In the manuscript, the poem is titled: ‘Quatrains par Voltaire sur le malheur d’avoir près de 50 ans’.

Jaucourt sent the manuscript to Théodore Tronchin on 4 November 1743.

There exist two vastly different copies of this poem, perhaps suggesting that one was authored by Voltaire, and the other by Saurin.

The verse seems to have been composed during Voltaire’s stay at Cirey, likely in September/October 1734.

The poem was written to celebrate the marriage of Élisabeth Sophie de Lorraine to Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duc de Richelieu.

Voltaire acknowledged the receipt of a manuscript from Lacombe on 29 May 1775. The similarity with MS1 might also suggest a connection with the Marquis d’Argenson’s copy.

The manuscript is a poem featuring a dichotomy between knowledge and feelings.

Voltaire states that he is currently in Cambray, where he has been received much better than he ever has been in Paris. He adds that if this continues, he will abandon his homeland unless Thieriot promises to love him always.

The poem concerns vengeance and love.