To Benjamin Franklin from Charles Lee, 7 April 1768
From Charles Lee
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Barton April the 7th 1768
Dear Sir.
I forgot before I left London to desire You wou’d (if Mr. Durden shoud write to me on the subject of the Springsborough estate)2 direct it to me at Sir Charles Bunbury’s3 Barton near Bury St. Edmonds Suffolk. I shoud ask ten thoushand pardons for this liberty,4 and intreat You to believe me, Dear Sir, Your most obedient Servant
Charles Lee
2. Alexander Durdin, a Dublin attorney, had married Ann Penn; after her death in 1767 he was disputing with Thomas Penn the ownership of extensive lands in Pennsylvania. Above, XII, 370 n; XIV, 100 n. Lee had an avid interest in American land; see John R. Alden, General Charles Lee: Traitor or Patriot? (Baton Rouge, [1951]), pp. 25–6, 31. He was apparently considering the purchase from Durdin of one of two Penn manors of the same name, Springetsbury, for which see 3 Pa. Arch., IV; one was in Philadelphia and the other on the Susquehannah.
3. Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, Bart. (1740–1821), Lee’s first cousin and close friend. For the visit to Barton see Alden, Lee, p. 33.
4. BF had dined with Lee less than four weeks before; see above, BF to WF, postscript, March 13, 1768. If this was their first and only previous meeting-and there is no evidence to the contrary—Lee was indeed taking a liberty, and one that was in character.