To Benjamin Franklin from Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 26 May 1777
From Jean-Baptiste Le Roy
AL: American Philosophical Society
Paris may the 26th [1777]
M. Le Roy pays his best Compliments to Dr. Franklin and begs leave to ask him whether he has M. Burck’s Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol wherein he maintains by very valuable arguments the Necessity of making Peace with the united Colonies.5 A Gentleman writes from England to Mde. Du Déffand That if She had read that letter She would no longer be of the court party but become one of the greatest friends of the good cause. Now My Dear Doctr. if you have that letter and you can Spare it and lend it me for Some days I will be very much obliged to you.6
P.S. I believe you have forgot My Dear friend That there is almost a cart Load of Books of the Royal academy for you here, at my House.
Addressed: a Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin / de l’Academié des Sciences / maison de M. Le Rez de Chaumont / à Passy / à Passy
Notation: Le Roy.
5. A Letter from Edmund Burke, Esq.; One of the Representatives in Parliament for the City of Bristol, to John Farr, and John Harris, Esqrs. Sherriffs of That City, on the Affairs of America (Bristol, 1777). The pamphlet was reviewed at length in the May issue of the Gent. Mag., XLVII (1777), 232–6.
6. The borrowing and lending of books and newspapers, often combined with invitations to play chess, were the occasions for a number of Le Roy’s undated and undatable notes in the APS. They may be summarized as follows: (1) He would like to borrow the Memoirs of the Académie royale des sciences for 1765. (2) He sends back, with thanks, BF’s English newspapers. (3) He asks for the Courier de l’Europe. (4) He returns a volume of the Encyclopédie and asks for the one covering G.