Paris 8 July n. s. / 27 June 1732

Mylord,

You have bestow'd upon me a favour of which j am altogether unworthy.
You send the natural history of the tree of life to a poor sickly dying man who makes in that noble garden the figure of an Eunuque repining in the serraglio at the sight of the joys he can not taste of. The breaking of y^r leg was public at Paris some weeks ago, and j assure y^r grace all the world was highly concern'd for y^r danger. But y^r recovery was known almost as soon as y^r accident, and our fears vanish'd as soon as the was raised. You are beloved mylord by the french no less than by the english. It seems every nation would claim you for its country man. All the ladies either those who were sometimes refresh'd with the juice of the fruit, which y^r tree yelds so abundantly, or those who flatter themselves to receive for the futur the same favour, the italian luscious whores, the fluttering and tattling french creatures, the whimsical english ladies, all have been much troubled about y^r leg. The said t'would had been a great pity to see so best a gardiner supported with crutches drawing his noble tree from under the ligaments of a wooden leg. You are enabled now to try the virtue of y^r sensitive noble shrub, either with the hands of flora, or in the little gardens adorned with tendrils and bedew'd with salt waters. What use soever you make of it, if you show the tree and veil y^r face, it will pas for an irish tree. But those who see the face of the gardiner and the shrub at the same time, will think Hercules has lent his club to Adonis. By the next post j will not fail to send y^r grace, an exact translation of y^r national history.

In the mean time j am with the utmost respect

mylord

y^r graces

the most humble obedient servant

Voltaire