The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-06 00:00:00

SURREY THEATEE.

Notwithstanding the denunciations of moralists—t!ot-
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Sheppard, one thing is certain, that the hero maintains
his ground, and no doubt by virtae of his characttristic
faculty of making miraculous escapes, still laughs to
scorn the attempts made on all sides to hunt him to the
death. In theatre after theatre he makes his appear-
ance with as much boldness as if he was animated by
the consciousness of virtue ; and what is more pro-
voking, still he is greeted with as many cheers from the
public in this act of audacious bravado as if he really de-
served them. We must, however, do the Surrey
Theatre the justice to say, that there are few places
where he appears so much in his natural character,
with less of artiticial adornment—with fewer bor-
rowed plumes from theatrical management than be
appears at this theatre. It is true he is, after all,
" no better than he should be ;" but with all his faults,
and they are many, on his head, he appears, both from
the personation of the character, and the adaptation of'
the play, to be veritably Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard.
The novelty of the evening was, however, a drama in
two acts, called The Devil's Daughters, or Hell's
Belles. Any of our readers, who may be fond of the
marvellous, or who may be desirous of taking an
imaginary peep, even though it should be a premature
0n.., at the sa)ings and doings of the infernal regions,
will here have his curiosity fully gratified. The piece
is ingeniously arranged and a very effective drama.

LE1"Fli1l of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

The following is a copy of a letter written by Ben-
jamin Franklin, to M. Le Roy, a French gentleman
in Paris, and which we believe has never before been
in print. The original, from which we copy, is in the
hands of Sir John Robison, Edinburgh :
" London, January 31, 1769.
" Dear Sir,—l received your obliging favour of No-
vember 15. I presented your compliments to Sir John
Pringle, who was glad with me to hear of your welfare,
and desired me to offer his best respects whenever I
wrote to you. The ' Farmer's Letters' were written
by one Mr. Dickenson of Philadelphia, and not by me,
as you seem to suppose. I only caused them to be re-
printed here with that little preface, and had no other
hand in them, except that I see some of my sentiments
formerly published are collected and interwoven with
those of others and his own, by the author. lam glad
they afforded you any amusement. It is true, as you
have heard, the troops are poated in Boston, on the
pretence of preventing riots, and protecting the custom
house officers ; but it is also true, that there tv-s no
intention among the people there to oppose the landing
of these troops, or to resist the execution of the law by
arms. The riots talked of were sudden, unpremeditated
things, that happened only among a few of the lower
sort. Their plan of making war on this country is of a
different kind. It is to be a war on commerce only,
and consists in an absolute determination to buy and
use no more of the mantifactures of Britain till the Act
is repealed. This is already agreed to by four provinces,
and will be by all the rest in the ensuing summer.
Eleven ships now here from Boston and New York,
who would have carried, one with another, 50,000/.
sterling each in goods, are going away in their ballast,
as the Parliament seems determined not to repeal. I
am inclined to think, however, that it will alter itsltnind
before the end of the ses,ion. Otherwise it is to be
feared the breach will grow wider by successive indis-
cretions on both sides.

" The subject you propose to me, the consequences
of allowing a free exportation of corn, the advantages or
disadvantages of the Concurrence, 4c. is a very exten-
sive one ; and I have been, and am at present, so much
occupied with our American affairs, as that, if I were
ever so capable of handling it, I have not time to engage
in it at present to any purpose. I think, however, with
you, that the true principles of commerce are yet but
little understood, and that most of the Acts of Parlia-
ment, arrets, and edicts of Plinees and States, relating
to commerce, are political errors, solicited and obtained
by particulars for private interest, under the pretext
for public good.

" The bearer of this, Captain Overy, is a particular
friend of mine, who now only passes through Paris for
Lyons and Nice, but in his return may stay in your city
some time. tic, is a gentleman of excellent character
and great merit, and as such I beg leave to recommend
him to your civilities and advice, which may be of great
service to him, as he is quite a stranger in Paris. With
the greatest esteem and respect, I am, dear Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

" Your English is extremely good ; but if it is more
easy for you to write in French, do not give yourself the
trouble of writing in English, as I understand your
French perfectly well."—Chambers's Journal.