Circa 500 letters written by and to Madame du Deffand, arranged in chronological order. The main correspondents are the Duc and Duchesse de Choiseul; the Abbe Barthelemy; and and with three to Horace Walpole. The letters primarily discuss social events and activities such as dinners, news about friends, quotations from acquaintances’ letters, popular songs, current reading, and routine expressions of friendship. Du Deffand frequently mentions Walpole and Voltaire in her letters to others; other topics include Barthelemy’s desire for a harpsichord; gossip about the comte de Guerchy, ambassador to London; a description of a gift of a chamber pot; her irritation with the incessant talk of the mathematician Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise Du Châtelet; and her opinions on the works Memoire de la Chalottais and La rivalte de l’Angleterre et de la France.

In the second letter dated 23 June 1771 to John Fitzpatrick, Lord of Ossory, Walpole discusses printing and antiquarian matters as well as gossip among their acquaintances. Walpole offers to print a pamphlet for Ossory at Strawberry Hill; shares his findings about the foundation and devices of Stoughton; and mentions various romantic attachments and pursuits of the British nobility, as well as gossips about Voltaire and the Duchess de Choiseul.