The manuscript is a poem comprised of fifteen lines, with a rhyme scheme ABBA CDDC EEC FGFG. Alluding to an archetypical tension between nature and nurture, the lyrical subject suggests that nature claims victory over its rival. For more contextual information on the content of the manuscript, see Voltaire’s friendly letter to Marquise d’Ussé in December 1734 (D810). The poem is also known by its alternative title ‘L’Art et la nature’.

Voltaire opens the letter by saying that it has been a long time since her wrote to Marie-Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand, describing himself as ‘Pierre Corneille’s pedantic commentator’. He then recounts a story of a local woman in his neighbourhood who, at the age of 104, had her periods return. He notes that jokers have suggested that she remarries, but that she loves her family too much to give her children brothers. Voltaire writes that this woman walks, digests, writes, and governs the affairs of her house very well, suggesting that the Marquise might follow her example. He adds that he doesn’t know of any comparable men, and that Bernard de Fontenelle is but a little boy compared to the Genevan woman. Voltaire then turns to François Augustin Paradis de Montcrif, whom Voltaire fears will ‘bury us all’. He remarks that Montcrif’s wig is better arranged and powdered than ever, and that Montcrif annoys him no end because he no longer writes little verses. Voltaire ends the letter by saying that he made a considerable loss in losing the Russian Empress as a subscriber, but that he immediately gained Maria Theresa as a subscriber instead. He implores the Marquise to live, digest, think, and laugh at the nonsense in the world.

The commonplace book features quotations from numerous individuals, including: Duclos, Moneril, Fontenelle, Marivaux, Corbillon, La Chaussée, Dufresni, Crebillon, and Voltaire.

The recueil includes patents and letters-patent for a number of individuals including Voltaire, Jean Racine, Pasquier Quesnel, Jean Law de Lauriston, Guillaume-François Joly de Fleury, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, André-Hercule de Fleury, François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, Gabrielle-Angélique de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Verneuil, Gabriel Daniel, Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, and Charles-Antoine Coypel.