Born in Paris 1740; died in the madhouse at Charenton, 1814.
De Sade, a man of noble family and high position, being
Lieutenant-General of Bresse and Valroney, appears at the age of
twenty-six to have been seized with a form of insanity which only
showed itself in the use of obscene language, writings, and deeds.
He was arrested at Marseilles in 1772 for a terrible offence against
public morality, and from that time, under a _lettre de cachet_,
was imprisoned in various fortresses, amongst others Vincennes and the
Bastille. During this imprisonment he wrote those notoriously obscene
books which have rendered his name infamously famous. He was liberated
in 1790 by the decree which released all prisoners imprisoned under
_lettres de cachet_.
His wife obtained a separation from him, and for the next ten years he
continued to publish books and plays of the most appalling immorality.
When Bonaparte returned from Egypt, De Sade sent him copies of his two
novels, “Juliette” and “Justine,” illustrated by himself, and with a
dedication to the First Consul. Napoleon, filled with disgust, had
the books burned, and De Sade arrested as a dangerous lunatic, and
incarcerated in the madhouse at Charenton, where he died fourteen years
later.
Those who visited him there describe him as a venerable looking old
man, with beautiful features and abundant snow-white hair, exquisite
manners and an amiable expression; but as soon as he opened his mouth,
every word he spoke was either indecent or profane.