To Benjamin Franklin from William Thomson, 18 November 1760
From William Thomson4
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Worcester 18th Novr. 1760
Sir
I take this Opportunity to return you my sincere thanks not only for the pleasure your Company afforded me during your short stay in Worcester,5 but also for the Entertainment I am confident I owe to you after your Departure— The Interest of Great Britain with Respect to her Colonies6 gave me a more distinct view than I ever had before of our Connexions with our fellow Subjects in distant parts of the Globe; And I hope the methods proposed there, for our mutual Advantage, will be properly attended to by those, whose Duty it is to listen to every Hint or Scheme laid down [for] promoting the Interest of those who intrust them with their [Property,] Liberty, and Life.
I thought to have commissioned our friend Mr. Small7 to return thanks to you in my Name, but, for my own Sake, I take the liberty to do it in this manner, as I am glad to embrace every Opportunity of improving the Acquaintance I thought myself so happy in beginning, and of assuring you and Mr. Franklin that I am, with great Esteem, your faithfull and obedient Servant
Willm Thomson
Addressed: To / Doctor Franklin
Endorsed: Dr Thomson Worcester
4. William Thomson (d. 1802), originally a dissenting minister and tutor to young gentlemen, studied medicine at Leyden, and practised, first at Ludlow, then at Worcester. He was physician to the Worcester Infirmary, 1757–92. He died “aged upwards of 80, much esteemed as a humane and good man.” John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, IV (London, 1822), 725–6 n.
5. This is the only known evidence that BF and WF visited Worcester in their autumn journey of 1760.
6. BF apparently sent Thomson anonymously a copy of the Canada Pamphlet after his Worcester visit.
7. Probably Alexander Small; see above, p. 110 n.