Abstract
Regarding the analytical perspective, we will try to propose a mesh between the "old" rhetorical perspective, such as, in particular, that the numerous secretaries or epistolography manuals propose and exemplify, often with a didactic aim, and a "new" rhetoric perspective broadening to include a discourse analysis approach. The tools offered by the new rhetoric, pragmatics and discourse analysis1 offer a broader hermeneutic framework than that of epistolary rhetoric retained by specialists of the Ancien Régime, a framework going beyond the single argumentative perspective and showing itself to be more sensitive to the interactional dimension of epistolary practice in general and that of compliments in particular.