331From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas-François Dalibard, 29 June 1755 (Franklin Papers)
Copy (extract): The Royal Society; printed (in full) in Benjamin Franklin, Expériences et Observations sur l’Electricité faites à Philadelphie en Amérique , Thomas-François Dalibard, trans. (2d edit., 2 vols., Paris, 1756), II , 307–19. Peter Collinson presented the scientific portions of this letter to the Royal Society on Dec. 18, 1755; it was printed in the Philosophical Transactions, and...
332From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas-François Dalibard, 9 December 1761 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; translation of extract reprinted from Gazette d’Epidaure, ou Recueil de Nouvelles de Médecine , III , no. XI (Feb. 6, 1762), 81. (Bibliothèque Nationale) Il y a quelques années que la guerre a interrompu notre correspondance. Mon ami le Docteur Shippen partant pour voir Paris, j’ai profité de cette occasion pour vous communiquer l’extrait ci-joint d’une Lettre que j’ai reçûe de...
333From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Danforth, 25 July 1773 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (letterbook draft) and copy: Library of Congress It gave me great Pleasure to receive so chearful an Epistle from a Friend of half a Century’s Standing, and to see him commencing Life anew in so valuable a Son. I hope the young Gentleman’s Patent will be as [beneficial] to him as his Invention must be to the Publick. I see by the Papers that you continue to afford her your [services,]...
334From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Darling, 10 February 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Miss S. Berenice Baldwin, Woodbridge, Conn. (1959) I wrote a Line to you per last Post, which I hope came to hand. The Ingredients of Common Window and Bottle Glass are only Sand and Ashes. The Proportions of each I do not exactly know. The Heat must be very great. Our Glasshouse consumes Twenty-four Hundred Cords of Wood per Annum tho’ it works but Seven Months in the Year. (But the...
335From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Darling and Nathan Whiting, 25 November 1754 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I hoped to have had the Pleasure of seeing you at New Haven long before this time, but the Sickness of my Fellow Traveller Mr. Hunter, and various Accidents have hitherto prevented: I hope however to be there in three or four Weeks at farthest. I suppose you long since received the Press, Types and Stationary I ordered into your Care. My Nephews that are Printers...
336From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Darling, 27 January 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I receiv’d yours of the 26th past, which I shall endeavour to answer fully per next Post. In the mean time please to tender my best Respects and Service to good Mr. and Madam Noyes, and the most agreable Ladies their Daughters, with Thanks for the Civility they were pleased to shew me when at Newhaven. We have printed nothing new here lately, except the Enclos’d...
337From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Darling and Nathan Whiting, 1 January 1754 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Huntington Library I received your Money of Mr. Willing, and will remit it to London as soon as I have your Orders to whom. I expect the Printing Materials for Newhaven early in the Spring; they are to come in to New York, unless there be a Vessel bound to Newhaven or Middletown. As soon as I hear of their Arrival, I purpose a Journey into Connecticut. But reflecting on the Sum you...
338From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Darling, 27 March 1747 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Noël J. Cortés, Philadelphia (1954) There are, I am informed, Six Hands employed in blowing Glass; at first there were but two, who instructed the Rest. The two first Workmen were taken in as Partners by the Person who found Stock, and set up the Business, the others are Servants, therefore there are no Workmen to be engag’d here for you. They work seven Months in the Year, and ’tis said...
339From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Darling and Nathan Whiting, 12 March 1754 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : William L. Clements Library I wrote to you about a Month since, and sent you a Set of Bills for £15. 11 s. 5 d. Sterling, which I hope you have receiv’d. Some Time in next Month I hope to have the Pleasure of seeing you at Newhaven, when any little Affairs between us may easily be settled. The Bearer, Mr. Bordley, is a Merchant of Maryland, deservedly esteem’d by all that know him. He is...
340From Benjamin Franklin to Lord Dartmouth, 21 August 1773 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in a broadside, Proceedings of His Majesty’s Privy-Council on the Address of the Assembly of Massachusetts-Bay, to Remove His Governor and Lieutenant-Governor … [Boston, 1774]: Massachusetts Historical Society. I have just received from the House of Representatives of the Massachusett’s-Bay, their Address to the King, which I now enclose, and send to your Lordship, with my humble...
