Voltaire thanks Guazzesi for sending him a book [Guazzesi’s translation of Alzire, published together with Racine’s Iphigenie in 1762], adding that he is too ill to thank him in his own hand, the letter instead being written by his secretary. Voltaire goes on to say that Iphigenie was worthy of being translated by Guazzesi, but that the translator does others [Voltaire] too much honour. He then turns to Guazzesi’s poetry, remarking that his compositions are instructive and agreeable, before speaking of the ancient Romans, noting that they had an unrefined sense of humour. He adds that he can see the mountains that were crossed by Hannibal through his windows.

Falk notes that he is sending Goethe his play, Amphitruon, before writing in depth about the nature of drama, comedy, and tragedy. He discusses ways to produce dramatic material that is rich and productive enough to fill five acts, saying that the English use the trick of the double plot, whilst the French (such as Voltaire) use verbiage and rhetoric. The Greeks, he adds, use images, metaphors, and lyrical chants. He concludes by comparing modern and acient theatre.

De Loches thanks Rey for sending him copies of Voltaire’s comedies.

The manuscript is a comedy written very quickly – in a fortnight, if Voltaire is to be believed (D8933, D8959). Its style and theme echo those of Voltaire’s earlier sentimental comedies, such as Nanine (1749) with which it also has in common the deca-syllabic verse form.

The author of the letter offers their thoughts on a new comedy, ‘Le philosophe-soi-disant’, which was then performed in ‘our regions’. They make reference to Voltaire, calling him ‘Le philosophe de Genève’.

Voltaire writes that he and Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] are too attached to de Chabanon to allow him to exhaust his genius by making Alceste resemble Quinaut. He explains that de Chabanon embarrasses himself because the comedy that was once fashionable in the first operas is condemned today and that such comedy requires the author to substitute tenderness, the knot that ties, brilliance, and the theatrical. He then quotes verses from Alcide to Pluto: ‘If it is to insult you / To enter by force into your court, / Forgive my courage, / And give thanks to love.’ Voltaire writes that he and Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] would not speak so boldly to any but de Chabanon, adding that they could be wrong but do not want to deceive him and imploring de Chabanon to see this frank speech as proof of a tender friendship. He asks that de Chabanon loves and forgives them. In a postscript, Voltaire writes that he read part of the translation of des Georgiques and saw in it the extreme merit of the difficulty overcome. He adds that he did not expect to see so much poetry in the embarrassment of a translation and believes that this work will have a very high reputation among lovers of both ancient and modern writers.

The letter begins by discussing Iriarte’s admiration for Voltaire’s recent publication of an annotated edition of the works of Corneille. Iriarte notes that he read the translation of la Comedia de Calderon with particular care, before turning to the inadequacies of Spanish theatre. He adds that the King’s senior librarian, Mr. Blas Antiono Nassarre, is printing a version of the comedies of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedera, and that he has enclosed an exemplar of the prologue for Voltaire so that he can understand the history and progress of Spanish theatre and form a fair idea of it. He later adds that he hopes reading this prologue will allow Voltaire to reform the conclusions he made about Spanish theatre in his prologue to his translation of la Comedia de Calderon, which Iriarte suggests has offended the Spanish. Iriarte then defends Spanish theatre at length, in particular the works of Lope de Vega.