Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 13 April 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Cushing, Thomas

Sir,
London, 13 April, 1772.
I wrote to you in January last a long letter, by Meyrick, and at the same time wrote to the Committee, since which I have received no line from any one in Boston, nor has Mr. Bollan yet received the answer we wait for, respecting the eastern settlements on the crown land.
The Parliament has been employed in the royal marriage bill, and other business; nothing of importance relating to America has been mentioned hitherto during the session, and it is thought that India affairs will fill up the remainder of the time, to the prorogation. I have not met with Lord Hillsborough since my return from Ireland, seeing no use at present in attending his levees. The papers mentioned his intention of moving something in the House of Lords relating to America, but I cannot learn there was any truth in it.

It is my present purpose to return home this summer, in which case, I suppose I am to leave your business and papers in the hands of Mr. Lee, which I shall do, if I do not receive other directions.
Upon the present plan here of admitting no agent, but such as governors shall approve of, from year to year, and of course none but such as the ministry approves of, I do not conceive that agents can be of much use to you; and, therefore, I suppose you would rather decline appointing any. In my opinion, they have at all times been of full as much service to government here, as to the colonies from whence they come, and might still be so, if properly attended to, in preventing, by their better information, those disgraceful blunders of government, that arise from its ignorance of our situation, circumstances, abilities, temper, &c., such as the Stamp Act, which too would have been prevented, if the agents had been regarded. Therefore I should think, that, if agents can be allowed here on no other footing than is now proposed, we should omit sending any, and leave the crown, when it wants our aids, or would transact business with us, to send its minister to the colonies. Be pleased to present my respects to the Committee, and duty to the Assembly, and believe me, with sincere esteem, &c.
B. Franklin.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 13 April 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister,
London, April 13. 1772
I received your kind Letter by Mrs. Wright, and shall do her all the Service in my Power. I think I wrote to you by Cousin Josiah, who sailed in Acworth last Week, and I hope will get safe home to his Friends. I continue well, and purpose returning this Summer, God willing, and then may hope next Year for the Pleasure of seeing you, as 1773 is my Period for visiting Boston, having left it in 1723, and visited it in 1733, 43, 53, and 63. My Love to your Daughter, and best Wishes of Health and Happiness to you and all you love, from Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Michell, 13 April 1772: résumé
From: Michell, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

<Tom’s C. H. April 13, 1772: Returns a book together with Winthrop’s letter, which he has ordered sent to Franklin. Is leaving town today and will not see him again until next winter unless, as Michell hopes, Franklin visits Yorkshire during the summer. If instead he leaves for America, wishes him a pleasant and prosperous voyage and happiness in his native country.>


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Alexander Small, 13 April 1772
From: Small, Alexander
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
New York April 13th 1772
Having soon dispatched all I could do in Jamaica, and having no Opportunity of returning soon to Britain from thence, I was tempted by a very ingenious Gentleman Mr. Shariff to accompany him hither. As he purposes being in England some time this Summer, I shall give him a Letter of introduction to you.
As I gave you from Jamaica an Account of what occurred during our Passage thither, I shall now continue a Journal of our Voyage hither, which was a most disagreable one of forty six days, during which many cross Accidents happened.
As we came down from Kingston to Port Royal our Commander Mr. Tunis de la Fountanye informed us that being in Kingston harbour in the year 1764, he saw a Stream of fire descending from a small black Cloud upon Muskita Fort, which was succeeded by a Clap of Thunder, and by the Explosion of a large Magazine of Gun powder then lodged in the fort. Mr. Shariff, who is much conversant in Electrical Experiments, said that when an electrical Machine is highly charged, and a Shock is then given with it, he had observed that the electrical fire proceeded in a streight line; and from thence concluded that when Lightning did any Mischief, it constantly proceeded in a streight line. I confirmed this Opinion by the instance of St Bride’s Steeple.

When we were in the Latitude of 34 proceeding to the stormy Cape Haterass, a very fine Morning began at Noon to be over cast. While we were at Dinner, our Capt. started up and run upon deck to give the proper Orders. He had scarcely stept when we heard two Claps of thunder resembling two Cannons fired off quickly very near us, and then ceased instantly without that repetition of Sounds which is usual in thunder. This was succeeded by rain, and then a clear Sky. When the Capt. returned to make an end of his Dinner, we asked him the reason of his so suddenly starting up. He answered that he saw a flash of Lightning exactly similar to that which fell on Muskita fort. In the Evening Mr. Shariff and I being upon deck, observed a very black Cloud to the northward, and saw a great deal of Lightening in it, but were at too great a distance to hear the Thunder. We could evidently distinguish three different kinds of Lightning, viz: the common flash, which diffuses much Light, and is instantly gone. The next was the Zig-Zag kind which generally reached a considerable way along the Cloud. We observed one flash which darted along at least one quarter of the Sky. Does this account for the noise of the Thunders being heard for a considerable time, and lessening as it goes to a greater distance; as well as it does for our Cannon Shot the flash being then in a Spot? The third kind is that Stream of fire which our Capt. Saw. We saw a faint one in the evening, extended from the Sea to the Cloud; and in about a quarter of an hour, we saw another Stream of clear fire, reaching in the same manner; in a continuous fire. We did not see from which it took its rise. From this dark Cloud, other Clouds extended themselves over the whole Sky, tho’ on one Side, directly against the wind, with that mixture of light and darkness peculiar to thunder Clouds; and soon produced a total darkness especially as Night was approaching; but a darkness which was at times abundantly enlightened by almost continued flashes of Lightning. About eight O’Clock the Mate, who had the Watch on deck, called out with astonishment that a Stream of fire descended from the Sky to the Sea, as large he thought as his wrist. What between the Lightning, thunder, and luminous appearance in the Waves which broke every where around us, I assure you the Night had a most tremenduous Appearance.
A few Nights after this Storm another, so violent, came on, that we could bear no Sail, but as the Sailers express it lay a Hull. This was not attended with thunder; but the Sea was in the most luminous state I ever Saw it, which our Capt. imputed to our approach to the Shore. The whole surface of the Sea being covered with breakers, appeared as if all on fire: and as the Sea broke over us every minute, and the Spray ascended on the Masts and Rigging, both Deck and rigging seemed to be constantly on fire, which gave so clear a light that a pin might have been picked up on the Deck. The Vessel and we appeared like Salamanders living in the midst of Flame.
In these violent Storms there frequently appears a Phenomenon which the Sailors call a Comet, this is a ball or balls of fire or of some luminous Substance, which play up and down the Masts, and Sometimes remain Stationary at the Mast head. The Sailors observe that when they descend and disappear the Storm is on the decline. Our Capt. relyed so fully on this Circumstance that so soon as he saw the Comet descend and appear no more, he went to Sleep, being fully satisfied that no farther mischief would happen. Mr. Shariff and I differed in Opinion as to the Cause of this Phenomenon. There are in the Sea many gelatinous Substances which seem to be animals by their change of posture at pleasure. They have a peculiar luminous appearance in the Night, as several other fish have. He was of Opinion that the balls were some Animals of that kind which were thrown up by waves, and preserved their luminous appearance for some time. I alledged that if so, their Appearance would not cease but with the Storm; nor could it be the common luminous Substance, for its Shining ceases the Moment the Agitation of the Sea water ceases. Sub Judice Lis est.

