To Benjamin Franklin from William Denny, [1765]
From William Denny2
AL: University of Pennsylvania Library
Fri. Afternoon [1765]3
Mr. Paterson’s Bury Street
Col. Denny presents his compliments to Dr. Franklin, and should be glad to have the pleasure of dining with him at a tavern; for being in lodgings he cannot ask the favour of his company at home.4 If it is agreeable, will bespeak a dinner at the Star and Garter,5 Pall Mall, at a crown a head to be ready at four o’clock. Please to name sunday, monday, or tuesday for our meeting, I being obliged to go out of town the middle of the week.
Addressed: To / Dr Franklin / at Mrs Stevenson’s / in Craven Street / The Strand
2. For Col. William Denny, governor of Pa., 1756–59, see above, VI, 489–90.
3. Denny died toward the end of 1765, his will being proved on Jan. 16, 1766. Nicholas B. Wainwright, “Governor William Denny in Pennsylvania,” PMHB, LXXXI (1957), 195.
4. Denny may have wanted some information about his house and property in Pa., which Joseph Galloway and John Hughes later offered for sale as attorneys for his executors. Pa. Gaz., Jan. 1, 1767.
5. A well-known tavern, where many clubs met, including the Society of Dilettanti of which Denny was a member. H.B. Wheatley, London Past and Present (London, 1891), III, 305.