From Benjamin Franklin to [John Jay], 17 September 1782
To [John Jay]6
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Passy, Sept. 17. 1782
Dear Sir,
I have just receiv’d the Enclos’d from Mr E. Bridgen of London. Please to return me his Letter.
I long to finish my private Affair you are so good as to assist me in, & shall be glad to receive the additional Provisions you intended, that I may copy the whole, for I think my present Situation more hazardous than those about me seem to imagine.7
With sincere Esteem, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
6. Identified on the basis of Bridgen’s enclosure, mentioned in the first sentence, which was addressed to Jay. See Bridgen to BF, Sept. 6.
7. In light of BF’s fears about his health, we believe that he had asked Jay to help him revise his will. Though there are no further allusions to this “private affair” during the period the men were in France, after they returned to America BF asked Jay to send him a copy of his will, since Jay was the only person “on this Side the Water” who had one: BF to Jay, Aug. 24, 1786, in Smyth, Writings, IX, 537–8. Elkanah Watson also feared that BF was dying; see the headnote to MacMahon’s prescription and directions, Aug. 23.