To Benjamin Franklin from Françoise-Antoinette-Jeanne Langlois du Bouchet, Comtesse Conway, [c. 22 March 1779]
From Françoise-Antoinette-Jeanne Langlois du Bouchet, Comtesse Conway1
ALS: American Philosophical Society
[c. March 22, 1779]2
Voila mon cher papa le billet que vous m’aviés acordé pour mr mullens3 je n’en suis pas moins reconnoissante quoiquil n’en ait plus de besoin j’ai mon mari depuis 3 jours ce qui me fait grand plaisir après tant dinquietudes. Je lui ai dit que je vous aimois bien.
Adieu my dear father I am your most and Sincer daughter
FE Conway
Mon mari proffitera du premier moment que je lui donnerai pour vous aller voir. Mandés moi si mon billet vous est parvenu.
1. This is the first time that the comtesse (XXIII, 582) addresses BF in French. With her husband’s return, they had abandoned their plan to settle in the United States and she gave up her attempts to write in English.
2. Dated on the basis of her husband’s letter, immediately below.
3. For Thomas Mullens, an aide to Gen. Conway, see XXIV, 397n. Taken by a privateer on his way back to France, he had lost all his belongings. For further details on the episode of the billet see BF’s letter to the comtesse of March 25.