The letter begins with a poem, ‘A monsieur le maréchal duc de Richelieu, à qui le sénat de Gènes avait érigé une statue’. In a concluding prose section, Voltaire notes that he imagines the recipient, Maréchal Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, will be invited to dine with the President in Paris upon his arrival as his glory means that he must lack nothing. Voltaire ends by saying he has just received Louis’ letter.

In the letter, Voltaire notes that as soon as Émilie du Châtelet has finished her great business, he will have no more pressing matters than to take advantage of the kindnesses of the Prince and Princess. He ends by asking them to accept his deepest respects. The letter is dated 15 August 1749.

The poem preceding the letter was written by Voltaire whilst in Lorraine, likely between February and December 1748. In it, he praises Lunéville and the pleasures he experienced there amongst the wise. The final lines of the poem have been heavily corrected. Besterman suggests that they may have been transcribed from the autograph original (CMV34556) which is similarly revised.

The hand suggests that this copy was produced in the eighteenth century.

This copy is limited to the verse only. The autograph copy is dated 2 November 1744, rather than 1 November as stated on this MS.

The letter features a poem titled ‘L’homme inutile’.

In the manuscript, the poem is titled: ‘Quatrains par Voltaire sur le malheur d’avoir près de 50 ans’.

This copy, produced by Gouroff, rector of the University of St Petersburg, is addressed to Beuchot. It is a copy of a manuscript said to have been held in the archives of the Bastille which was is missing from the folder ‘Autographes 288’ at the National Library of Russia.

The copy differs from the printed version of the text in two key ways: the section on Rousseau is less developed, and the conclusion is different as it does not include the letter to P. Tournemine.