Schiller begins by saying that Körner will not come to Lauchstädt and that he will not travel their either because of his poor health. He then addresses Goethe’s translation of Voltaire’s Tancrède, stating that the freedom Goethe has demonstrated suggests that he will go a step further than he did with Mahomet. He notes that Goethe’s intention to use choirs in the theatre will be an important experiment, and adds that he hopes to present his finished version of La Pucelle d’Orleans upon Goethe’s return. He concludes by discussing his collection of poems and suggests that Goethe could get finished printed sheets of them.

Robert opens by praising Goethe’s translations of Voltaire’s Tancrède and Mahomet, and sends his own translation of a recent French tragedy, Etienne Méhul’s Joseph en Égypte (1807) which he hopes to see performed under Goethe’s direction at the Weimar Theatre.

Schiller writes that he had suspected that Goethe was translating Voltaire’s “Tancred”, which was certainly very beneficial to the theatrical purpose. Nevertheless, he adds that he sincerely hopes that “Faust” will replace it. Schiller then goes on to say that there are great difficulties to overcome with the scheme for La Pucelle d’Orleans, adding that what bothers him about the piece is that it cannot be divided into a few large sections, making it necessary to dare to reinvent the form for a new subject and always keep the concept of genre flexible. He concludes by saying that if he does not go to Lauchstädt, he will withdraw to Ettersburg for a while to work.

Von Knebel thanks Goethe for his gift and praises his writing, noting that in both Mahomet and Tancred, the poetic gait and expression if much stronger than in Voltaire’s originals. He then discusses their mutual friends before returning to Goethe’s literary works.

The MS declares that it records two editions of Voltaire’s Tancrède, published by Prault in Paris in 1761. The author of the MS notes that there were significant changes made to the text between the first and second editions, and it is for this reason that they are recording instances of variants. The exemplars are taken from Acts 2-4.

The manuscript is an autograph letter starting with a poem comprised of two stanzas. The main body of the letter reflects on the writer’s stay at the château de Maulevrier and their engagement with Voltaire’s literary works, notably Tancrede and La Henriade. The author also mentions Le sujet de poësie proposed by L’académie française and his unsuccessful efforts in acquiring the dictionaire enciclopédique.

Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey [née Yorke] discusses the death of the Duke of Bedford, going to see a performance of ‘the new Tragedy of Almida’ based on Voltaire’s Tancrede with Mrs Wray, and Lord Suffolk being refused the place of Secretary of State.

A copy of Voltaire’s Tancrède produced by one Liégeois who belonged to the 25th demi-brigade of light infantry during the second Italian campaign. He produced the copy after having seen the play performed in Mainz whilst in garrison there. Alongside the copy of the play are also included a leaf with a list of roles, a final sheet with ex-libris and indications on the conditions of writing, and a letter in the form of a fold-out sheet dated 16 August 1838 giving details of the binding that was to be added to the manuscript.

Prault writes that he has already had the honour of writing to Voltaire about his tragedy, Tancrede. He adds, however, that his letter must not have arrived because he has not had a reply, and that he has asked D’Argental about it and he always says he is awaiting a reply from Voltaire. Prualt then states that a man he does not know had offered him a copy of the tragedy to print and sell, and that an agreement was made. When the copies arrived, Prault writes that he took some to D’Argental, whom he instructed not to give the copies to anyone or else Prault would denounce him. Prault concludes by saying that the copies have been thoroughly checked for errors, and that he hopes Voltaire is happier with this copy than the previous one.