Voltaire was incarcerated in the Bastille on 17 April 1726 and released on the 30th. These certificates are accompanied by and inventory of the goods found on the prisoner and returned on his release. Voltaire’s signature appears on the exit order, along with the acquittal of the jailer for the restitution and signature of his form.

The MS contains only the first sentence of the letter. In it, Voltaire asks if he has no other obligation to the recipient but to spend a year in the Bastille.

Including: Southwood Smith’s ‘Philosophy of Health’, Lewes’ ‘Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences’, De Tocqueville’s ‘Ancien Regime et la Revolution’, Combe on prison discipline, Hill on crime, Hancock on income tax, Newman’s lectures on political economy, Voltaire’s Philosophie, statistical papers on various matters (banking, cotton, wages in Glasgow, French finance, income tax etc).

Robinson writes of an accident that has become the talk of Paris, noting that the week before, Mr. du Fournier, a member of the grand conseil, shot himself in Mme. Tansin’s [Tancin’s] house, having excused himself to her cabinet to write a letter. Mme. Tansin sent immediate notice to the grand conseil and they, to avoid any disgrace, took possession of the body and took it away. They then committed Mme. Tansin to prison. Robinson notes that Mr. du Fournier was ruined in his fortunes and frequently spoke of killing himself, adding that he had recently quarelled with Mme. Tansin and that her friends were speaking ill of him for his malicious decision to choose her house as the scene of his death and bring Mme. Tansin into trouble. He then turns to the extraordinary will that Mr. du Fournier had prepared just before his death, noting that he had drawn up a list of Mme. Tansin’s admirers and, having no possessions of his own, distributed her favours to them all, including Mr. Fontenelle, Saladin, and Tronchin. Robinson calls this ‘a new kind of jealousy yt never was thought of by Shakespear.’ He concludes the letter by begging the pardon of Horation Walpole, and of Voltaire for havin in a former letter committed him to the Bastille. He notes that an undated letter from Voltaire has since come to light.

Report of Archibald MacDonald on 1 individual petition (prisoner) and 4 collective petitions (48 people, from London, including 2 aldermen; 37 people from London, including an alderman and neighbours of the prisoner; 18 people from London, and 32 people from London) on behalf of Isaac Morgan (indicted as John Morgan), bookseller, convicted at the Court of King’s Bench, on 16 May 1789, for the publication of an obscene libel by selling a pamphlet The Battles of Venus, translated from Voltaire, in May 1788. There is also a written evidence by Isaac Morgan. Grounds for clemency: prisoner did not realise the book sold was obscene, the book has been sold widely in London, another bookseller selling the same book has received a free pardon, prisoner has a good reputation and supports his mother (aged over 70) who is in great distress. Initial sentence: 12 months imprisonment in Newgate, to stand once in the pillory at Charing Cross and security of £200 for future good behaviour. Recommendation: remission of the requirement to stand in the pillory but the rest of the sentence to stand.

Voltaire writes that Joseph Vasselier’s Commander’s diamond cross must now be placed in his hands. He adds that the two crooks (one Roma, one from Bordeaux) are still in prison in Geneva, and that they will be there until the city of Lyon has claimed them to have them hanged in Catholic land. Voltaire notes that the Bordeaux native is less guilty than the Roman and has talents that will save him because he plays the harpsichord and the violin like an angel, adding that he heard him play at Ferney.