Provost Goodall recounts his journey through France, beginning with a description of Dijon. He remarks upon his arrival in Geneva and includes a description of a visit to Ferney during which time he viewed Voltaire’s rooms.

This manuscript relates to Votaire’s ambitious, yet ultimately unsuccessful project of building a church. His intentions are documented in his correspondence with various individuals, including Chauvelin, Thiriot, Helvetius, Marmontel, Algarotti, and d’Argental.

The memorandum was written in Ferney and is dated 31 May 1761. It concerns the rebuilding of the church at Ferney and addresses the various concerns raised about this rebuilding.

The letter seems to have been addressed to Voltaire’s printer in Geneva, Crammer. It mentions Joseph Marie Terray, finance minister under Louis XV, who had encouraged the censorship of some of Voltaire’s works. Also included is a pen and ink drawing of the church Voltaire erected in Ferney, beneath which is Voltaire’s dedicatory inscription ‘Deo erexit Voltaire 1761’. His name in this inscription has been written in large letters.

The collection includes: historical miscellanea on government, law, political philosophy, church hierarchy, and contemporary politicians. Notes on Carolingian, Confucian, Solomonic, Egyptian, Roman, Athenian, and Spartan laws; on slavery and legal status of mixed-race children in the West Indies; on the Spanish Inquisition and Protestant Reformation; on English kings and queens; against universal suffrage; on Catholic clergy in Ireland; on the House of Commons; axioms of Burgleigh [sic]; a few brief riddles and verse satires. Includes a brief excerpt from David Hume’s History of England, quotes from la Bruyere, Byron, Dryden, Voltaire, and others, and several excerpts in French, and a few in Latin. Entries dated 1821-1840.