The letter is accompanied by a quarto autograph address sheet addressed to one of Voltaire’s other correspondents, Jacques Abraham Clavel de Brenles. The sheet features three lines in Voltaire’s hand and a red wax seal.

Voltaire begins by saying that Keate’s friend is about to set out on his journey to England. He adds that he regrets the company of the friend, and that he will regret Keate all his life, before noting that they are in the middle of acting a tragedy [Sémiramis] in which he plays a ghost [Ninus]. Voltaire concludes by saying that he will act very well for he is but a shadow.

This poem would later feature in a letter from Voltaire to Cideville (D2512) and was published in the 1745 edition of his works (Tome VI, in Stances à madame du Châtelet) published in Amsterdam by Etienne Ledet. An expanded version was printed in Tome V of the 1746 London edition.

In the spring of 1739, Voltaire dedicated La Henriade to Frederick II of Prussia and that summer Frederick penned this foreword. Following their disagreement, however, Voltaire decided to remove the dedication to Frederick and his foreword was not taken to print. It would remain unpublished for seventeen years. In 1746, Marmontel published two fragments of the foreword that would later be corrected and modified several times, including by Voltaire.