The MS opens with a poem titled ‘Epitre a M. Thieriot’. In the letter that follows, Voltaire writes that he sends a thousand compliments to his friend Bernard for cultivating the muses. He adds that he does not know why the public persists in believing that he wrote Montézume, adding that his scene in Zadig is set in Peru. He then turns to ‘Le Franc’ whom he claims has prevented Mademoiselle Dufresne from playing and expresses his doubts over the suitability of Mademoiselle Gossin for the role. Voltaire ends by remarking upon his ill health.

This MS is a prompt-copy of the play, likely written in the hand of Jean Baptiste Minet, the escrivain of the company. It is likely that Minet made his copy from one produced by Voltaire. It is arranged as follows:

• p.1: Acteurs
• p.2: Title
• p.3-18: Act One (p.13 blank)
• p.19-36: Act Two
• p.37-52: Act Three
• p.53-70: Act Four
• p.71-83: Act Five
• p.84: Blank
• p.85: List of Actors
• p.86-87: Pencilled list of some of the actors appearing in some of the scenes of the play
• [p.88]: Blank

The MS is a composite manuscript, with numerous hands contributing to its construction. It is part of a broader collection of MSS relating to the theatre that was bound in 1871. This copy appears to have been revised after a reading of BNF, Français 24347, f.1-38, another contemporary copy of this play that was owned by La Vallière.

The MS was originally catalogued with the shelfmark: Supplément français 5246.

This manuscript appears to consist only of a title page, which includes a title provided by Wagnière for a preceding collection of Voltaire’s plays: Samson, Eriphile, Les Frères ennemis, and Adélaïde du Guesclin. The manuscript is preceded by what is presumably another title page that reads ‘Paperasses de théâtre envoyées par Lacombe, 1775, à examiner’.

This manuscript appears to consist only of a title page, which includes a title for a preceding collection of Voltaire’s plays: Samson, Eriphile, Les Frères ennemis, and Adélaïde du Guesclin. The manuscript is followed by what is presumably another title page with a title page, provided by Wagnière, which reads ‘Paperasses de théâtre envoyées par Lacombe, 1775, à examiner’. Additionally, Voltaire acknowledges a receipt of this manuscript from Lacombe on 29 May 1775 [D19494], stating that it seemed to him to have been ‘copié d’après un original qui était depuis près de quarante ans entre les mains de Mr de Pondevèlle’.

Reichardt opens by noting that he has sent Goethe copies of various works including Winkelman’s letters and J.E. Biester’s letter. He goes on to discuss the judgements of Duke Friedrich von Braunschweig-Oels about the princess who, he notes, is like Frederick II of Prussia, Voltaire, and Maupertuis in that she is now the subject of conversation. He suggests staging Claudine von Villabella for her birthday on the 15th. He then goes on to give an account of the current political situation, discussing various political figures including Napoleon and the Prussian king, as well as the kidnapping of an English businessman, Sir G. B. Rumbold.

The earlier songs are of the “Mazarinade” variety, with a large portion of the later 17th-century examples directed against the court of young Louis XIV, presided over by Cardinal Mazarin. Later songs include satires on John Law and his disastrous speculation in the Mississippi project, on the religious cult of the Convulsionnaires in Paris, on the morality of the clergy and of the women of the Paris theatre, and one on Voltaire, condemned for his Lettres philosophiques.

The text refers to the “Suite des mélanges de littérature” published in the Oeuvres de M. de Voltaire published in Geneva in 1770, V.i 235-239. It was printed for the first time in the Oeuvres de M. de Voltaire (Amsterdam, E. Ledet, J. Desbordes, 1740), vi, 344-348, then blended into other texts.