From Benjamin Franklin to the Duc de Villequier, 1 October 1779
To the Duc de Villequier
Copy: Library of Congress
Passy, Oct. 1. 1779.
Sir
I return herewith the Queries you did me the honour to send me, having written the Answers in the Margin.1 If they are satisfactory to you it will be a pleasure to me, being with great Respect Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servant
M. Le Duc De Villequier.
1. Louis-Alexandre-Céleste d’Aumont, duc de Villequier (1736–1814), had sent a four-page letter on Sept. 23. He wrote that he was planning to install lightning rods on his castle in Picardy and his Parisian residence—not that he was afraid of lightning but to reassure his female relatives—and wished to be brought up to date as to the latest findings in the field, so that no untoward incident would deter others from following his example. APS. The duke was the son-in-law of BF’s colleague at the Académie des sciences, the marquis de Courtanvaux. DBF, IV, 636, and Dictionnaire de la noblesse, XVIII, 825.