The documents are part of a broader collection of letters.

Marie-Louise Denis nominates Joseph-Marie Balledier as the Prosecutor of Ferney for an annual wage of 100₶. This is followed by the dismissal of Balleydier on 29 December 1773. Here it is noted that Balleydier was offered 56₶ 16c for the month of August 1773 which he refused to accept. This money, along with an additional 200₶, was deposited with Jean-Louis Raynaud until the affairs were settled. As Balleydier neglected the affairs and wrote insulting letter, Marie-Louise Denis dismisses him, adding that he will not be payed his wages for the past two years as he never presented himself in Ferney during that time except for at assizes for which he was paid additional sums. The remainder of the document concerns the settlement of the dispute between the two parties. The document is bound with a letter from Marie-Louise Denis to Marc Duval, written in the hand of Wagnière from Ferney and dating to c.16 January 1774.

Voltaire discusses his views on metaphysics in response to Louis-Martin Kahle (1712-1775), professor and dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Göttingen and makes a brief mention his encounter with Sir Isaac Newton in England. Voltaire had published Métaphysique de Newton in 1740, a text which would later form the first part of his Elements de la philosophie de Newton. Voltaire writes that he had been much criticised by some German doctors and his ‘Courte réponse’ is a reply to this criticism. The text ends with a passage in English which quotes John Milton’s Paradise Lost: ‘and reason’d high / of providence, fore knowledge, will, and fate: / fix’t fate, free will, fore knowledge absolute: / And foud non end, &c’ (l.558-61).

The document gives Voltaire the power to receive arrears owed to him in France.

Voltaire writes that he has lent 15,000 livres to Messieurs de Crassy free of interest in order to allow them to regain their ancestral home, adding that he does not wish to buy the property. He concludes by arguing that it is not just for Chapeaurouge to sell it to the proprietors for a higher price than to the Jesuits, and recommends four arbitrators.