I do not know that the perpendicular height of the Waves of the Sea has been yet ascertained by any Accurate Experiments. Our Capt. relates the following facts. On the Bar of Canso Bay there are four fathoms Water in calm Weather. Passing over the bar in a great Storm, he kept the lead going constantly, and found that when on the top of a Wave, he had five fathoms; and in the hollow between the Waves, he had only three. When we approached the Coast of your Country, and were got within Sounding, a Storm came on, which brought us to our bare poles. In this Condition a Vessel has little progressive Motion, and on that account, our Capt. had a fair Opportunity of ascertaining exactly the difference of depth between the top of a wave and the hollow between two. He took the lead line in his own hand, and found that when on the top of the Waves, he had forty four fathoms of water, and when in the hollows, scarcely forty. The Sea did not at this time run so high as in the former Storms, for it was not of so long continuance.
I was once in a gale of wind in the Bay of Biscay, and there [?] I keep greatly within truth when I say that the waves were at least a third higher than any waves I had seen during this passage and the distance between the Waves in a much greater proportion. The reason may be that the Waves on your Coast had a much less space to run, the Strongest Winds being generally off Shore. When in the Bay of Biscay, we met a Ship and when both were on the tops of the Waves, we could easily speak to one another. I cannot now be positive how many waves we were asunder, I think not above two, or three at most, but when both descended into the hollows at the same time, neither of us could see the tops of one another’s Masts.
You See your Country gave us a very unkind Welcome, for we were Sixteen days from Cape Haterass to New York, and in almost continual Storms. Your World is formed on a grander Scale than ours. Your Mountains are more lofty, your Lakes more extensive, your Rivers larger, and your Storms more violent than with us. The Truth of the latter we have abundantly experienced. Here we are cast a Shore in Wintery weather, the Snow lying on the ground, and no Signs of Vegetation yet appearing.
In Order to give the whole that related to Lightning together, I passed over a considerable part of our Voyage, during which, two remarkable circumstances occurred. When we had got to the West end of Cuba, we were Sensible that the Current carried us to the Northward, and, as we supposed, into the Gulph of Florida. When in the Latitude of 23, the Current made a difference in a day of twenty miles between our Log and Observation; and next day, a difference of 40, when we got beyond the lat: of Cape Florida tho’ we steered both day to the S:E: against a strong Easterly wind, endeavouring to make the Island of Cuba. From thence we judged that [the] Current of the Gulph Stream had carried us into the Gulph without seeing the Island of Cuba. The next day we found we were carried still to the Northward more than our log gave. Next day our Observation and Log agreed; but the two following days we found by our Observations at Noon that we had rather lost of our Northing. This allarmed us, but we accounted for it by Supposing that we had got too near the American Shore, and so into an Edie formed by the Gulph Stream. Luckily for us, we next day saw a Ship the Master of which informed us, that he had left Pensacola the day before and [remainder missing]


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jean-Baptiste LeRoy, 20 April 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Le Roy, Jean-Baptiste

Dear Sir,
London, April 20. 1772
I received your Favour of March 5 per M. Dazoux, and shall be glad of any Opportunity of doing him Service. It gave me great Pleasure to learn by him, that you are well and happily married, on which I give you Joy. ’Tis after all the most natural State of Man.
Mr. West our President concerning whom you make Enquiry, is esteemed as a good Antiquarian, but has not distinguish’d himself in any other Branch of Science. He is a Member of Parliament, was formerly Secretary to the Treasury, and is very rich.
I am glad to hear that a Voyage is intended from France to the North Pole. The World owes much to the noble Spirit with which your Nation pursues the Improvement of Knowledge, and to the Liberality with which you communicate what you acquire to the rest of Mankind. I hope your Philosophers on that Voyage will be able to discover more clearly the Cause of the Aurora Borealis, and a Passage round the North of America.
I suppose Care has been taken to make their Ships very strong, that they may bear thumping among the Ice. My best Wishes will attend them, for their Success and safe Return.
Messrs. Banks and Solander, are to sail with two Ships in about a Fortnight, for the South. They expect to be out near 4 Years. They present their Compliments, and are pleas’d with the Notice you honour them with, in your Letter to me. Sir Jno Pringle continues well and presents his respectful Compliments to you. I am with the most perfect Esteem, Dear Sir &c.
M. Le Roy


Title: William Temple Franklin to Jonathan Williams, Jr., 25 April 1772
From: Franklin, William Temple
To: Williams, Jonathan Jr.

