnet, believed deceased; my true wish, as I say, to provide evidence regarding this lady, insofar as my limited powers permit, pertaining to my extreme gratitude for the care she has provided me and the sincere friendship she has shown me from the twenty-fifth of August, seventeen hundred and ninety, to the day of my death; succour extended by her not only with the utmost tact and lack of self-interest, but also with the most courageous energy, since, during the Reign of Terror, she saved me from the revolutionary blade which was only too assuredly suspended above my head, as everyone well knows. Therefore, in light of the explanations outlined above, I hereby legally will and leave to the said lady, Marie-Constance Reinelle, wife of Quesnet, the sum of eighty thousand livres, to be paid in cash from the Tours mint, in whatever currency is in use in France at the time of my passing, wishing and understanding that this sum be deducted from the freest and most unattached portion of my inheritance, and charging that my children deposit that sum in its entirety, within the space of a month from the day of my death, with Monsieur Finot, the solicitor at Charenton-Saint-Maurice, whom for this purpose I hereby name executor of my will and whom I instruct to utilize the said sum of money in the manner which is, without doubt, the securest and most advantageous to Madame Quesnet, and in a manner guaranteed to provide her with an income sufficient for her sustenance and support; an income which shall be, without fail, forwarded to her on a quarterly basis; which shall also be not transferable and not attachable to or by any other person whatsoever. I hereby stipulate moreover, that following the demise of his worthy mother, the principal and the sale of the above-mentioned endowment be revertible only to Charles Quesnet, son of the said dame Quesnet, who shall become the proprietor of the total.

And these instructions which I here express concerning the inheritance I leave to Madame Quesnet, I implore my children, in the unlikely case that they should seek to evade or avoid their legal responsibilities, I urge them to remember that they had promised the same dame Quesnet, a sum roughly similar in recognition of the care she took of their father, and as this present document merely concurs with and anticipates their initial intentions, any doubts as to their acquiescence to my final wishes is forever banished from my mind and will never for a moment trouble it further, especially when I reflect upon the filial virtues which have never ceased to characterize them and make them fully worthy of my paternal sentiments.

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