The note reads:

L’empereur 100
l’impératrice 100.
mr de caunits 6
mr de voronsof 10
mr de la balle 4

Frederick remarks upon how busy he is, claiming that many matters require his attention at present. He goes on to note that he will no longer be shocked after what he has witnessed during this monstrous century, writing that his books from Berlin are his only consolation. Frederick then mentions the works he has been reading, notably Charles Batteux’s Les Beaux-arts réduites à un même principe (1746), before discussing a series of literary figures including Nicolas Boileau, Virgil, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean Racine, Homer, Pierre Corneille, Joseph de La Grange Chancel, Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, and Voltaire.

Voltaire begins by saying that his body is sick, but that his soul is well becuase it is full of the recipient. He adds that he does not know where de La Marche is, or if his daughter is with him. He then apologises for the large paquet he sent de La Marche concerning fetishes, and reminds him that the big Corneille is more precious to him than the little President de Brosses. Voltaire reminds de La Marche that he had asked him to let him know if his egraver could undertake a dozen prints, before concluding by saying that de La Marche has awakened his old passion for him and thus implores de La Marche to write to him.

Extracts within the collection include: Voltaire (Merope, Zaire, Alzire, Rome saved, Orestes, Sémiramis), Racine (Andromaque, Britannicus, Bérénice, Bajazet, Mithridates), Corneille (Le Cid, Horace, Polyeucte, Rodogune, Pulchérie), Gresset (Édouard III) , Chateaubrun (Philoctetes), etc., with some comments in the margins: “Noble despair, Tyranny, Cruel politics, Maternal tenderness”, etc.

The manuscript is a lettre en vers in the hand of Paul Desforges-Maillard, featuring seven poems. The author, praising Voltaire’s formidable superiority of intellect and character, implicitly urges his addressee to help him secure employment. The letter cites and refers to De rerum natura by Lucretius and Œdipe by Corneille.

The manuscript is lettre en vers, containing three poems interspersed with prose passages. The author expresses gratitude for receiving a copy of Voltaire’s Corneille, overtly criticises Fréron, mentions M. Panckoucke’s republication of Romans philosophiques, and elaborately discusses the latest performance of Cromwell, written by Antoine Maillet Du Clairon. The letter features two short poems exploring the persona’s perceived insignificance and purported lack of talent.

The manuscript, an autograph letter, is a panegyric about Voltaire written in verse and comprised of four stanzas. The poem equates Voltaire with Virgil, Torquato Tasso, and Homer, and deems Voltaire entitled to Corneille’s laurel crown.