The text of this MS is close to the clandestine editions of the text produced in 1784. Marginal notes restore the text to the original version (CMV37555). The MS is part of a bound collection known to have been used by the Kehl editors.

Voltaire asks for the comte de Podewils’ pardon for sending him some “rags in sheets”, but notes that he has only just received the necessary boxes and does not have time to have them bound.

The letter features a poem on the death of Emanuel Falckner (1718-1739), the uncle of Bernoulli.

The draft is incomplete and represents just one part of Rousseau’s much longer ‘Lettre sur la providence’. The symbol at the beginning of the draft suggests that this manuscript may have been an addendum that was to be inserted into the final draft of the letter.

Voltaire begins by saying that he is sending an addition for his Sophonisbe, which he felt was too short. He asks the d’Argental’s to send it the Lekain. Voltaire then discusses briefly war and peace before asking for details on the movements of de Mairet and the duc de Duras. The letter is followed by an extract, in verse, concerning Scipio.