The manuscript contains either an excerpt or the complete poem ‘Maidenhead’ by Abraham Cowley. The poem consists of five sections, each with eight lines, for a total of forty lines. The manuscript, titled ‘Cowley, on maidenhead’ is given by Voltaire and is in Voltaire’s hand. The opening line of the manuscript corresponds to line seven of the third section. These lines slightly differ from the original, reading ‘ Thou thing of subtle, slippery kind, /Which Women lose, and yet no Man can find.’ Additionally, the manuscript includes the French translation of the incipit, reading ‘Après leur mort où vont les pucelages? / Au paradis, ils tenteraient les saints, etc.’.