The letter contains a poem known as ‘A Monsieur D[es] M[ahis]’.

The letter begins with a poem known as ‘À monsieur le maréchal duc de Richelieu’. The verse is in Collini’s hand. The prose and date line are in Voltaire’s hand.

Lines 62-193 are absent from this copy due to missing pages. The poem has been signed ‘Fm’.

The MS is divided into the following sections:

• ‘Diatribe du Docteur Akakia, médecin du Pape: décret de l’Inquisition; et rapport des professeurs de Rome au sujet d’un prétendu Président. Rome 1753.’
  
• ‘Berlin du 16eme Decembre 1752’
• ‘Decret de l’Inquisition de Rome’
• ‘Augement des Professeurs du Collége de la Sapience’
• ‘Mémoire’, written in the hand of Collini with an autograph correction by Voltaire
• ‘Reponse de Mr de Voltaire à Mr de Maupertuis’
• ‘Avertisement qui a paru dans les gazettes litteraires et ordinaires de Leipzig’

This MS appears to be an early copy of the poem, later revised by a second hand to align with the Louvain edition. More than 120 changes have been made to the text throughout.

This MS contains copies of three Italian sonetti: one from Giovanni Lami (1697-1770) who writes against Voltaire, one titled ‘Al re di prussia’, and one by Pietro Metastasio (1698-1792).