The manuscript features an after poem composed as a response to the verses written for Voltaire’s fête on 4 October 1767 by Messieurs de La Harpe (Jean-François de La Harpe) and de Chabanon (Michel-Paul Guy de Chabanon).
Detailed Summary:
The manuscript is an eleven-line poem, with a rhyme scheme ABBAAACACACA, authored for the poets La Harpe and Chabanon, mildly praising their literary talent. The latter was also an actor and a playwright who had been leisuring at Ferney. The poem is a response to ‘Vers de Monsieur de La Harpe à Monsieur de Voltaire, pour le jour de la Saint-Francois’. Voltaire’s response was featured in the periodical press. Additionally, in comparison with other manuscripts, line 12 has minor discrepancies, reading ‘Qu’ils m’ont pris aussi mon’.
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
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History
Date:
Post-4 October 1767
Ownership:
After Voltaire’s death, the MS passed into the ownership of Catherine II and remained in the imperial and then national collection thereafter.
Origin (transcript):
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Provenance:
This MS was probably taken to St Petersburg by Wagnière in the summer of 1779 along with the rest of Voltaire’s library.
Bibliography
Bibliography:
Fernand Caussy, Inventaire des manuscrits de la bibliothèque de Voltaire conservée à la bibliothèque impériale publique de Saint-Pétersbourg (Geneva, Slatkine reprints, 1970)