Voltaire notes that he has been seriously ill and close to death, having caught a fever in a hotel he had stayed in. He adds the the Duc de Sulli is leaving his house to take Votlaire to Sulli, but that he will travel instead to Marguerite Madeleine Du Moutier, marquise de Bernières if she would prefer. Voltaire states his desire to go and take care of his health and Henri IV at her home, spending quiet days there. He adds that he hates crowds as much as he loves her so will not mind if she does not have company. He concludes by saying that he has no further news other that the smallpox of Mademoiselle de Sens and the disease of the king of Spain, adding that he wanted to write to his friend Thiériot but does not have the strength.

Voltaire begins by saying that he did not plead in council about the hundredth penny required for the sale of Tourney, but instead wrote to Monsieur de Chauvelin. He adds that in this letter, he noted that the land of Tourney is considered foreign, as it was in the old census, and exempt from all imposition and tax. He notes that he also wrote that it is preserved in its immunities, exemptions and franchises since the acquisition of the country of Gex by Henry IV; that these franchises were preserved by Louis XIV in the treaty of Arau 1658; and that the current King specially maintained this land in its privileges, by a patent to Mr de Brosses in 1755. Voltaire then states that he claims rights to the land and is ready to pay any necessary fees. He concludes by asking the recipient to send a copy of his letter to whomever may be interested in it.

The MS is part of a collection of letters that also includes:
f. 1 Milan, Duchy of. Ludovico Maria: Letter to, from P. de Comines: 1495.: Fr.
f. 1 Philippe de Comines, Sire d’Argenton: Letter to the Duke of Milan: 1495.: Fr.
f. 2 Cosmo I; Grand Duke of Tuscany: Letter to M. Niccolini and L. Ridolphi: 1537.
f. 2 Matheo Niccolini: Letter to, from Catherine de’ Medici: 1537.: Ital.
f. 2 Giorgio Ridolphi: Letter respecting his imprisonment at Florence: 1537: Ital.
f. 2 Luigi Ridolphi: Letter to, from C. de’ Medici: 1536.: Ital.
f. 4 Françoise de Harlay, wife of Robert de Harlay, Baron de Monglat: Letter to, from Elizabeth, Queen of Spain: 1560-1568.
f. 5 Philip II of Spain: Letter to the Estates of the Walloon Provinces: 1579.: Fr.
f. 5 Walloons: Letter to the Estates of the Walloon provinces, from Philip II. of Spain: 1579.: Fr.
f. 6 Sir John Floyer, MD (ob. 1734): Letter to W. Whiston: 1715.
f. 8 James II of England; Mary of Modena: Letter to Count Lauzun: circ. 1690.
f. 8 John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort; styled 1st Duke of Melfort: Letter on his political position at Rome: circ. 1690.
f. 8 Antoine Nompar de Caumont, Comte de Lauzun; Commanding French troops in Ireland: Letter to, from Qu. Mary of Modena: circ. 1690.: Fr.
f. 10 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire: Memorial to M. Girard: 1759.: Fr.
f. 11 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire: Poem entitled “Mon Testament”: 18th cent.: Hologr.
ff. 13, 14 Pius VII; Pope: Letter to L. Bonaparte: 1808.: Ital. and Fr.
ff. 13, 14 Letitia Ramolini Buonaparte, Mother of Napoleon I: Letters to, from Pius VII.: 1808.: Ital. and Fr.
f. 15 Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher: Letter relating to his epitaph on Voltaire: 1844.
f. 15 P- D- de Launey, Comte d’Entraigues: Letter to J. Sainsbury: 1844.
f. 15 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire: Letter relating to Rousseau’s epitaph on: 1844.

The recueil largely consists of satirical political songs, most of which are accompanied by a musical score and date to 1600-1745. The subjects of these works include: courts and courtiers of Henry IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Louis XV; the Fronde; and other political events of the 17th-18th centuries. The last volume contains a collection of epigrams, 1758-1759 and undated, some attributed to Voltaire.

Notes for the Siècle de Louis XIV said to pertain to ‘page 184’ and ‘page 187’ (See OCV, vol.13C, ch.29, p.131, l.657-64, and ch.30, p.138-40, l.102-46). Voltaire writes that they are emigrants who prefer the religion of their country and who go elsewhere to seek misery or fortune, following the example of their fathers driven from France by the fatal insult done to Henry IV in the destruction of his law called the Edict of Nantes. He then turns to officers dissatisfied with the ministry, accused persons who have escaped rigorous forms of sometimes badly administered justice, and states that this is what happens in all of the countries of the earth. The second section of the text then considers wheat. The parliament of Paris, Voltaire notes, issued a disastrous decree which forbade merchants from contracting any association for this trade and all individuals from making a heap of grain. This discouraged farmers and Monsieur [Jean-Baptiste] Colbert had no option but to buy from foreign merchants at high prices. Voltaire notes that the people were fed but the cost to the State was high. The fear of scarcity prevented the export of wheat and some intendants also boasted of inhibiting trade with neighbouring provinces. In good years, grain could only be sold by petition to the council and labourers turned away from growing corn as they knew they could not expect a great profit from it. Voltaire claims that this was the only stain on Colbert’s ministry. The issue was not rectified until 1764 when trade in grain was made free, with only a few restrictions, similar to those used in England.

Voltaire begins by telling Gravelot that he is entitled to his esteem and gratitude because La Henriade would be much better off if he had painted paintings as striking as Gravelot’s. He adds that he was charmed with the two designs that Mr. Crammer had shown him and then questios the depiction of St. Barthelémy, shown holding a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, asking if it wouldn’t be more fitting for his face to be seen so that he seemed inflamed with fury. Voltaire also proposes that he is drawn with a helmet on his head rather than a hat but leaves the decisions up to Gravelot. He then discusses the fourth canot, saying that he would not hate a few monks and a few armed priests, with grief-stricken religion looking at them with indignation. He suggests that they could be depicted with discord at their head and the Duc de Mayeune and a few leaguers on a balcony laughing at the monastic milicia. Voltaire then writes that the assassination of Henry III has been engraved for the fifth canto, and discusses the depiction of Henry IV, suggesting that he could be drawn on a chariot crossing the air to the astonishment of the priests. He adds that he has nothing to say about the other designs and leaves all decisions up to Gravelot. Voltaire then states that he regards Gravelot’s attentions as ‘the most flattering rewards for my old labours which have been almost forgotten.’ He adds that he never thought he could be remembered in posterity by that Gravelot teaches him otherwise. He concludes by claiming that he has been told that Gravelot is the brother-in-law of Mr. D’anville. He writes that D’anville had been kind enough to warn him of some errors that appeared in an essay on general history and begs Gravelot to remind D’anville of the esteem in which Voltaire holds him.