Frederick begins by describing himself as ‘The Damned Philosopher’ who is compelled to send Voltaire his thoughts, despite them being nonsense. He asks Voltaire not to accuse him if indiscretion, but rather to put his letter into the category of Bluebeard and the thousand and one (Perrault’s famous fairytale) if it bores him. He then enters a philosophical discussion in the form of an allegory in which the leading writers of the Enlightenment, led by Voltaire, fight against the “infamous”. Frederick writes that he does not believe that Mustafa III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774, or many others are concerned about this, with only those aware of the Greek saying: ‘Know thyself’ wanting to what they are, and who they are, and indeed what they must forget about themselves in order to advance knowledge. Frederick ends the letter by noting that the Grand Cordelier of Saint-Pierre knows what to expect but has been paid not to reveal the secrets of the Church, adding that he reckons the Grand Cordelier will be more concerned about Avignon than Jerusalem. In a humorous tone, he concludes that he wants to be discreet and not steal a moment from a man whose moments are so well spent that Frederick wishes that he may last as long as his statue.

Voltaire signs the letter as: ‘le vieux mouton broutant au pied des alpes’.

The MS contains several variants. The most notable is l.24, where the name ‘Marot’ has been replaced with ‘Rousseau’. As this variant does not make sense, it implies that it was introduced by the copyist rather than by Voltaire himself.

The text was published in the Gazette littéraire de l’Europe on 28 March 1764. This MS features several variants compared to the text of the Gazette littéraire.

This copy of the letter is incomplete, ending with the phrase: ‘A peine a-t-on découvert avec le microscope’.