341Proposed Memorial to Lord Dartmouth, 16 March 1775 (Franklin Papers)
ADS and copy: Library of Congress; draft and copy: American Philosophical Society Franklin’s patience was finite, and its limits had been reached. Failure of the negotiations he may have taken in stride, for British intractibility was too familiar to leave him much hope of compromise; but British arrogance was something else again. On March 16 he was in the gallery when the House of Lords...
342From Benjamin Franklin to Lord Dartmouth, 8 December 1772 (Franklin Papers)
AL (draft): Dartmouth College Library Dr. Franklin presents his best Respects to Lord Dartmouth, and believing it may be agreable as well as useful to him, to receive other Information of the Sentiments and Disposition of Leading People in America, besides what Ministers are usually furnish’d with from the Officers of the Crown residing there, takes the Liberty of communicating to his Lordship...
343Franklin and William Bollan to Lord Dartmouth, 20 August 1773 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : the William Salt Library, Stafford This letter to the American Secretary, and the one from Franklin alone on the following day, raise an interesting question about the agents’ timing. On the 20th they forwarded what had “this day come to our hands,” the letter to Dartmouth from the Massachusetts House and Council; on the 21st Franklin forwarded the petition from the House, “just...
344From Benjamin Franklin to Josiah Davenport, 14 February 1773 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (letterbook draft): Library of Congress Although Franklin’s nephew has often appeared in these volumes, he remains a shadowy figure; his only clear characteristic is that he drew financial troubles to him like his cousin, Benjamin Mecom. Davenport had been for a time a baker in Philadelphia, then a storekeeper and Indian agent in Pittsburgh. By 1766 he was back in Philadelphia, where he...
345From Benjamin Franklin to Sarah Davenport, [June 1730?] (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Your kind and affectionate Letter of May the 15th, was extreamly agreeable to me; and the more so, because I had not for two Years before, receiv’d a Line from any Relation, my Father and Mother only excepted. I am glad to hear your Family are got well thro’ the Small Pox, and that you have your Health continu’d to you. I sold your Husbands Watches for...
346From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Dawson, 29 May 1772 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Museum; French translation by Barbeu-Dubourg: American Philosophical Society This letter marked the start of an investigation that engaged Franklin’s attention intermittently for months to come, and embroiled him in one more dispute about the behavior of electricity. The problem was how best to protect the royal powder magazine at Purfleet against lightning. The magazine was new,...
347From Benjamin Franklin to William Deane, 11 April 1773 (Franklin Papers)
ALS (draft): American Philosophical Society Miss Martin that was, now Mrs. Blacker, being about to return to Dublin, I cannot omit the Opportunity it gives me of chatting a [little] with one, whose Conversation afforded me so much pleasure and Instruction while I was there. I know of nothing new here, worth communicating to you, unless perhaps the new Art of making Ca[rriage] W[heels,] the...
348From Benjamin Franklin to Dennys DeBerdt, 31 August 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Draft: American Philosophical Society; printed in The Public Advertiser , August 31, 1768. In the Gazetteer of Friday, Aug. 26. you have been so obliging as to inform us, that the Report insinuating that the Earl of Hillsborough had neglected to deliver a Petition from the Assembly of the Massachusetts Bay to his Majesty, was groundless, his Lordship not having ever seen the Petition at the...
349Reply to a Defender of Lord Hillsborough, [after 7 September 1772] (Franklin Papers)
AD (incomplete draft): American Philosophical Society In your Paper of the 7th Instant, one M.S. attempts to defend Lord Hillsborough’s Conduct, attack’d it seems, by some preceding Piece which I have not seen. To defend a Friend is honourable but could not M.S. do this without abusing the New Englanders? If Calumny is so bad a thing when level’d at a single Man, that he ranks the Writer of it...
350Certificate of Nomination to the Royal Society, 17 May 1759 (Franklin Papers)
DS : The Royal Society, London Franklin was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on April 29, 1756, and was formally admitted on Nov. 24, 1757. He attended meetings regularly, was a frequent guest at dinners of the Royal Society Club, and took an active part in the Society’s business, being elected a member of the Council in 1760, 1766, 1767, 1772. Between 1759 and 1774 he joined in...
