A biographical account of Voltaire, detailing his appearance and his devotion to his works.

The manuscript is a lettre en vers consisting of a poem in four stanzas. Voltaire begins by expressing his gratitude for the fine china previously gifted to him and for the compliments regarding his age. The letter continues with a poem that challenges the correspondent’s negative assessment of Parisian cultural and literary life, highlighting current literary ambitions, achievements in scholarship and criticism, and the fine arts. In the latter part of the letter, Voltaire discusses Pugachev’s Rebellion, his tragedy Les Lois de Minos—which he will send to his correspondent—and the marriage of Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy.