Voltaire signs the letter as: ‘le vieux mouton broutant au pied des alpes’.

Voltaire signs the letter as: ‘le vieux mouton broutant au pied des alpes’.

The manuscript is a letter written in the hand of Jean Hellot and narrating an anecdotal story of the princess Veuve du Czarevitz, the daughter of Peter the Great. Her biographical narrative is recounted in scrupulous detail, chronicling her marriages, widowhood, travels, counterfeit, feigned illness, and life in isolation. A Russian translation of this letter was published by Lyublinsky A, p p. 161–163, wrongly dated 1765.

This lengthy letter discusses certain figures in Russia’s leadership. Von Bassewitz talks about Peter the Third’s reign and that he may “incur a new war”, but luckily the war should be short and peace will reign shortly after. The letter then goes on to talk about a manuscript of the life of Alexis of Russia, and quotes directly from the manuscript. The quoted passage from the manuscript paints a picture of the child Alexis, who was neglected and given governors to care for him so that he would behave himself. Once he was given a good governor/ teacher, his genius began to show that he could speak, write, and draw very well. By 1705, he had read the Bible 5 times in Slavonian, one time in Luther’s German version, and the works of several Greek fathers. Then Von Bassewitz mentions some manuscripts regarding Peter the Great, who was the son of Alexis. The letter is signed “Your very humble and very obedient servant.” The letter has been misdated in the University of Southern California’s catalogue and should instead be dated 9 March 1762.

Frederick writes that he is angry that the story of the Tsar and his bad verses took so long to arrive. He notes that the good parts of his verse are merely imitations of Voltaire and confesses that the Parallèle de ma vie et de la cour cost him little, adding that Voltaire gives it more praise than it deserves. Frederick claims that it is more akin to a report of his occupations than a poetic piece, decorated with images that suit it and that he thought about not sending it to Voltaire because of its neglected style. He adds that he eagerly awaits the verses that Émilie du Châtelet is composing before turning to the subjects of gratitude that Voltaire has given him and the many things he has to say about Le Mondain, l’Ode à Émilie, and Mérope, composing his thoughts in 41 lines of verse. He then writes that Voltaire seems satisfied with the ‘mémoires’ of Tsar Peter I that Frederick had sent to him, and Frederick notes that he is happy to have been of use to Voltaire, stating that he will provide Voltaire with information about the Tsarina and the like of the ‘czarowitz’ and warning Voltaire that he will not be happy with how the prince ended his days at the hands of his ferocious and cruel father. Frederick writes that history is partly the archive of the wickedness of men, but that this could be an antidote as most wish to avoid the reputation garnered by such evil individuals.