351From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander and Lady Dick: Joys of Prestonfield Adieu!, [15–20 October? 1759] (Franklin Papers)
Copy: Mrs. Ailsa Joan Mary Dick-Cunyngham, Prestonfield, Edinburgh (1955) Verses by Doctor Franklin to Sir Alexander and Lady Dick many years ago wrote at Coldstream on his return to England. ——October 1759 Verses addressd to Lady Dick by Robert Alexander Esquire — October 1759 1 2 3 4 The exact date when BF composed and sent these verses cannot be determined, but it was probably during the...
352From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 3 January 1760 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New York Public Library After we took leave of you, we spent some Weeks in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and at length arriv’d at our House here in good Health, having made a Tour of near 1500 Miles, in which we had enjoy’d a great deal of Pleasure, and receiv’d a great deal of useful Information. But no part of our Journey affords us, on Recollection, a more pleasing Remembrance, than...
353From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 2 June 1765 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New York Public Library I received your kind Congratulations on my Return to Britain, by Mr. Alexander, which were very obliging. The Slip to Dr. Morgan I sent after him to America, where I hope he is safely arrived before this time. He always express’d himself greatly oblig’d to you for the Notice you took of him and the Countenance you afforded him; and I shall always thank you...
354From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 11 December 1763 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New York Public Library I take the Opportunity of a Ship from this Place to Leith, once more to pay my Respects to my good Friend from this Side the Water, and to assure him that neither Time nor Distance have in the least weakened the Impression on my Mind, stampt there by his Kindness to me and my Son, while we were in Scotland. When I saw him last, we talk’d over the pleasant Hours we...
355From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 16 August 1762 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library I am now here just on the Point of departing for America. I cannot go without taking Leave of one from whom I received so many Civilities, so much real Kindness. Accept my sincerest Thanks, and do me the Justice to believe that wherever I am, I shall, while I live, retain a grateful Sense of your Favours. I cannot hope ever to see you in America; but possibly some...
356From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 21 January 1762 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New York Public Library; copy (incomplete): Scottish Record Office It gives me Pleasure to learn, by yours of Nov. 12. that my young Friend Mr. Morgan has render’d himself agreable to you, and that your Health and Eyes were much better. I sent some time since to Mr. Dalrymple one of my Machines for your Chimney, who readily paid the Smith’s Bill for the same. But now, on discoursing with...
357From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 11 January 1772 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New York Public Library My last Expedition convinc’d me that I grow too old for Rambling, and that ’twas probable I should never make such another Journey. ’Tis an uncomfortable Thing, the Parting with Friends one hardly expects ever again to see. This, with some occasional Hindrances, prevented my calling at Preston Fields after my Return from Glasgow: But my Heart was with you and your...
358From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, 17 September 1760 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Western Reserve Historical Society It gave me great Pleasure to learn from Dr. Robertson, that you and Lady Dick and your lovely Bairns, were all well and happy. Now that the long Litigation between our Province and the Proprietaries, which I had the Care of, is finished, I hope to be a better and more punctual Correspondent. My Time will be more my own. I am in debt to my Friends in...
359From Benjamin Franklin to Sir Alexander Dick, [5 October 1759] (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Mrs. Ailsa Joan Mary Dick-Cunyngham, Prestonfield, Edinburgh (1955) Dr. Franklin and his Son present their respectful Compliments to Sir Alexander Dick, and shall attend him to Preston-field tomorrow with great Pleasure. They are extreamly oblig’d to Sir Alexander for his kind Invitation to spend some Days at his Seat in the Country, but doubt the short Stay they must make in these Parts...
360From Benjamin Franklin to William Dillwyn, 20 July 1774: résumé (Franklin Papers)
Summary printed in Sotheby & Co. auction catalogue, December 6, 1965, p. 52. <Craven Street, July 20, 1774: A note in the third person, presenting his compliments and asking Dillwyn to send by the bearer “the Papers he was so kind as to offer Dr. F. the Sight of.”> The Quaker opponent of the slave trade who carried Smith’s letter above, May 13.