[ Tallentyre's commentary: In the autumn of 1730, Voltaire had ready for publication his bold and vigorous History of Charles XII of Sweden, which, written in England, contained so much of the "noble liberty of thinking" he had admired in [that] country, that the French authorities seized and prohibited it. By October, 1731, he had it secretly reprinted and introduced into Paris, where it was widely read. ]

I received very late, my dear sir, the letter with which you have honoured me. I am fully sensible of your goodness in throwing so much light on the History of Charles XII. I shall not fail, in future editions, to profit by your observations.

Meanwhile I have the honour to send you by the coach a copy of the new edition, in which you will find some previous mistakes corrected.

You will still see many printer's errors, but I cannot be responsible for those, and only think of my own. The book has been produced in France with so much haste and secrecy that the proof-reader could not go through it. As you yourself, sir, are a writer of history, you will know the difficulty of choosing between absolutely opposite stories. Three officers who were at Pultawa have given me three entirely different accounts of that battle. M. de Fierville and M. de Villelongue contradict each other flatly on the subject of the intrigues at the Porte. My greatest difficulty has not been to find Memoirs but to find good ones. There is another drawback inseparable from writing contemporary history: every infantry captain, who has ever so little service with the armies of Charles XII, if he happens to have lost his kit on a march, thinks I ought to have mentioned him. If the subalterns grumble at my silence, the generals and ministers complain of my outspokenness. Whoso writes the history of his own time must expect to be attacked for everything he has said, and for everything he has not said: but those little drawbacks should not discourage a man who loves truth and liberty, expects nothing, fears nothing, asks nothing, and limits his ambition to the cultivation of letters.

I am highly flattered, sir, that this métier of mine has given me the pleasure of your delightful and instructive letter. I sincerely thank you for it, and beg the continuance of your kind interest.

I am, etc.

Voltaire