To Benjamin Franklin from [Turgot], 3 October 1778
From [Turgot3]
AL: American Philosophical Society
Samedi 3 Octobre [1778].
Madame Helvetius me charge, Monsieur, de vous demander si vous serés libre samedi prochain 10 pour aller chéz Mr. De St Lambert avec elle.4 Si vous n’étes pas libre, elle vous prie de me mander le premier jour où vous le serés, afin qu’elle propose ce jour la a Mr. De St Lambert.5 Je me chargerai de lui faire savoir votre reponse. Vous connoissés, Monsieur, tout mon attachement.6
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin / Ministre Plenipotentiaire / des Etats unis / A Passy.
3. Serving as amanuensis for Mme. Helvétius, whom he had courted when they were young: Lopez, Mon Cher Papa, pp. 244–5. BF and the 56-year-old widow were becoming fast friends.
4. For Jean-François, marquis de Saint-Lambert, see XXIV, 219–20 n.
5. The party, which was to include Turgot, did not take place on the proposed date. On Oct. 9, Mme. Helvétius, writing this time through abbé Lefèbvre de la Roche, announced that it was postponed until the following week because Saint-Lambert and the comtesse d’Houdetot (his amie) had to spend a few days in Paris. APS.
6. Under an unfathomable doodle on a separate sheet, BF began to draft his answer but did not get beyond the words: “I shall.”