The manuscript is a poem comprised of fifteen lines, with a rhyme scheme ABBA CDDC EEC FGFG. Alluding to an archetypical tension between nature and nurture, the lyrical subject suggests that nature claims victory over its rival. For more contextual information on the content of the manuscript, see Voltaire’s friendly letter to Marquise d’Ussé in December 1734 (D810). The poem is also known by its alternative title ‘L’Art et la nature’.

A collection of about 60 poems and essays, primarily elegies, occasional verses, and verse epitaphs on the subjects of solitude, death, and the nature of humanity. The volume contains poems by Joseph Butler, John Dyer, David Garrick, James Grainger, Thomas Gray, Richard Jago, Charlotte Lennox, James Marriott, Ambrose Philips, Petrarch, William Vernon, Thomas Wharton, Isaac Watts, William Whitehead, Anthony Whistler, and Mrs. Barber. Other poem titles include: Ode to death, possibly by Abraham Richard Hawksworth; Virgil’s tomb; Ode to solitude and one in French, Epistle de Mr. Voltaire.

With several Religious Tracts collected by him from several Authors. Inside flyleaf contains a marriage certificate in the time of Cromwell (Worcestershire), 1656/57. The collection includes:
1-50: Description of the Roman Road leading from York to Lincoln, with historical and archaeological notes about various places along the route (Lincolnshire places only mentioned below):
6: Marton
8: Wintringham
9: Winterton, Ferriby Sluice
10: Winterton, Roman pavement etc, discovered 1747
12-13: Winterton, sketch of site
15: Winterton, sketch of part of mosaic
20: Coleby, WEst Halton, Alkborough
21: Thealby, Fixborough
23: Crosby, Scunthorpe
25: Bagmoor, Burringham
26-28: Sketches of spear, dagger and axe heads (British)
31: Risby, Roxby
32: Sketch of Roman pavement at Roxby
34: Winterton
36: Appleby, Broughton
37: Scawby
39: Sketch map of the road from Wintringham to Lincoln, showing places along the route.
40: Redbourne, Grayingham
41: Spital
42: Harpswell, Glentworth
43: Till Bridge Lane
47: Hibaldstow
48: Great Limber
49: Thornton Curtis

50-62: Topographical extracts from various sources relating to various localities in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire:
50: Isle of Axholme: Belton, Temple Belwood
56: Isle of Axholme: Kinnard, Melwood
57: Brocklesby, North Kelsey, Hibaldstow
58: Broughton by Brigg
59: Hirst Priory
60: Belton
62: Waterton, parish of Luddington

63-161: Religious Tracts:
63-70: From the Revd Mr Hervey’s Meditations
71-73: Mr Whiston’s epitaph; for his tomb at Lyndon, Rutland
73-74: Clement of Alexandria
75-92: Dr Edwards on contentment
93-111: Abraham Taylor on saving faith
[Taylor was a Presbytarian minister in London; his work was printed in 1730]
112-127: John Wesley: Who is a Christian – from a letter to the Revd Dr Conyers (1769)
127-128: John Wesley: Further Appeal to men of Reason and Religion re the Baptists and Quakers
129-131: Lord Bolingbroke’s Letters – of Sacred History
132-135: Propositions of the Parliament of Paris, and the Pope’s rejection of them (1713)
136-157: Preface to the lectures of Mr Adam (rector of Wintringham), published 1753
158-161: Mr Wesley’s answer to Mr Church’s second letter

162-166: Extracts from Burton’s “Monasticon Eboracum” concerning the Axholme and Marshland areas of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Crowle, Luddington, Eastoft and Carlton near Lincoln.

167-169: Confession of faith of the King of Prussia. Ratisbon, 1754

170: Notes about Snaith, Yorkshire

Index (to all sections).
On the last page is a passage from Voltaire.