This passage describes the revolts and the manner in which the magistrates and statesmen attempted to observe propriety and enact their agendas more subtly. Voltaire writes that Cardinal Mazarin sought to skilfully divide the judiciary by exempting the upper courts from the paulette (the tax invented by Paulet under Henry IV) however, the Cardinal spoke French poorly and his weak pronunciation made him subject to ridicule, rendering his efforts ineffective. On 20 August 1648, the Prince of Condé was victorious at Lens and the ten-year-old king pronounced that Parliament would be very angry. The parliamentarians complained about being called rebels. The Queen and Cardinal resolved to have three of the most stubborn magistrates kidnapped but the Cardinal decided to do this at noon rather than midnight which incited the public to riot. The Queen eventually agrees to return the prisoners. The passage ends with a line that features later in the text (OCV, vol.13A, p.62, l.175).

Voltaire writes that odious tactics were used on both sides, with one M. Joly [Jean François Joly de Fleury de La Valette] conspiring to cut his arm and be shot in his carriage to make the public believe that the Court had wanted to murder him. A few days later, shots were fired in the Prince of Condé’s carriages, killing one servant. Cardinal de Retz, the Duke of Beaufort, and [Pierre] Broussel were all accused in parliament and justified. Voltaire then writes that every important man, or every man who wanted to be important, claimed to be acting in the interests of the public good and wanted to get as close to the Crown as possible. The text includes some passages not featured in the printed edition.

Wagnière notes that the captain of the naval regiment was hanged in Bordeaux, the Prince of Condé was assassinated, and the Cardinal’s library was sold. He then notes that in May, the exiled princess remained in Paris and presented a request to parliament in April 1650. He concludes by noting that Cardinal Mazarin was called a rascal in Parliament in 1650.

F.1 is a draft of the Siécle de Louis XIV in the hand of Wagnière. recounting the low and odious means employed by all factions at the royal court. The text is interrupted by Voltaire’s symbol at the end of the sentence reading: ‘Condé ne les aimait ni tres les estimait’. The text to be inserted at this point is introduced on f.2 and 3 by the same symbol, beginning: ‘le coadjuteur de larcheveché de paris voulait etre cardinal par la nomination de la Reine et il se devouait alors a elle pour obtenir cette dignité etrangere qui ne donnait aucune autorité mais un grand relief.’ F.3 ends with the phrase: ‘le prince de condé eut pu gouverner.’ The remaining text on fol.1v is split into three sections. The first section, in Wagnière’s hand, continues the text from the recto side which appears to have been cut by Voltaire from the printed edition. The second section, also in Wagnière’s hand beginning ‘ce qui montre encore combien les évênements trompent les hommes, c’est que cette prison des trois princes qui semblait devoir assoupir toutes les factions, fut ce qui les releva’, provides a section that was eventually added to ch.4 of the Siècle (OCV, vol.13A, pp.74-5, ll.495-510). The final section in Collini’s hand, beginning ‘Toute la France redemandait le grand condé’ continues the second section of text on f.1v.

The collection includes:
1) Satires, epigrams, sonnets, and other pieces in verse composed by an admirer of Voltaire.
2) Copy of Phillippiques against the Duke of Orleans by Lagrange-Chancel
3) Pieces from the beginning of the 17th century. I) Letter from Marie de Médicis on the trial of the Maréchal de Marillac. II) Some pieces against Mazarin such as “Le Hardy frondeur à Mr le Duc de Beaufort”, and “Sur la retraite des Mazarinettes au Val de Grâce”, or “Verses against Mr le Prince de Condé”.
4) Several pieces in a very free vein, such as “sonnet” and a “madrigal”
5) Several pieces on the Régiment de la Calotte, a facetious and satirical company created in 1702
6) Satires on the Court of Louis XIV and attacks on noble characters of the time of the Fronde. I) “le Roy à mesdames de la Vallière et de Montespan”. II) “Les chambres de la Cour et de la Ville”. III) “Logemens des Dames avec leurs proverbes”
7) “Idée de la personne, de la cour de la manière de vivre du roy de Prusse, 1753”