Dear Jonathan.
London, April 25th 1772
I am sorry I could not have the pleasure of writing to you before now, but I hope this letter will find you in good health. I go to Morrow to Mr. Hewson’s to celebrate William Hewson’s birth day; he is one of the finest Boys imaginable. I have nothing more to say at present than that Dr. Franklin Mrs. Stevenson and Sally are well and join in best respects with your humble Servant
William Temple.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from a Committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 27 April 1772
From: Library Company of Philadelphia
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Philada. April 27th 1772
By order of the Directors of the Library Co. of Philada. we have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your polite and friendly Letter of the 16th April 1771, and beg you to accept our Thanks for the good wishes therein expressed towards this institution as well as for the Services you have at many times and in different ways rendered it. An Account came to hand at the same time from which it appears that there was then due to the Company £87 18s. 6d. Stg. exclusive of a Balance you apprehend due to you on a Settlement, a State of which remains in America: in order to adjust this Account we have carefully examined our Papers and Minutes and under the 12th Decr. 1763 find you Sir, then a Director present, exhibiting an Account, with proper Vouchers, amounting to £18 16s. 1d. when it was Resolved “That an Order be drawn upon the Treasurer to settle said Account with Dr. Franklin, at the rate of 75 per Cent which was accordingly done.” We applied to Mr. Joseph Morris, then Treasurer, to see if he could assist us, from him we learn, that he paid you on the 14th. of May 1764 £32 18s. 2½d. Currency equal to the said Sterling Debt: his Accounts were examined approved and Signed by a Committee of six Directors, of which number you was one. Notwithstanding all which the Balance you mention may be that of some later Account however, this is all the Light we are able to obtain, therefore must refer ourselves to you for farther Information.
We have also been favoured with yours of the 5th. of June, inclosing an Invoice of Books, shipped by Mr. Strachan [Strahan], amounting to £62 8s. which was executed to Satisfaction (except as in the Account below) and arrived in good order.
The Directors agree in Sentiment with you that £300 Stg. would be thought too much to lay out for the Transactions of the several European Societies, but as the French Encyclopaedia may probably contain Extracts from the most material parts of all of them, they intend to purchase the new, improved Edition, which you will be so good as mention to Mr. Strahan, that he directly on its publication may forward it.
Your Assistance we farther request in procuring for us the inclosed Catalogue of Books which hope to receive so soon as possible. By Falconer we intend a Remittance to pay for the Books now ordered. Wishing you every Happiness we remain very Respectfully Your most obedient humble Servants
Matth ClarksonFras. HopkinsonR Strettell Jones.

[In Franklin’s hand:]

Not sent.
Ogilvies’ Poems
£0
12s.

Potts on the Fistula

1s.
6d.

Gray on Inland Navigations

  1s.

14s.
6d.

Dr Benja Franklin

Addressed: To / Dr. Benjamin Franklin / London. / per the Mary and Eliza[beth] / Capt Sparks
Notation: Dr B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Henly, [April? 1772]
From: Henly, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir:
Sunday Eve. [April?, 1772]
I have this day repeated in the most accurate manner I was able, my experiment with the Bladder gilded with leaf brass, and suspended on an arm of wood turning freely on a needles point. The following is the result of many trials. After giving the bladder a strong spark from the knob of a positively charged bottle; on presenting towards it a smooth round ball 2 Inches diameter, I found it would come towards it, at upwards of two inches distance, and when within an inch would throw off its electricity in a full strong spark, (in short as the air was dry, and the silk perfectly good and smooth by which it was suspended,) as great an one as it had received from the bottle. After giving the spark as before; upon presenting a fine point towards it, it never acceeded to the point in the least, and when it was pushed nearly into contact, (unless it was done very hastily,) no sensible quantity remained in it. I should have observed that if the ball was presented towards the bladder, even if it was swinging in a contrary direction, it would come back and meet it, throwing its electricity upon it at an inch distance as above described.
  I suppose Mr. Nairne told you of our ill success, with his batteries, and their having little or no effect on my Electrometer. To prove the goodness of that measure, I have this day tried it with your battery setting it upon the prime conductor. I gave the battery 100 turns of my small machine before the index began to move, but it then went on very regularly till it goot ⅒ Inch above right angles, when it made an effort to discharge itself but ended in hissing. At this instant I saw every one of the wooden tops to the bottles beset with loose filaments, I counted 7 upon one of them, and I believe in the whole there might be some 100. Think Sir how this must dissipate that atmosphere which ought to have been confined to the index, and to have regulated its action. On discharging it, the report was amazing, and much melted all the connecting wires. I saw plainly Mr. Nairnes error, and had he been advised by me, he might have prevented it. I have however put him in an easy, and simple way to correct it.

