Collini begins by offering Dupont his resects, noting that the mountains of Colmar are not pleasant, but that he would find them charming if Dupont were there. He adds that Voltaire, who sends Dupont his most tender compliments, has resolved to spend the winter in Colmar, noting that Voltaire looks on Dupont as a friend he cannot do without, and who will be his only consolation during the horrors of the cold. Collini remarks that Voltaire will stay in Colmar as long as there are sunny days, and will flee at the first frost.

Voltaire writes that after having seen their friends in Colmar, suffered from indigestion caused by venison, cured his postilion with cinchona and his mare with wine, and travelling like a tortoise, he has the pleasure of writing to Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] as soon as he had a moment alone. He says that he arrived in Strasbourg at dinner time and that the steward told him that the Elector Palatin had just lost Dusseldorf to the Hanoverians. He critiques briefly the Minister of State Nicolas-René Berryer and notes that the Empress of Austria has both generals and ministers. He also adds that the manouvers of Count Leopold Joseph von Daun are to be admired as he took all the ammunition of the King of Prussia, and his military chest [at the battle of Domstadt, 30 June 1758]. Voltaire remarks that the Count of Daun defeated a body of eleven thousand men, two battalions of Prussian grenadiers laid down their arms and the rest were killed, dispersed, or taken. Frederick II of Prussia then quickly lifted the siege of Hormuz. Voltaire writes that Frederick was in Silesia and that before three weeks are up he will probably be between the Russians and the Austrians, adding that this is how fortune is made. Voltaire then turns away from news of battle to his own health. He remarks that he finds himself very ill everywhere that he is far from Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] and asks her to embrace for him all that is in her and love a little a man who breathes only to love her with all his heart. He writes that Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] is his consolation. In answer to her questions about his passport, he notes that he has it with him but does not use it, remarking that all doors are open to him and noone enquires as to whether he is received well or badly at Court but instead simply shrug their shoulders. He discusses his hopes of being able to buy castles in Lorraine and the estates of Champigneulles from the Count of Fontenoy and talks of the beatuy of the palaces in Strasbourg. Voltaire ends the letter by saying that he raises his hands to heaven in the hopes of seeing Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] again soon.

Voltaire writes that he has just received a letter from m. Turkheim informing him that Schoepfling has satisfied his debt and so has nothing else to do but to beg Dupont to ‘put on the sheath’ and offer him his gratitude. He then notes that he and Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] will be spending the winter at Monrion and assures Dupont that he would be tempted to visit Colmar if there were not Jesuits. Voltaire then asks Dupont to tell Madame de Klinglin that she played a dreadful trick on him as she was at Saint-Claude just six miles from Voltaire in Délices. He adds that if she had told him he would have gone to visit her but he will now, instead, be forced to make a trip to Colmar. He concludes by syaing that new operas are being prepared in Italy, new comedies are going to be given in Paris, and a lottery of thirty million is also to be held.