3. This letter, in French, survives only in Ridley’s letterbook. It must have been written on the merchant’s behalf by his clerk Nicolas Darcel, who kept the letterbook and handled Ridley’s correspondence when he was away: XXXVII, 278n. Ridley had gone to England in mid-March: Darcel to Neave & Son, April 3, 1784, Mass. Hist. Soc.

4. BF evidently sold Ridley the pirated Swiss edition of Diderot’s Encyclopédie that BF had ordered in 1778 but neglected to claim or pay for until—it seems—the beginning of 1784. Ridley, through his clerk, is here sending the purchase price of 225 l.t. plus 3 l.t. 12 s.—presumably the cost of cartage. The volumes had been sitting in a residence at Fontainbleau for well over a year before the first ten were delivered to BF at Passy sometime before August, 1783. The remaining 26 volumes of text and three volumes of plates were then transferred to Pierre-Sylvain Maréchal in Paris, to whom BF was to remit payment: XXVII, 594–5; XXXVIII, 297–8; XL, 552–4. It is possible that Ridley had taken the first ten volumes from BF’s residence, and that BF arranged for the remaining volumes to be shipped directly to him from Maréchal.

5. During the months covered by this volume, Darcel also sent BF on Ridley’s behalf three letters requesting BF’s examination of bills of exchange. The letters are dated March 4, May 12, and June 2: Ridley letterbook, Mass. Hist. Soc.