I do still aver, that if the apparatus be properly made, every thing dry, and well connected, the Electrometer is a just and accurate measurer, a satisfactory and most useful instrument, as with this you are always sure of your force before the discharge.
Some friends of mine being strongly of opinion that the matter of light, and the Electric matter are the same thing, I made an experiment to determine the question (not for my own) but for their satisfaction. I insulated my rubber and collecting the Solar Rays in a burning glass brought it so as to let the rubber be in the focus, I burnt my rubber, (which is wood,) several times, but without producing any Electricity. Believe me Dear Sir to be with real regard yours
W Henly

Addressed: To / Dr: Franklin / Craven-street / Strand


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Dorothea Blunt, 1 May [1772?]
From: Blunt, Dorothea
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Three of Dolly Blunt’s letters, of which this is the first, can be dated only by what may be considered extravagant guesswork; others cannot be dated at all, and will be published in a supplement at the end of BF’s second British mission. His letters to her in this period, to which she occasionally refers, have all disappeared, and with them the clues they might have provided. Dolly rarely mentioned the year in which she was writing; sometimes, as here, she noted the day and the month, sometimes left out the month, and sometimes ignored all such trivial details. The letters appear to belong to the later phase of her friendship with Franklin, after Polly Stevenson’s marriage, when she was “paying more attention to you than I have hitherto paid tho not more than I have always been prompted from affection to pay.” Our dating of the present one hinges on its subject, a dinner invitation in which she enticed Franklin with the assurance of meeting his old friend Hawkesworth. The two men had had no contact that we know of since January, 1771. On May 7, 1772, Franklin received an urgent request from Hawkesworth for help in a medical problem, which he apparently arranged to provide; our conjecture is that the request grew out of a conversation at the Blunts’ dinner table on May 1.

Dear Sir
May the 1st [1772?]
Shoud this be fortunate enough to meet you at home and Shou’d you be disengag’d, I shall think myself in luck for as I cannot persue that pleasing scheme of passing a few days with you, I cannot but desire to see you some where and therefore cou’d you indulge me by dining at Sir Charles Blunts in Ormond Street this Day at 3 o Clock, we hope you will [meet ?] Dr. Hawkesworth. I mention’d this as a[n ind]ucement, yet am angry with myself that I did, for your behaviour is always such as convinces me, you are not only ready but desirous to oblige your Humble Servant
D: Blunt

Compliments to Mrs. Stevenson
Addressed: To / Dr Franklin / in / Craven Street


Title: Note on the Walpole Company’s Rejoinder to a Report from the Board of Trade, [after 1 May 1772]
From: Wharton, Samuel
To:

[After May 1, 1772]
After the flurry of activity over the Walpole grant in the spring of 1771, nothing happened for a year. The reason was not only Hillsborough’s opposition but also the number and complexity of the problems involved. The land in question included tracts that were claimed by Pennsylvania, by the Ohio Company of Virginia, by the Suffering Traders or Indiana Company, and by the veterans of the French and Indian War whom Washington represented. The Indians, like the whites, had conflicting claims; and the cessions they made to the crown, subject to its approval, were also conflicting. Any line of division between white men and red, furthermore, was subject to the pressure of settlers who were moving across the Alleghenies; confirming such a line when it did not in fact demarcate settlements from hunting grounds would have been an invitation to violence. The many claimants, each in a different way, were asking Whitehall to fix a frontier that was inherently unstable; and Whitehall took refuge in delay.
Hillsborough delayed from policy. He was still adamant against western expansion, and the leaders of the Walpole Company were working hard to undermine his influence. Success seemed in their grasp in December, 1771, when the Cabinet overruled him and ordered an immediate report on the Company’s application. But the Board of Trade did not act until the following March, when it held a hearing at which the Company—biding its time—declined to be represented. The Board brought in a report on April 15 that was forwarded to the Committee on Plantations of the Privy Council on April 29; on May 1 the Company requested a copy, which it received. The report raised objections to the grant: part of the land included in it was west of the boundary already established with the Indians at Fort Stanwix and Lochaber, and those legally settled in the territory east of that boundary might properly come under the jurisdiction of Virginia. But the main objection was that stated in the Board’s earlier report of March, 1768: creating a new colony remote from the seaboard was mistaken in principle, because such a colony produced nothing of commercial benefit to the mother country to compensate for the cost of defense. The Board therefore advised rejecting the application and reaffirming the Proclamation Line of 1763.
Hillsborough’s political strength was waning, for the Privy Council Committee refused to endorse the Board’s report out of hand. Instead it held a hearing on June 5, at which the Company took the opportunity that it had declined before the Board, and aired its case at great length. Franklin was present, but the record indicates that he participated only to the extent of answering one minor question. Samuel Wharton unquestionably took the lead in presenting the petitioners’ argument, which in its published form was, according to William Knox, Wharton’s composition.
A quarter-century later John Almon attributed this rejoinder to Franklin. He had had only five copies printed, Almon added, when Hillsborough’s resignation in August induced him to stop the press. Jared Sparks accepted this attribution, and substantiated it by misreading a letter from Franklin in 1773; later editors followed Sparks. Clarence Alvord disagreed, and so do we. Internal evidence, as well as external, points to Wharton as the principal author. The document is a meandering statement of the case, replete with arguments and historical details that are ill organized, ill written, and sometimes incoherent. Here and there are flashes of reasoning that may be Franklin’s, here and there he may have provided the background information; but we can find no ground for believing that the resultant mishmash was his handiwork.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Priestley, 4 May 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Priestley, Joseph

Dear Sir,
London, May 4 1772
I think with you that there cannot be the least Occasion for my explaining your Method of impregnating Water with fix’d Air to Messrs. Banks and Solander, as they were present and I suppose are as well acquainted with it as my self; however I shall readily do it if they think it necessary. I am glad you intend to improve and publish the Process.

