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.

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

The comtesse de Horn never sent this letter to Voltaire, instead sending it to an unknown male friend. In a postscript, she explains why. She notes that this letter is smoother and softer than the other, D15188, which is hard and dry. She asks the recipient to give his opinion on this letter and send it back to her as she does not want it to see the light because of her own poor judgement.