The manuscript, an autograph letter, is a panegyric about Voltaire written in verse and comprised of four stanzas. The poem equates Voltaire with Virgil, Torquato Tasso, and Homer, and deems Voltaire entitled to Corneille’s laurel crown.

Frederick remarks upon how busy he is, claiming that many matters require his attention at present. He goes on to note that he will no longer be shocked after what he has witnessed during this monstrous century, writing that his books from Berlin are his only consolation. Frederick then mentions the works he has been reading, notably Charles Batteux’s Les Beaux-arts réduites à un même principe (1746), before discussing a series of literary figures including Nicolas Boileau, Virgil, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean Racine, Homer, Pierre Corneille, Joseph de La Grange Chancel, Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, and Voltaire.

The volume contains extracts, notes and sketches on chronology, history, Mediterranean topography, demography and other miscellaneous subjects, taken from ancient, late antique and modern sources, including Voltaire, in English, French, Latin and Greek.