To Benjamin Franklin from Court de Gébelin, [after 7 May 1781]
From Court de Gébelin
ALS: American Philosophical Society
[after May 7, 1781]2
Monsieur
Je profite de l’occasion que me fournit M. de Sonnerat pour vous temoigner ma reconnoissance de la reponse dont vous m’avez honoré & que j’ai trouvé chez moi en revenant d’une Course de 250. lieues: & pour vous aprendre que je viens de recevoir enfin par M. Sewall la Grammaire Indienne d’Elliot que je cherchois depuis si longtems & où j’ai trouvè des choses très interessantes.3
Si vos occupations vous permettoient d’honorer de votre presence Jeudi prochain sur les 5. heures du soir, le Musée,4 j’en aurois une vive satisfaction ainsi que tous nos Membres. Nous y aurons M. de Sonnerat; le Secretaire de l’Academie de Marine de Brest,5 M. de Langes6 & plusieurs Personnes de votre connoissance. M. votre digne Petit Fils voudra bien vous y accompagner. L’adresse du Musée est Rue St André des Arts en face de la Rue Gille-coeur, maison de M. Millon7 Conseiller au Chatelet.
Je suis avec autant de veneration que de reconnoissance Monsieur Votre très humble & très ob. Serviteur8
Court DE Gebelin
Notation: Court de Geblin
2. In response to BF’s letter of May 7, above, although some time evidently elapsed between the two. Sonnerat, the explorer and naturalist who delivered this letter, returned to Paris in the late spring or early summer of 1781. He also delivered a March 25 letter of introduction from Carmichael (XXXIV, 484) which BF belatedly acknowledged on Aug. 24, below. Sonnerat’s return to Paris was reported in the June 22 issue of the Courier de l’Europe, IX (1781), 402, and he responded to this report in the issue of July 20, X (1781), 43–4.
3. John Eliot’s The Indian Grammar Begun: or, An Essay to Bring the Indian Language into rules … (Cambridge, Mass., 1666).
4. For “le Musée,” also known as the Société apollonienne, see Court de Gébelin’s letter of May 6, above.
5. Founded in 1752 to promote the advancement of maritime science, the academy became a royal academy in 1769 and was affiliated with the Académie des sciences in 1771, with some members belonging to both institutions. Membership was open to all ranks, social and professional: P.-J. Charliat, “L’Académie royale de marine et la révolution nautique au XVIIIe siècle,” Thalès I (1934), 71–82; Georges Lacour-Gayet, La Marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XV (Paris, 1910), pp. 229–35.
6. Charles-Pierre-Paul Savalette de Langes (1745–1798), a Keeper of the Royal Treasury from 1773 to 1788, was one of the most active freemasons of his day. Cofounder of Les Amis Réunis, Gébelin’s other lodge, as well as L’Olympique de la Parfaite Estime and the Société Olympique, he also helped to establish the Maison or Société Philantropique, the most important philanthropic institution of contemporary French freemasonry: Daniel Ligou, ed., Dictionnaire de la Franc-maçonnerie (3rd ed., Paris, 1991), pp. 1099–1100; Yves Durand, Les Fermiers généraux au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1971), pp. 600–1; Le Bihan, Francs-maçons parisiens, pp. 140, 443.
7. Charles Millon (XXXII, 370n). The Musée continued to meet at Millon’s until November, 1782, when it moved to the rue Dauphine.
8. Among BF’s papers at the APS there is an undated letter from Le Roy who has been asked to engage BF to attend a public meeting of the Musée that day, a Thursday, when matters of interest to him will be presented.