The note reads:

L’empereur 100
l’impératrice 100.
mr de caunits 6
mr de voronsof 10
mr de la balle 4

There are variants at lines a, b, 2, 4, 11, 14, 19, 26, 30, 35-36.

The complete text is written on one side of the sheet. It contains all but one of the corrections stipulated by Voltaire in D9587 and D9597. There are variants at lines a, b, 2, 4, 11, 14, 19, 26, 30, and 35-36.

This MS presents the unauthorised changes proposed by Étienne Noël Damilaville and Nicolas-Claude Thiriot, as well as the corresponding deletions to Voltaire’s original text.

The poem appeared in a letter from Voltaire to Adrien Michel Hyancinthe Blin de Sainmore, written from Ferney and dated 15 December 1761.

The copy was produced by Blin de Sainmore. The letter consists of 16 lines of verse in four stanzas known as ‘Stances à Monsieur Blin de Sainmore’.

The letter opens with seven lines of verse known as ‘À Monsieur de Chennevières’.

A note at the end of the MS suggests that the text was ‘copié sur l’imprimé de 15 pages in 12.’ An octavo edition of the text is not known, but it is possible that the copyist was referring to a small octavo version. This MS features several variants.

There are no significant variants in this copy of the text, except for the fact that it ends at ‘natif de Montauban.’