In this letter, Voltaire playfully tells a lady that although she may not care much for metaphysics, it is amusing to ponder whether the soul exists. He jokes that, like a Swiss captain praying before battle, people hedge their bets about God and the soul. He doubts she will find his writings entertaining, as she is too learned and reflective, but sends her a few chapters anyway — entries on alchemists, the Koran, and Alexander — hoping they might amuse her briefly. Voltaire praises her grandmother as a true philosopher who prefers doing good for her people in her quiet estate of Amboise to the empty noise of courtly life. He imagines her wise, gentle, charitable, and modestly virtuous. He also mentions having sent her some of his watchmaking experiments under her protection and laments local shortages of grain. Turning to politics, he predicts that the Russians will soon conquer the Turks — an unexpected revolution, he says, to test her grandmother’s philosophy — while his own is simply to endure patiently.

Louisa Ulrica writes that she is informing Voltaire of the strangest adventure of her life. She notes that whilst withdrawn in her solitude in the time that Morpheus sows his poppies, she had a soft and quiet sleep, and had a ‘charming’ dream. In the dream, Apollo, followed by the nine Sisters came into view and Apollo told Louisa Ulrica that he had heard that she had received verses from his favourite and that a puny prose was all that she could answer. Such a response was offensive, and Apollo has come to offer forgiveness from the Gods by writing better verse. She then writes out the verse which praises Voltaire and the positive effect he had on Berlin during his visit.

Voltaire writes that he thought his ‘little works’ would amuse the recipient in their solitude, so he sent them to him on 5 April to Bordeaux to be passed from there to the recipient. Voltaire notes that he has since learned that there have been many cases of ‘infidelity’ in these sorts of shipments and that such parcels are seized at the barge so he adds that he has written to M. Ravenau to ask about this and will report back to the recipient of the letter when he returns to Paris. Voltaire concludes by saying that if he can do the recipient any service through his friendship with de Maurepas, the recipient should only ask him and Voltaire will ensure that he is not forgotten.