4. Several notes and letters between BF and Mrs. Katherine French survive, often brief messages written in the third person, inviting him to her home for dinner, music, or a game of chess. A few of their letters suggest her interest in books on political topics. The editors have been unable to identify her positively. There is a remote chance that she was the widow of Jeffrey French (d. 1754), M.P. for Milborne Port, 1741–47, and for Tavistock, 1754, and daughter of Richard Lloyd, chief justice of Jamaica, although that lady is said to have spelled her first name with a “C.” Namier and Brooke, House of Commons, II, 474–5.

5. As noted in connection with the document immediately above, March 27 fell on a Wednesday during BF’s English missions only in 1765 and 1771. In accordance with editorial practice, this note is placed at the earlier of the possible dates.