To Benjamin Franklin from John Reynolds, 14 April 1778: résumé
From John Reynolds8
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Hotel St. Louis, Rue Fromenteau near the Palais Royal, Paris, April 14, 1778: When I visited you at Passy on March 27, and mentioned going to Nantes to investigate some American goods that I have the opportunity of bringing into England, you suggested that I write Mr. Williams, who could give me the information and spare me the journey. I did so and now, eighteen days later, have had no answer. I return tomorrow night unless I hear before then.>
8. He has not appeared before and, to the best of our knowledge, does not appear again. In all likelihood he was the successful London lawyer of that name, friend of Horne Tooke, who numbered among his many clients Stephen Sayre, Lord Chatham, and John Wilkes. If so, the little we know about him comes from his son’s sprightly autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Reynolds Written by Himself (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1826), I, 18–20, 136, and passim.