Bolaffi asks that the booksellers, Dey and Gravier, be kind enough to give to Mr. Daninos (the deliverer of the letter) the fifty copies of La Henriade that Bolaffi had translated into Italian. He notes that these copies were sent to Dey and Gravier by Mr. Fayolle, another bookseller.

According to an unknown editor, the foliation is 321-330.

This epic poem explores the mythological founding figures of Friesland, drawing inspiration from Voltaire’s Henriade. It stands as Jonkheer Willem van Haren’s most celebrated work.

The inscription is a quote from Voltaire and reads: ‘Qui depuis…! Mais alors il etait vertueux. Voltaire.’ The quotation is taken from La Henriade (Chant 8).

The manuscript is an autograph letter starting with a poem comprised of two stanzas. The main body of the letter reflects on the writer’s stay at the château de Maulevrier and their engagement with Voltaire’s literary works, notably Tancrede and La Henriade. The author also mentions Le sujet de poësie proposed by L’académie française and his unsuccessful efforts in acquiring the dictionaire enciclopédique.

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.

This manuscript differs slightly to the published text. Guibert opens his letter by saying that noone dares to say ‘I too am a poet’ after reading the verses of Voltaire and so he is writing in prose because it is a language that belongs to all men. He notes that Voltaire’s masterpieces will become monuments. He implores Voltaire to contine to abhor war and claims to have just travelled 2000 leagues, on which journey he saw almost everywhere the traces of taxes and very few vestiges of war. He notes that it is said that in his tireless research Voltaire had discovered a nation that lives on the Ganges that has never experienced war, and Guibert remarks that he needs to read the story of these ‘strange people’ to believe this is true, asking Voltaire to write such a story. He notes that even if the traveller who told the tale to Voltaire mistook a moment’s peace for an immemorial situation, Voltaire should embelish the fable because it would give lessons to sovereigns, pleasure to his readers, and a sweet moment of illusion to all honest people. Guibert then writes that if ever some vapour of vanity could rise to his head, it would be when Voltaire praises him. He adds that he wishes fate would taken him back to the Alps again, but it is in Paris, in the middle of Voltaire’s glory, that he hopes to see him again because Voltaire’s days would be extended by well wishes and he would be able to ‘complete a century that would rightly be called yours.’ He notes that he would collect Voltaire’s last words and that his grave would become an altar.

Walpole writes to introduce Voltaire, whom he describes as ‘a Poet, and an ingenious one, who is lately gone for England to print by subscription an excellent Poem called Henry ye 4th’.

Voltaire writes that not only is he a defector, but he is also a lazy man. He apologises for this laziness by saying that he has been working on an Italian opera of the tragedy of Semiramis (Rome sauvée) and on correcting almost all of his works. He also notes that he has wasted time learning what little German it takes to avoid missing out on a trip, which he adds is quite difficult at his age. He writes that the recipient will find it ridiculous that at the age of 56 the author of La Henriade would decided to want to speak German to servants in cabaret, but adds that the think in that manner would be to reproach him more harshly than he deserves. Voltaire writes that his ‘transmigration’ has cost his heart a great deal but that she has such reasonable, legitimate, and respectable motives that noone can blame him for complaining about no longer being in France. He adds that he hopes to have the happiness of embracing the recipient at the end of November and writes the the recipient and himself were made to run fields together, like old troubadours, with Voltaire building a theater and putting on plays wherever he finds himself. He notes that is is a pleasant thing to have found a prince and a princess of Prussia of Mademoiselle Gausin’s stature, but concludes that Mademoiselle Gausin is superior to the princess. Voltaire then returns to his attempts to learn German, remarking that ‘German is for soldiers and for horses; it is only necessary for the road, before noting that he is flattered by the number of people brought to him in Koenigsberg who know his verses by heart and who do not try to poke fun at him because they aren’t jealous of him. In the concluding section of the letter, Voltaire says that he will not give any details about the life he leads with the King, but reveals that it is a ‘philosopher’s paradise’. He writes: ‘It is Ceasar, it’s Marc Aurèle, it’s Julien, it’s sometimes the Abbé de Chaulieu, with whom we sup; it’s the charm of retirement, it’s the freedome of the countryside with all the little comforts of life that a lord of a castle who is a king can procure for his humble guests.’