Voltaire discusses Candide as if he is not the author of it. Voltaire begins by acknowledging receipt of Thiériot’s letter, as well as some brochures, and a further letter from Mme. Bellot. He asks Thiériot for Mme. Bellot’s address as she has not dated her letter and so he neither knows when it was sent nor where she now lives. Voltaire notes that he will repay the ‘small advances’ Thiériot had given him to ‘decorate’ his mind. He then turns to Candide and writes that he has read the text and that it amuses him more than Histoire générale des Huns, des Turcs… by Guignes and all of Thiériot’s essays on trade and finance. Voltaire recounts that two young people from Paris told him that they look like Candide and Voltaire adds that he thinks he resembles Mr. Pococurante, but that God saves him ‘from having the slightest part in this work.’ He concludes that it is likely that Mr. Joly de Fleury will convince the assembled chambers that Candide is a book against morals, laws, and religion and thus that it would be better to live in the land of Oreillons than in Paris. He quips that Parisians used to be like monkeys who frolic but now want to be roaring oxen, something Voltaire does not feel suits them. Voltaire ends the letter with a latin phrase reading: ‘si quid novi, scribe, et cum otiosus eris, veni, et vale.’

Voltaire begins by asking Marie-Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand for a topic of conversation, saying that he likes to talk to her but does not have a subject on which to write. He states that he is neither devout nor ungodly, and that he is a lone farmer buried in a barbaric country, likening those in Paris to monkeys and those in Ferney as bears. He notes that he avoids both where possible, but that the teeth and claws of persecution have lengthened until his retirement and wish to poison his last days. Voltaire then claims that the King, who is not jealous of either his verse or prose, will not believe his persecutors and will not use his powers to expatriate a 65-year-old patient who has only done good in the country he lives in. He then turns to Jean-Philippe-René de La Bléterie whom he reports is a Janesnist seeking the protection of the Duc de Choiseul. He speaks of his dislike of La Bléterie because he insulted Voltaire in the notes of his translation of Tacitus. Voltaire questions why anyone seeking the favour of the Duc de Choiseul should insult him in passing. He concludes with a discussion of the ‘innocent and cheerful pieces’ that the Marquise spoke to him about, asking how he should send them to her, and musing on whether sending them to her would result in malicious jokes and slander.