From Benjamin Franklin to ———, 26 March 1782
To ———8
AL (draft): American Philosophical Society
ce 26 Mars 82
J’ai reçu, avec ma petite Dialogue, votre charmante Epitre & Puisque je trouve que Madame la Goutte est de votre Connoissance, ma tres chere Amie je vous prie de grace que quand elle me fait une autre Visite, vous voudriez bien l’accompagner. Votre Présence me dedommagera de la sienne. Avec une telle Garde, la Peine deviendra Plaisir.9
8. We can identify neither the intended recipient nor the letter she evidently sent. Mme Brillon, who had introduced the character of “Madame La Goutte” and to whom BF had replied with his dialogue on the gout more than a year earlier (XXXIII, 529–31; XXXIV, 11–21), had not yet returned from Nice.
9. On the verso the owner of a tin plate manufactory identified himself: “M. falatieu proprietaire de la manufr. Rle. [Royale] de Bain a Epinal en loraine.” His name is listed as “Falacieu” in the Almanach des marchands, p. 202, where the Bains manufactory, outside of Epinal, is called the finest in the kingdom. Above this note BF has written “300 feuilles pesant 160 livres / 90 livres—12 Inches long by 9 ½” and underneath, “Fer blanc”. He also made a series of related calculations and drew a right isosceles triangle.