Benjamin Franklin Papers

From Benjamin Franklin to the President and Council of the Royal Society, 29 May 1754

To the President and Council of the Royal Society

ALS: The Royal Society

Philada. May 29. 1754

Gentlemen,

The very great Honour you have done me, in adjudging me your Medal for 1753,3 demands my grateful Acknowledgements, which I beg you would accept as the only Return at present in my Power.

I know not whether any of your learned Body have attain’d the ancient boasted Art of multiplying Gold; but you have certainly found the Art of making it infinitely more valuable.

You may easily bestow your Favours on Persons of more Merit; but on none who can have a higher Sense of the Honour, or a more perfect Respect for your Society and Esteem of its excellent Institution, than Gentlemen, Your most obliged and most obedient Servant

B Franklin

President and Council of the Royal Society.

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

3. For Lord Macclesfield’s speech announcing the award of the Copley Medal, Nov. 30, 1753, see above, pp. 126–34.

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    Franklin Papers
    Title
    From Benjamin Franklin to the President and Council of the Royal Society, 29 May 1754
    Author
    Franklin, Benjamin
    Recipient
    President and Council of the Royal Society
    Date
    29 May 1754

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From Benjamin Franklin to the President and Council of the Royal Society, 29 May 1754,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0091. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 5, July 1, 1753, through March 31, 1755, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962, p. 334.]