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** THE 7 YEARS WAR - FONTENILLE CORRESPONDENCE - COVER EX P.O.W. ON PAROLE IN TAVISTOCK; 1 July 1762 EL (full typed transcript) from "Fontenille" while a POW on Parole in "Tavistock" to his uncle in Floransac charged "16" - posted in "RENNES" (fair s. line on the front - possibly landed at nearby St. Malo). The writer says; "I did not allow a single vessel to leave, not even the Caravan, without giving you my news ... I was reduced to such great poverty that I was obliged to draw on you a bill of exchange of one hundred ecus M de St Sernin, Captain of the Grenadiers in the Regiment, had lent me some money .... [It costs] 54 livres per month for board and lodging without wine or beer. 18 francs a room, wine at 45 sols per bottle ... It is more expensive - double and triple - than in France... The aromatic baths that I am made to take three times a week and the great exercise that I do contributes a lot to my recovery ... a year of siege, or blockade, reduced me to sad misery; plus 6 months voyage in a ship, one on top of the other, and salted meat - never enough - all this was very hard to stomach when I arrived...". . Fascinating 7 Years War letter from a POW captured in India. [See MFPWE, p. 51.]Cross Reference: FRANCE, MILITARY - P.O.W. MAIL, DEVON, INDIA
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