You must go half an Inch farther with your Spark to exceed what I show’d here with my Philada Machine in 1758 to Lord Charles Cavendish and others, who judg’d them to be nine Inches. My Cushion was of Buckskin with a long damp Flap, and had a Wire from it thro’ the Window down to the Iron Rails in the Yard; the Conductor of Tin 4 feet long and about 4 Inches Diameter. So powerful a Machine had then never been seen in England before, as they were pleas’d to tell me. A Machine was made from mine for Mr. Symmer, and was afterwards in the Possession of Lord Morton. A more convenient Construction I have never since seen, except that of yours.
I intend soon to repeat Barletti’s Experiments, being provided with the Requisites, and shall let you know the Result.
I should be glad to see the French Translation of your Book. Can you conveniently lend it to me when you have perus’d it? I fancy it was translated at the Request of Abbé Nollet by a Friend and Disciple of his as I know there was one (whose Name I have forgotten,) that us’d to translate for him Extracts of English Electrical Books. The Abbe’s Machine was a very bad one, requiring three Persons to make the smallest Experiment, one to turn the great Wheel, and one to hold Hands on the Globe. And the Effect after all but weak. Delor had a similar one, and invited me to see him exhibit to the Duchess of Rochefoucault, but the Weather being a little warm, he could perform nothing, scarce obtaining a Spark. This Inconvenience must have occasioned their Making fewer Experiments, and of course his not being so easily convinced. M. Le Roy, however, got early possession of the Truth, and combated for it with Nollet; yet I think the Academy rather favoured the latter. Le Roy will I suppose now confute this Translator, for I have just seen a Letter of his to Mr. Magelhaens, thanking him for sending so excellent an Electric Machine to France; (it is one of the Plate ones) which he has improv’d so as to produce the positive and negative Electricities separately or together at the same time, de façon (says he) qu’on peut faire toutes les Experiences possibles sur l’une ou l’autre de ces deux Electricités. Enfin on etoit si eloigné de connoitre les Phenomenes de ces deux Electricités ici, faute de Machines commodes de les démontrer, que beaucoup des Gens ont été etonnés de voir avec quelle évidence ils etablessent la distinction de ces deux electricités. &c. This Letter is of the 5th Instant. My best Wishes attend you and yours. I am ever, with great Respect, my dear Friend, Yours most sincerely
B F.
Dr Priestly


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Henly, [after 4 May 1772]
From: Henly, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

This letter poses a problem of dating that we are unable to solve. The internal evidence is as ample as it is conflicting: some of it points to 1772 and some to 1773. The whole tone of the opening paragraph suggests that the Purfleet magazine had not yet been protected by lightning rods, and that Benjamin Wilson’s “scheme” for doing so was being actively considered. His recommendation of a base of brickwork for the rods was mentioned only in his report to the Board of Ordnance of May 4, which we assume was the scheme. Henly must have been writing after that date and, to judge by the way he wrote, before the Purfleet committee overruled Wilson in August. Yet the conclusion of the letter refers to an exploded story about a house in Jamaica; Franklin, as far as we know, did not hear this story until autumn, or learn that it was false until the following March. The letter patently belongs to the period between May and August of 1772, in other words, and just as patently to the spring of 1773. We have tried elaborate lines of conjecture to resolve this paradox, but they lead nowhere. Only one fact is clear, that Henly could not have written the letter before Wilson’s report.

Worthy Sir
[After May 4, 1772]
I shall take it as a particular favour if you will be so obliging as to give the bearer leave to copy out for me the Account of the damage done by the powder Magazine which was fired by the Lightening—ever since you mention’d it to me I cannot get it out of my thoughts. I spoke of it to Mr. Nairne on Saturday, repeating what you observed to me concerning that at Erith, says he I really shudder at the thought. The more I think of Mr. Wilsons scheme for a Conductor the more I dislike it. If I understand the plan aright, it seems not at all unlikely that he would invite a stroke upon his Iron Bar in its full force, and as a Base of Brick work may in dry seasons be looked on as a kind of imperfect insulation, if the Electricity should not be properly dissipated at the bottom who can foresee the consiquence? Should mischief ensue from such an improper apparatus, it might contribute to bring them into disrepute, and so prevent the many good effects which may by proper management be always expected from them.
Mr. Nairne observes to me that the mark made by the spontaneous discharge of a positively charged bottle is only on the inside of the uncoated part of the glass—if the bottle be charged negatively the mark is on the outside only. I intend to try this soon with 2 new Bottles which I shall mark previously to my making the experiment, tis however perfectly consonant to all my experiments made on the surfaces of Glass Ivory &c.
I have written to Dr. Priestley and contradicted the Report of the House &c. in Jamaica. I am Sir faithfully yours
W Henly

Addressed: Dr. Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwalader Evans, 5 May 1772: extract
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Evans, Cadwalader

London, 5 May, 1772.
You write, that, besides what was sent here, fifty-four pounds had been reeled at the filature of private persons, who are getting it manufactured into mitts, stockings, and stuffs. This gives me great pleasure to hear; and I hope that practice will be rather followed, than the sending small parcels to be manufactured here, which are difficult to get done, where all goes on in the great way. Let nothing discourage you. Perseverance will conquer all difficulties; and the contributors will have the glorious satisfaction of having procured an inestimable advantage to their country.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 5 May 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, Deborah

My dear Child,
London, May 5. 1772
I received your kind Letter of March 2. and am glad to hear that the Ship from Ireland is got safe into Antigua. I hope you will now get the little Token I sent you from thence.
I have not receiv’d the Letter you mention to have given the young Scotsman, nor that from Mr. Craige.
I am sorry for the Disorder that has fallen on our Friend Kinnersley, but hope he will get the better of it. I thank you for your Advice about putting back a Fit of the Gout. I shall never attempt such a Thing. Indeed I have not much Occasion to complain of the Gout, having had but two slight Fits since I came last to England.
I hope Mr. Bache is with you and his Family by this time, as he sailed from the Downs the latter End of February. My Love to him and Sally, and young Master, who I suppose is Master of the House. Tell him that Billy Hewson is as much thought of here as he can be there; was wean’d last Saturday; loves Musick; comes to see his Gran-ma; and will be lifted up to knock at the Door himself, as he has done while I was writing this at the Request of Mrs. Stevenson, who sends her Love, as Sally does her Duty. Thanks to God I continue well, and am as ever Your affectionate Husband
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Hawkesworth, 8 May 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Hawkesworth, John

