Includes verses about Lord Chesterfield; Pope’s satire on Lord Hervey; Lord Hervey’s reply to the letter; Verses composed by Lords Chesterfield and Bath on Miss Lepel, a Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline, consort of George II; and verses composed by Voltaire on Miss Lepel, later Lady Hervey

Voltaire discusses his views on metaphysics in response to Louis-Martin Kahle (1712-1775), professor and dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Göttingen and makes a brief mention his encounter with Sir Isaac Newton in England. Voltaire had published Métaphysique de Newton in 1740, a text which would later form the first part of his Elements de la philosophie de Newton. Voltaire writes that he had been much criticised by some German doctors and his ‘Courte réponse’ is a reply to this criticism. The text ends with a passage in English which quotes John Milton’s Paradise Lost: ‘and reason’d high / of providence, fore knowledge, will, and fate: / fix’t fate, free will, fore knowledge absolute: / And foud non end, &c’ (l.558-61).

Du Châtelet thanks Thiériot for the trouble he has taken in order that she may have the finest house in Paris and notes that she has received an answer from the crown prince about her Essai sur le feu. She writes that she hopes to inspire him with a taste for physics and make him give up his mania for verse because ‘one can very well be a mediocre physicist, but it is not permitted to be a bad poet.’ Du Châtelet writes that since Thiériot left her, she has developed an interest in lawsuits and then turns to literary and artistic news, mentioning among others Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Francesco Algarotti, Roland Desalleurs, John Hervey, Jean-Henri Castéra, Jean-Nicolas Formont, and Jean-Philippe Rameau.