To Benjamin Franklin from Charles Thomson, 26 September 1783
From Charles Thomson
ALS: American Philosophical Society; AL (draft): Library of Congress
Philada. 26 Sept 1783.
Dear Sir,
Mr Isaac Norris is the son of our ancient and worthy friend Mr Charles Norris.3 Though I am confident this would be a sufficient recommendation of him to you, yet as he thinks a letter from me will be of some advantage, I cannot refuse it, especially as he is a young man of an amiable disposition, sober, modest, of good principles and good morals.
I could have wished he had seen and known more of his own country before he went abroad. But the war has confined him much at home. On the return of peace, he was persuaded to visit England, but I find by his letters, it has no charms for him. He therefore proposes to make but a short stay in that country and to spend the greatest part of his time abroad in visiting the low countries and France. You will confer an Obligation on me by taking him under your protection, pointing him to objects worthy his notice and by giving him reason to find that this letter proved advantageous to him.
I am with the greatest respect your most Obedient And most humble Servt
Cha Thomson
Honble. Doct Franklin
Notation: Cha. Thomson 26 sept. 1783—
3. Twenty-three-year-old Isaac Norris (1760–1802) was the eldest son of Philadelphia merchant Charles Norris, who died in 1766 (II, 376n): Elaine F. Crane et al., eds., The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker (3 vols., Boston, 1991), III, 2192; William W. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (6 vols., Ann Arbor, 1936–50), II, 400.