The letter concerns Voltaire’s death on 30 May 1778 and discusses the difficulties his servants faced in finding a burial place for him after they removed his body from Paris.

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.

The letter begins with a poem, ‘A monsieur le maréchal duc de Richelieu, à qui le sénat de Gènes avait érigé une statue’. This is written in a secretarial hand.

In a concluding prose section, added in his own hand, Voltaire notes that he imagines the recipient, Maréchal Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, will be invited to dine with the President in Paris upon his arrival as his glory means that he must lack nothing. Voltaire ends by saying he has just received Louis’ letter.

The letter contains a copy of a short verse titled ‘À Mme la Duchesse de ***’. The lines of the poem have been added to the bottom of f.97v in two columns of four lines each.

Count von Manteuffel sent this copy of the poem to Count von Brühl from Berlin on 21 October 1740.

In his sarcastic and humorous letter, Voltaire opens by saying that the bishops do not want to do good because the worldy people do it, adding that these are pleasant maxims. He asks if Chennevières will have a pension on the condition that he is unhappy, and adds that this is pleasant charity. Voltaire then expresses his wishes that 1760 will be a happy year, noting that God has given ample harvests, de Broglie will give ‘Te Deums’, and that there will be peace.

The MS includes a number of pre-1739 variants, along with a new reading of l.82 as ‘artistement orné’.

The copy is found in a recueil of diverse theatre parts taken from a number of plays. The plays all seem to have been performed at the Château de Berny, home of the comte de Clermont.