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 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.

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.

Voltaire discusses his comedy writing, particularly in relation to his ‘Moors’. He notes that he has received d’Argental’s draft of the third act and thanks him for ‘aiding the weaknesses’ of his imagination, though he begs him not to imitate the Italian actors. Voltaire then discusses fireworks, claiming that the use fireworks for the sake of it imitates the Italians, but to use them to explain a secret and unravel a plot seemed to be a good use of them. He then provides some critical remarks on act one, commenting on the plot and music, and noting areas where he feels he is not immitating anyone else. He adds that d’Argental felt that there were two themes to the act: tenderness and comedy. He counters d’Argental’s claims that the act is comedic, noting that the scene between the princess and her confidante is one of the ‘least bad’ of the whole work. Voltaire concludes by saying that the whole play will be a beautiful spectacle but that the prologue must be given to Rameau. He adds that he would rather discuss things in person but that that would mean either d’Argental travelling to Cirey or Voltaire travelling to Paris so large packages will have to do instead.