Prince August apologises for the late return of his family book on the part of himself an the undersigned (W. Schlick, M.A. von Thümmel, Frackenbergs, and S.), making especial note of an entry by one ‘S.S.’ dated 8th April. He notes that he recruited a well-known prosaic and poetic writer, Voltaire, whom he highly values for the performance, quoting from Voltaire’s Stances Irregulières. He then turns to politics, mentioning Napoleon, before returning to the family book, noting that nobody understood the deep meaning of S.S.’s entry for they could not recognise the forest for the trees. He ends with references to the witch’s meal in Faust.

Schiller writes that he had suspected that Goethe was translating Voltaire’s “Tancred”, which was certainly very beneficial to the theatrical purpose. Nevertheless, he adds that he sincerely hopes that “Faust” will replace it. Schiller then goes on to say that there are great difficulties to overcome with the scheme for La Pucelle d’Orleans, adding that what bothers him about the piece is that it cannot be divided into a few large sections, making it necessary to dare to reinvent the form for a new subject and always keep the concept of genre flexible. He concludes by saying that if he does not go to Lauchstädt, he will withdraw to Ettersburg for a while to work.