To Benjamin Franklin from [Pierre-Georges Cabanis], 12 October 1778
From [Pierre-Georges Cabanis]2
L: American Philosophical Society
Lundy soir 12 8bre [1778]
Made. helvetius demande de la part de mr. hebert à mr. franklin si le Diné projetté avec mr. le maréchal de Duras3 peut avoir Lieu samedy prochain ou mercredy de la semaine suivante. Mr. hébert chez qui doit s’exécuter ce diné, préférerait le samedy, mais toutes fois dans le cas où mr. franklin n’aurait aucun engagement pour ce jour là. Mde. helvétius sera de cette partie, et mr. franklin aura la bonté de la prendre en passant, et de lui mander par le porteur le jour qu’il a choisi.4
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur franklin / A Passi
2. Twenty-one years old at the time, Cabanis was a medical student living at the home of Mme. Helvétius and often serving as her secretary. He gained considerable fame later on, both as a physician (Mirabeau was among his patients) and as one of the leaders of the school of the idéologues. Upon his hostess’s death in 1800, he inherited the Auteuil estate where BF had spent many of his happiest hours in France. Cabanis published his reminiscences of those occasions in his Notice sur Benjamin Franklin: C. Lehec and J. Cazeneuve, eds., Oeuvres philosophiques de Cabanis (2 vols., Paris, 1956), II, 341–67; for a sketch of his own life, see ibid., I, v–xxi. See also Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, passim; A. Guillois, Le salon de Madame Helvétius (Paris, 1894).
3. Emmanuel Félicité de Durfort, duc de Duras (1715–1789) managed to become maréchal de France without having ever commanded an army and member of the Académie without having written a line. In his capacity as First Gentleman of the Chamber, he supervised the royal theaters. Larousse. Antoine-François Hébert (b. 1709), Trésorier Général de l’Argenterie, Menus Plaisirs et Affaires de la Chambre du Roi, owned a beautiful house and garden in Auteuil. From information kindly provided by Jean-Claude David, Paris. See also J.F. Bosher, French Finances 1770–1795: From Business to Bureaucracy (Cambridge, 1970), p. 328.
4. Another note, undated, also in the hand of Cabanis, refers to a dinner party to take place “vendredy” at BF’s. Turgot and the baron d’Holbach are to be among the guests. APS.