To Benjamin Franklin from William Heberden, 17 January 1761
From William Heberden6
AL: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Jan. 17. 1761.
Dr. Heberden sends his Compliments to Dr. and Mr. Franklin and hopes they are well, and that it was no accident of a bad nature,7 which hinder’d him from having the pleasure of their company at dinner yesterday.
Addressed: To / Dr. Franklin
Endorsed: Given me by Mr. Sparks in Oct [?] 37. R. G.8
[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]
6. For Dr. William Heberden, physician, see above, VIII, 281 n.
7. The nature of the “accident” is not known.
8. “Mr. Sparks” was presumably Jared Sparks (1789–1866), one of BF’s early editors and later president of Harvard. “R.G.,” as the signature initials appear to be, may have been Robert Gilmer, a nineteenth-century Baltimore autograph collector.