Dear Sir
London, May 8. 1772
Dining abroad yesterday, and not coming home till 12 at Night, I did not get your Letter in time to answer it by the Return of the Post as you desired.
Dr. McBride of Dublin some time since discovered that putrid Flesh could not only be render’d sweet, but its Firmness restor’d, by immersing it in Fix’d Air; which is Air that has made part of the solid Substance of Bodies, and is separated and set at Liberty from them in their Dissolution, or Fermentation, or Effervescence with other Bodies. This Air is not fit for Breathing; Flame is extinguish’d by it; and, taken into the Lungs, it instantly extinguishes animal Life: But taken into the Stomach is deemed salutary, as in Pyrmont Water which contains much of it. Dr. Priestly discovered that two Sorts of this Air, one produc’d by suffering dead Mice to putrify under a Glass, the other by the Effervescence of Chalk and Water with a small Quantity of Acid or Spirits of Vitriol, in either of which Airs living Mice being put would instantly die, yet the two being mix’d both became good common Air, and Mice breath’d in the Compound freely. From his own and Dr. Macbride’s Experiments (who thought Fix’d Air would prevent or cure the Sea Scurvey) he was persuaded it might be of use in Mortifications. But of this there has yet been only a single Experiment. A Physician of his Acquaintance at Leeds wrote to him while he was lately in Town, that a Person dying as was thought of a putrid Fever, with all the Symptoms of a Mortification in the Bowels, had been suddenly relieved and recovered by the Injection of fix’d Air as a Clyster. These are all our present Premises; upon which you can judge as well as I how far one may expect the same fix’d Air will be of Service apply’d to a Cancer. But since you ask my Opinion; as the Case may otherwise be desperate and we know of no Danger in the Trial, I should be for trying it. I would first syringe the Sore strongly with warm Water impregnated with fix’d Air, so as to cleanse well the Part. Then I would apply to it a Succession of Glasses fill’d with Fix’d Air, each Glass to remain till the Sore had absorb’d the fix’d Air contain’d in it. It would require a long Description to explain the readiest Methods of obtaining the Air, applying it, and impregnating the Water with it; and perhaps I might not make myself clearly understood. The best Way is to show it, which I will do either here, or at Bromley if you desire it. Being ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to the Managers of the Philadelphia Silk Filature, [before 10 May 1772]: extracts
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Managers of the Philadelphia Silk Filature

This letter, to the Managers of the Contributions for Promoting the Culture of Silk, exists in two fragmentary and undated versions. One is extracts that the Managers sent to the press; the other is a draft among Franklin’s papers in his hand, with the first page or pages missing. Two of the extracts are from paragraphs that are contained in the draft; the others must have been from an opening section that is now lost. We have no way of telling whether deletions were made in that section, and if so where; we print it as if it were complete, which it probably is not. The composition of the letter can be approximately dated. On February 6 Franklin promised that he and Dr. Fothergill would communicate with the committee in about a fortnight. But the two men found it difficult to get together, as Franklin mentions below. When he eventually decided to write alone, some three months had passed; for the letter was sent by the packet that cleared Falmouth for New York on May 10.

[Before May 10, 1772]
The Silk remained long at the Custom-house, before we could get it valued, to ascertain the Bounty. The Valuers opened all the Parcels, and separated the Papers and Marks from them, so that we could by no Means distinguish the Parcel intended for the Queen. We concluded, therefore, to get some skilful Person to pick the proposed Quantity out of the best, which was presented to her Majesty, representing it as the first Fruits of a new Produce in Pennsylvania, humbly offered as a Mark of the affectionate Respect of her Subjects there; and that if she vouchsafed to do them the Honour of accepting and wearing it, they might be the more encouraged to proceed in producing a Commodity, very beneficial to her British Subjects. Her Majesty was pleased to accept it very graciously, and to say, that she would have it woven, and wear it on some public Occasion. I since hear that she proposes it for the King’s Birth-day.
While the Silk remained at my House, I had a Number of the Trade to see it, and give their Opinions of it, and I asked their Advice as to any Improvements that might be made. They all agreed, that the Staple was as good as any in the World, and that some of it was well reeled. They objected principally to the Foulness of it.

