To Benjamin Franklin from Daniele Andrea Delfino, 6 April 1782
From Daniele Andrea Delfino8
AL: American Philosophical Society
Paris. ce 6me. avril 1782./.
L’Accademie des Sciences et arts de Padoüe D’esiroit ajouter Le nom de Monsieur franklin aux noms qui honorent déja La Liste des membres dont elle est composée.9
Le chevalier Delfino Ambassadeur de Venise Seroit bien flatté de pouvoir donner cette satisfaction à un corps n’aissant, qui est specialment protegé par Le Gouvernement.1
Il Joint pour cela ses instances á celles des accademiciens, et il á L’honneur de assurer Monsr. franklin de la plus sincére Consideration./.
Notation: Mr. Delfino Paris 6. Avril 1782.
8. Delfino, or Dolfin (1748–1798), served as Venetian ambassador to the French court from December, 1780, through the end of 1785. He had previously introduced the Pennsylvania fireplace to Venice, and his diplomatic dispatches reflect his continued admiration for BF: Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter, III, 463; Alberto M. Ghisalberti et al., eds., Dizionario biografico degli Italiani (53 vols. to date, Rome, 1960–); Antonio Pace, Benjamin Franklin and Italy (Philadelphia, 1958), pp. 77, 87, 113–14, 122.
9. The certificate announcing BF’s election to the Academy was signed by its principal officers on Dec. 20, 1781: XXXVI, 273. Also elected at Paris were d’Alembert, Lalande, the abbés Mably and Arnaud, Condorcet, Marmontel, Duhamel du Monceau, Macquer, and Antoine Louis: Courier de l’Europe, XI (1782), 297–8.
1. The Academy, founded in 1778 or 1779, was about to publish its first volume of proceedings: Dizionario biografico, XVI, 554; XXIV, 224; Courier de l’Europe, XI (1782), 298. Melchior Cesarotti, the Academy’s secretary, published an account of the public sessions for the years 1780–98: Relazioni accademiche (2 vols., Pisa, 1803). See also Pace, Franklin and Italy, p. 331.