For nearly 250 years, the letters, more than 100 of them, sat sealed in Britain’s National Archives, unopened and unexamined until a history professor stumbled upon them.
He found, to his delight, a treasure trove bearing intimate details about romance and daily life in mid-18th-century France.
Inside the box, Dr. Morieux found three bundles of letters.
Only three of the letters had been opened, most likely by a low-level clerk shortly after the British Navy had received them from France.
The clerk may have deemed them not worthy of further inspection and put them into storage, where they were forgotten about.
Persons:
fiancées, pining, Renaud Morieux, Morieux
Organizations:
National Archives, British Navy, University of Cambridge
Locations:
France, London