I did not know, till lately, that Silk is sold here by two different Pounds, one of 24 Ounces, and the other of 16 Ounces; and when I informed you last Year, that on shewing some of your first Skains, sent me by Dr. Evans, it might be worth 27s. per Pound, I find that the great or Italian Pound, of 24 Ounces, was meant. You will observe this Distinction in the Paper of Sales herewith sent.
On consulting about the best Method of disposing of the Silk, I was advised to a public Sale by Auction, as the properest to discover its true Value; and as the Quantity was too small to make an Auction by itself, it was agreed to sell it when there should be a sufficient Quantity on Sale from other Countries, to draw the Trade together. It was accordingly stored with a great Quantity of different Sorts, which I went to see, and thought the best of ours not much inferior to any there, the Thrown Silk excepted. The Broker had sorted ours, according to his Opinion of its Quality, into five different Lots, as you will see by his Account of Sales. There was about four Hundred Weight of Carolina and Georgia Silk sold at the same Time; and the best Lot of that sold only for 4d. a Pound more than the best Lot of ours, viz. 19s. 6d. the small Pound of 16 Ounces. I am told Silk is just now uncommonly cheap. Along with yours, you will observe, by the Account of Sales sent you, there was some sold from most of the Silk Countries in the World.
The Sample of second Crop Silk was thought as good as any of the others. A great Deal is produced (of the second Crop) in one of the Provinces of China, where the Climate is very like that of North-America. If the Practice of two Crops is not found attended with any great Inconvenience, it might be a great Addition to your annual Quantity.
The Austrian Ambassador, who is an Italian, tells me, that in Italy they have lately found the Reeds or Stalks of Indian Corn to make the best Grates, whereon to feed the Silkworms.
[Beginning of paragraph missing] such manner as you may think proper. You will observe that some of the worst, particularly a bundle that was very knotty, sold extreamly low. I think it adviseable never to send any such here, and that it would be better to work it up into Stockings at home.
Some Years since a Silk-Manufacturer here apply’d to me for Encouragement to go to America. He was a poor Man and had a Family, and I could not then advise his going; but he put into my Hands a Paper which I send you as it may afford some Hints. I have forgotten his Name.
One of the Valuers of the Silk at the Customhouse supposing I was to get it manufactur’d here, apply’d (being a Master Manufacturer) to me for the Jobb, recommended by the other, who was a Silk Broker. I learnt from him, that several Americans had sent over small Parcels of 4, 5, or 6lb. to be manufactered for them here to particular Patterns, which he said was very injudicious, as it was not worth while to set a Loom for a few Yards, and besides most kinds of Manufacture required Silk of different Sorts for the Warp and for the Woof, so that what the People expected was impracticable but at a greater than common Expence, and the Silk after all not entirely of their own Produce. This should be made known, that our People may rather work up their small Parcels at home. The Agent of Rhode Island, Mr. Marchant, had one of those small Commissions from Mrs. Stiles, and was told that 10 ounces were wanting to compleat the Order, which he urg’d me to spare him as, he knew Mrs. Stiles would not like her Silk mix’d with any not American. Knowing Dr. Stiles to be a great Friend to the Design, and who had made many Experiments to improve the Knowledge in raising the Worms I spared him the Quantity desired to be paid for as the rest should sell.

Dr. Fothergill has some Chinese Prints relating to the Culture of Silk which he purposes to send you. I thought to have written with him a joint Letter to you; but we live remote from each other, have neither of us much time to spare, and the finding him at home is uncertain; therefore I at length concluded to write alone, as I have principally had the Management of the Affair.
I am farther told, what I did not know before and should not have imagined, that there is a vast Difference in the Waste of different Silks when they come to be dyed, viz from 5 to 30 per Cent. and that ’tis therefore a Wonder our Silk, the Waste of which is yet unknown, the Trade having had no Experience of it, would sell so well. But it seems [torn] compar’d with the Carolina Silk, and suppos’d to be of [torn] Quality.
Dr. Pullein, who is now here, approved of your Silk much, but is persuaded his Reel, as lately improved, is better than what you reel with, and advised sending you a Model. I have accordingly got one made under his Direction, which I shall send by Osborne. Your Artists will judge of it, and perhaps find their own preferable.
You will observe in the Account of Sales that there is an Allowance of ¼ of a Pound made to the Buyer in every Lot. I do not see the Reason of it, but it seems it is the Custom of the Trade; and also the Custom to allow two Months Credit, and the Payment at the End of that Time is nevertheless called prompt.
You mention about 155 lb. produc’d, but do not say precisely what Quantity you sent. The Weight found here, as you will see by the Broker’s Account is 147 ¾ which with the 10 oz. spared to Mr. Marchant makes 148 lb. 6 oz. and with the 18 lb. in Presents makes 166 lb. 6 oz. This is considerably above the Quantity you mention, as that sold is below it. As you probably, in the 155 lb. did not mean to include the Presents, there appears a Deficiency too great to be easily accounted for, being 5 lb. 10 oz. Some was probably lost in the Several Drafts of the Lots, which I perceive were weighed only to quarters of Pounds; and in the Presents there was some overweight because we could not divide Skains; but these could [remainder of paragraph missing]
Upon the whole, I have not the least Doubt but that, by Perseverance, you may establish this valuable Produce in our Province. And you may believe that Nothing of the Kind can give me more Pleasure than to promote your most laudable Undertaking, by every Service in my Power. I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Sir John Pringle, [before 10 May 1772]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Pringle, Sir John

[Before May 10, 1772]
Dr. F. presents his respectful Compliments to Sir J. Pringle, is much oblig’d to him for the Trouble he has so kindly taken in the Affair of the Silk, and is very happy to learn that the Queen has graciously condescended to accept it with a Purpose of wearing it. Her Majesty’s Countenance so afforded to the Raisers of Silk in Pennsylvania (where her Character is highly rever’d) will give them great Encouragement to proceed in a Measure the British Parliament seems to have had much at Heart, the Procuring a Supply of that valuable Article from our Colonies, for which at present large Sums are paid yearly to France, Spain, Italy and the Indies.


Title: Accounting of Benjamin Franklin’s Share in the Walpole Company, 12 May 1772: résumé
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

<May 12, 1772: “Benjamin Franklin Esq., for his Proportion of Expences and Charges incurred from June 1769 to May 1772, on the Application to the Crown for a Grant of Lands on the River Ohio in North America.” He had paid £5 5s. in cash on November 6, 1769, and £25 on November 27, 1771. The charge for one share at £44 3s. 4d., dated May 2, 1772, left a balance due to Samuel Wharton and William Trent of £13 18s. 4d. Trent acknowledged receipt of this balance on May 12, 1772, in full settlement of the account.>


