The manuscript is a lettre en vers, featuring a poem comprised of ten lines. The author remarks on V: M: L’Epître à sa Béatitude madame l’abbesse de Quedlimbourg, and praises the courage of an unnamed princess, speculatively Anna Amalia, Abbess of Quedlinburg. Additionally, according to T. D. N. Besterman, the foliation is 20.

The manuscript is a draft of a letter praising Frederick II, especially his virtues of hospitality and kindness. Additionally, the author draws parallels between the potential for passionless love for God and that for mathematical truths.

The entries for the year 1824.5 and 6 are short, but those for 1827-32 provide a full account of those years. There is much material on his own career and his decision to give up his ambassadorship to Berlin in 1827; on the Canning and Goderich administrations; on Roman Catholic Emancipation; and on the Reform Bill crisis of 1831-2; as well as accounts of his travels abroad, with particularly full account of a trip in Scandinavia in the summer of 1828. The entries are written on one side of the page, until the last page of the volume, p.129, whereupon the volume is turned upside down and begun again, the entries being on the reverse side of the page.
‘Nov. 1828 Vienna[…] It is asserted that not only Pahlen found the greatest difficulty in getting the Grand Dukes to consent, but that he never mentioned [? unvedu] as any part of the plan, under any contingency. Indeed, Russians tell you that the murder was an impromptu, as they had not expected that a man of such doubtful courage would have been so intractable. But Constantine once told Rasumoffsky, that Paul had come to his room on the evening preceding the murder, and had thrashed the valet because he could not tell him where the Grand Duke then was, and (added C.’s) it was a lucky chance that P. did not examine the room, for on the table lay a quarto volume of Voltaire, opened at the passage in which Brutus justifies to Cassius the murder of Caesar. ‘Et ne crois-tu pas a ton caractere donner demente, Si tu sents en balance une vie a la patrie.'[…]

Authors referenced in the catalogue include: Boileau, C. La Bruyere, Corneille, La Fontaine, Rousseau, Voltaire, Jean-François Marmontel, Fenelon, Aesop, Caesar, Horace, Plutarch, and Virgil. Over 200 titles are listed.

On p.99, Lord Clanwilliam notes ‘p.99 Constantine once told my uncle, that Paul had come to look for him in his room, and had thrashed the valet because he could not tell Paul where Constantine just then was, and, added the Grand Duke, it was a lucky chance that Paul did not examine the room. He would have found a quarto volume of Voltaire open at the passage, where Brutus justifies to Cassius the murder of Caesar: “Eh, ne crois-tu pas à ton charactère donner démenti, Si tu mets en balance une vie a la patrie”. (It is but fair to say, that the Grand Duke C. was always ready to boast of his French literature; did so to me at Karlsbad.) Kutaisoff was Paul’s valet, and had been ennobled, and made Master of the Horse. He kept a Mlle Chevalier, and adjourned to his mistress, changing his dress as soon as Paul was in bed.’ This is the same anecdote told in D3044/F/4.

Voltaire writes that he has the honour of being between Cicero and Caesar. He notes that they are people of Algarotti’s country that the recipient would do much better at talking to them than Voltaire who adds that they embarras him a lot. He ends by saying that as soon as the task is done well or badly, he will put himself in the ‘historical jumble’ and obey Algarotti’s orders.