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.

Voltaire writes to “R”, who is going to Berlin on an amorous mission, and teases him about his love affair.

Voltaire writes that after having seen their friends in Colmar, suffered from indigestion caused by venison, cured his postilion with cinchona and his mare with wine, and travelling like a tortoise, he has the pleasure of writing to Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] as soon as he had a moment alone. He says that he arrived in Strasbourg at dinner time and that the steward told him that the Elector Palatin had just lost Dusseldorf to the Hanoverians. He critiques briefly the Minister of State Nicolas-René Berryer and notes that the Empress of Austria has both generals and ministers. He also adds that the manouvers of Count Leopold Joseph von Daun are to be admired as he took all the ammunition of the King of Prussia, and his military chest [at the battle of Domstadt, 30 June 1758]. Voltaire remarks that the Count of Daun defeated a body of eleven thousand men, two battalions of Prussian grenadiers laid down their arms and the rest were killed, dispersed, or taken. Frederick II of Prussia then quickly lifted the siege of Hormuz. Voltaire writes that Frederick was in Silesia and that before three weeks are up he will probably be between the Russians and the Austrians, adding that this is how fortune is made. Voltaire then turns away from news of battle to his own health. He remarks that he finds himself very ill everywhere that he is far from Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] and asks her to embrace for him all that is in her and love a little a man who breathes only to love her with all his heart. He writes that Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] is his consolation. In answer to her questions about his passport, he notes that he has it with him but does not use it, remarking that all doors are open to him and noone enquires as to whether he is received well or badly at Court but instead simply shrug their shoulders. He discusses his hopes of being able to buy castles in Lorraine and the estates of Champigneulles from the Count of Fontenoy and talks of the beatuy of the palaces in Strasbourg. Voltaire ends the letter by saying that he raises his hands to heaven in the hopes of seeing Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] [née Mignot] again soon.