To Benjamin Franklin from [Ferdinand Grand], [on or after 11 May 1777]
From [Ferdinand Grand7]
AL: American Philosophical Society
[On or after May 11, 17778]
Mr. Grand arrive de Paris avec Mr. Boux, pour avoir L’honneur de voir monsieur Franklin cet aprés midy, chez lui ou chez Mr. Grand comme Monsieur franklin aimera le mieux.
Monsieur Deane viendra aussy entre 3 et 4 heures.
Mr. Grand sera bien aise de voir monsr. Carmikael á son retour de Versailles et avant qu’il aille à Paris.
Addressed: a monsieur / monsieur Franklin
7. Identified by the hand, which is quite different from that of his brother, the chevalier Georges. Rodolph-Ferdinand, known as Ferdinand, was BF’s neighbor in Passy.
8. Dated by the references to Boux and Carmichael. The commissioners had written the former that they would not build a second frigate in the Netherlands, and he returned from his mission there in early May: Lee Jour., pp. 48–9; Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, I, 338; we assume that he was coming to Passy to discuss that mission. Deane sent Carmichael to Versailles on the 11th, and apparently again on the 14th: Deane Papers, II, 51–2, 54. How long he stayed each time is impossible to say; his return via Passy, which Grand expects, could have been as early as the 11th or as late as the 15th.