Voltaire writes that it will be three months before the Crammers are able to provide copies of the Histoire Universelle, adding that he is working on the text as much as his poor health allows, and that as soon as the work is ready for publication he will try his best to fulfil the wishes of the recipient. He concludes by saying that he wishes he could provide the recipient with more solid proof of the true esteem and feelings he has for them.

In the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s catalogue entry, the recipient of this letter is given as Jean-Baptiste Rousseau. However, in the textual notes of both D8975 and D6577, Besterman instead suggests that the recipient was M. Durand.

Racine writes that he sees from the letter Dr. Heerckens received from Amsterdam (which he sent Racine a copy of) that he has fled from a violent enemy because of his love for Rousseau. Racine advises him not to take Rousseau’s side so warmly because he must avoid literary quarrels. He advises Dr. Heerckens to let people think what they will of Rousseau in Amsterdam and to also let them condemn Racine for having defended him, with Racine adding that he is indifferent to these condemnations. He then references a letter in the journaux de Trévoux, stating that one may think of it what one will but everything in it is true. He ends by saying that if Dr. Heerckens has read the new edition of l’Histoire universelle by Voltaire then he will be indignant at the way in which Voltaire speaks of those who write Latin verse not as poets but as writers using a dead language.