This letter begins with a poem which Voltaire wrote for Frederick the Great. The poem talks of Frederick’s greatness- “In your achievements, in your writings; astonish the great and wise; who before you are too little.” Other interesting stanzas in the poem are as follows- “I had too much hope in my youth; and in the middle age, too much trouble; but in the old age where I am; alas, I have too little wisdom….In France…we do not have too many scholars; we have too few geniuses.” After the poem, Voltaire writes a short personal letter, in which he mentions how Frederick “beat us in Thuringia, and create[s] poetry better than we do!”

This lengthy letter discusses certain figures in Russia’s leadership. Von Bassewitz talks about Peter the Third’s reign and that he may “incur a new war”, but luckily the war should be short and peace will reign shortly after. The letter then goes on to talk about a manuscript of the life of Alexis of Russia, and quotes directly from the manuscript. The quoted passage from the manuscript paints a picture of the child Alexis, who was neglected and given governors to care for him so that he would behave himself. Once he was given a good governor/ teacher, his genius began to show that he could speak, write, and draw very well. By 1705, he had read the Bible 5 times in Slavonian, one time in Luther’s German version, and the works of several Greek fathers. Then Von Bassewitz mentions some manuscripts regarding Peter the Great, who was the son of Alexis. The letter is signed “Your very humble and very obedient servant.” The letter has been misdated in the University of Southern California’s catalogue and should instead be dated 9 March 1762.

Voltaire begins this letter with several lines of poetry, and then goes on to talk about Alexander the Great of Macedon. He tells Frederick about how Alexander the Great had a love for the fine arts. Alexander was a skilled writer of poetry, something which surprised the Macedonians, because they only knew him as a “brave warrior”. Voltaire mentions a scholar who apparently retired in the Caucasus Mountains after serving in the court of Alexander. Voltaire “would give all the Caucasus Mountains in order to see this foreigner for two days in the Court of Alexander.”

This item has been miscatalogued by the University of Southern California and actually dates to 9 December 1769.

Voltaire begins with several lines of poetry which briefly mention some religious topic such as excommunication, the Holy Father, friars and monks. The rest of the letter continues on these religious topics. Saint Francis and Saint Ignatius, for example, are mentioned. At the end of the letter, Voltaire asks Frederick to have pity on his old prejudices against the Curia.

Frederick mentions (and probably expands upon), varied topics such as Machiavellian tactics, marriage contracts, and Mexico.

In this letter, Frederick the Great talks about how his nephew had the pleasure of listening to Voltaire. Frederick mentions that he is envious of his nephew. He also discusses Voltaire’s idea of establishing a “colony of philosophers” in Clèves, and says that he does not oppose the idea. Towards the end of the letter, he compliments Voltaire on his genius, a theme that is common in many of Frederick’s letters.

Frederick begins by saying that he is not the only one who notices that genius and talents are rarer in Europe in the current century than they were at the end of the previous one. He adds that there are three poets remaining, though they are of the second order: La Harpe; Marmontal, and Saint-Lambert. He then discusses outbreaks of violence and death warrants, before turning to an article Voltaire had written, remarking that he enjoyed it but that he would have liked Voltaire to have been more considerate of the Abbé de La Bletterie. He then talks of Jansenism.