The manuscript is a copy of a letter discussing the mysteries of mortality, death, soul and transience, dismissing the atheistic worldview featured in Baron d’Holbach’s System of Nature, and featuring a famous phrase by Voltaire, reading ‘Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.’

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.

The quatrain is taken from a longer work, Stances Irregulières, which Voltaire sent to Louisa Ulrika of Sweden in January 1747. The verse reads: ‘S’occuper c’est savoir jouir / L’oisiveté pèse et tourmente; / L’âme est un feu, qu’il nourrir / Et qui s’éteint, s’il ne s’augmente’. Turgenev studied philosophy and history in Berlin and grew to love Germany and its developments since the Enlightenment. He befriended writers such as Gustave Flaubert, George Sand, Emile Zola, and Henry James, and was heavily influenced by the earlier writings of Voltaire.

Voltaire writes that his distempers and bad eyes do not permit him to answer in the level of detail he had hoped. He writes that he knows nothing of the soul, adding that knowledge of it is the domain of young scholars and priests. He ends by saying that he has great regard for Boswell and would be delighted to show him his respect and obsequiousness (if he is still alive) the next time Boswell comes to Ferney.

Voltaire writes that he and Madame de Fontaine have been discussing what becomes of the soul after death, but hopes to remain in ignorance for some time yet. He asks d’Alembert to send him the articles from the encyclopedia, if he has them, a little in advance because ‘a patient is not always the master of his moments’. Voltaire notes that he is very unhappy with the ‘story article’ because he wanted to show the different literary styles appropriate for a variety of different writings. He states, however, that he was in a hurry, ill, and overwhelmed by ‘this accursed general story that you know.’ Voltaire goes on to say that he does not know the dictionary [of which, presumably, d’Alembert had spoke] because he did not subscribe to it. Instead, he says that he will buy it when it is finished but quickly adds that he will probably be dead by the time it is done and so asks d’Alembert to suggest that Briasson sends him the printed volumes and Voltaire will give him a bill of exchange on his notary. Voltaire then discusses the articles on theology and metaphysics, saying that they pain his heart and that it is very cruel to print the opposite of what one thinks. He notes that he is angry that people still write dissertations and give particular opinions on recognised truths as he would prefer to know the definition and origin of words with examples. Voltaire concludes by apologising, claiming to be ‘a talker who says what he should have done and didn’t do anything worthwhile’, and ends by saying that if d’Alembert was featured in a dictionary he would be defined as ‘the most amiable of men.’

Voltaire thanks Gravesande for the figure he sent him of the machine used to fix the image of the sun. He notes that he will have one made according to the design and will be freed from great embarassment because he is clumsy and has lots of trouble in his dark room with his mirrors. He remarks that the package from Gravesande also included the work he had asked for in which his adversary uses c.300 pages on the subject of some thoughts of Pascal that Voltaire had examined in less than one sheet. He goes on to provide some excerpts of quotes that the editors of Pascal’s works suppressed from print. Voltaire claims that Pascal was blighted by melancholy, stating that Leibnitz makes this claim a little harshly. Voltaire then discusses the original sin, melancholy states, and the nature of the soul.