Presented as a project to dedicate the Commentaires sur Corneille to the King, dating the MS to 1761 at the latest. Theodore Besterman refutes this idea, arguing that in 1761 Voltaire did not address the King in person. Jeroom Vercruysse has suggested that the MS was a draft dedication that did not succeed, and that can be dated from 1747.

Louis Benjamin Aunet, baron du Montmoreau, writes to Pierre Laulaine de Sudrac to return the last two volumes of Voltaire’s Commentaires sur Corneille (1764) that de Sudrac had kindly allowed him to borrow. He goes on to discuss various aspects of French arts, music, and culture.