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Deborah Franklin, [14?–]16 May 1772
From: Franklin, Deborah
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Dear child
May [14?–] 16, 1772
but be fore I can say aney thing I muste Stop to tell who I am writeing to I tell him to Grand papah so then he is gon so I am to tell you that this morning Capt. Loxley is arived but I have not had a letter as yit I have not a lowed my selef the libertey to make complaintes to you of aney Sorte but this has bin the moste malleycoley winter that I ever knew in my memery. We air obliged to make fiers in the roome to set by and it is 14 of may.
Wee had the pleshuer of seeing your worthey friend mr. Small but his stay was so verey Shorte that it cold [could] not be Cold [called] a visit only a vis. When you see him my Compleymentes to him tell him that B Franklin is better recon Sild to his father and begins to inquier after him and coles him Papey he is a verey busey lad. I have not heard one word from Capt. Loxley so I supose he shiped a way with oute you know of it.
I have bin coled to mr. Sumaines as he is verey neare his end it is a bove seven years [since] he has bin abel to due aney thing to suporte him selef and I think shee is not halef so big as shee yous to be. I may goe helpe her and suporte her under her dificalty.
I donte know aney news worthe writeing to you be plesd to give my beste love and thankes to mrs. Stephenson for all her kines to my Husband and Son while with her to Mrs. Huson. Kis her son for me I hear her Son is a fine Lad my love to Salley Franklin mrs. Strahans famely Mr. and Mrs. Weeste and all that know me I have not heard of mrs. Sumaines Dafter. I did to a write another sorte of a letter but it has lefte me at presant. I am your afeckshonet wife
D Franklin
May 15 1772

I shold a sed sumthing a boute your giveing a power to mr. Beache. I am verey uncapall of dueing aney bisnes as I am not abell to walke a boute and my memarey so so poorley and sum times worse then others. Capt. Folkner has bin hear this day he will tell you he can poot on speek tickels and look like you. I shold say sume thing say sume clearly a boute me in regard to her kines to mr. Beach I will when I am better. As to the Squerels I am glad thay got Safe and well but I am a fraid as thay air not in the ground squerel I have maid inquirey after them but it is to soon but I am told thay air so willd that it is harde to tame them. Let me know wuther thay air a live and is tame and tame and hapey I shold be glad to her [hear] that thay give pleshuer. This is a dul day to me. Salley is writin we have bin expecktin to have Billeys letters down I hope thay will be down in the evening. Benj Franklin ses aske Grand papah Blessme give my Duty to him. I hope I shall be in better sperrites by next opertunety. I am your afeckshonet Wife
D Franklin
May the 16

Addressed: To / Benjamin Franklin Esqr.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Hawkesworth, [15 May? 1772]
From: Hawkesworth, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Bromley Kent Fryday night [May 15?, 1772]
Many, many Thanks, my dear Friend, for your obliging favour of the 8th. My Enquiry was on the behalf of a Friend who is very near and dear to me, to whom I have transcribed your Letter, and if she should be inclined to make the Experiment I will claim the kind offer which your humanity has made me. It will not bring you to Bromley, but I hope you will contrive to give me a day now the Days are long and the weather is fine. I have some Expectation of Seeing Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander here with Mr. Fitzmaurice, perhaps you may be of the Party. I will let you know when they come if their warning is sufficient. Perhaps you may hear of it in Town. Adieu I am ever and most affectionately Yours
Jno Hawkesworth


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Foxcroft, 16 May 1772: résumé
From: Foxcroft, Thomas
To: Franklin, Benjamin

<Philadelphia, May 16, 1772: Encloses the bill of lading and other papers for two barrels of “the best Burr Superfine flour.” Expects his brother back from Virginia within a few days. Has seen Mrs. Franklin yesterday; she and the family are well. His “Sister” joins in regards. Broke his arm six days ago, but hopes it will mend in three weeks.>


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Smith, 16 May 1772
From: Smith, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Philada. May 16th. 1772
I was favoured with your obliging Letter, acknowleging the Receipt of sundry Copies of our Transactions for some learned Societies and Gentlemen in England, and informing us that you had delivered the Books accordingly.
I was then preparing to embark for Carolina, where I was lucky enough to get One Thousand Guineas for our College, which is at present in such Repute among them that we have upward of 30 Students from thence, who are Children of the principal Families there. I therefore desired that the other Secretaries might write to you, and send you the Books for the foreign Societies, as well as the Sheet missing in Dr. Fothergill’s Book; but it was neglected, as there were but few good Opportunities during the Winter.
The missing Sheet is enclosed herein, which you will be pleased to send to Dr. Fothergill. From Capt. Falconer you will receive a Box, address’d to you containing Copies of our Transactions for the following Societies, with a short Letter on the Blank Leaf before the Title Page for each of them viz 1 The University of Oxford; 2 Cambridge; 3 Glasgow; 4 Edinburgh; 5 St. Andrews; 6 King’s College Aberdeen; 7 Mareschal College Do. 8 Royal Acad. of Sciences, Paris; 9 Royal Acad. Stockholm; 10 Imp Soc. Petersburg; 11 Soc. at Gottingen; 12 Soc. Berne in Swisserland; 13 Acad: at Bononia; 14 Acad: at Florence; 15 Royal Acad. at Berlin; 16 Do. at Turin; 17 Academia Naturae Curiosorum; 18 Monsr. Buffon at Paris; with 9 Copies for yourself, making in all 27 Copies.
The Society are sensible that they are giving you a great Deal of Trouble, to find proper and safe Conveyances for these Books; but, besides the Propriety of their Passing thro’ your Hands, they know no other Person to whom they could send them, and on whose Zeal for the Credit and Service of the Society they can so well depend.
Should you want any more of the Books, Bradford has sent 50 Copies to the Bookseller Dilly in the Poultry, to whom you can recommend any of your Friends that may want Copies. I am sorry more were not sent to London early, as they would have sold, and help’d to make the Society better known. There are now but 40 Copies left in Philada. and those I have sent for to lock up for the Use of the Society; that Number being small enough to keep for Presents to learned Strangers that may come among us and ask for the Book for years to come. The Society, I hope, will still rise in Reputation and Usefulness; but our various Expences at our first Outset, notwithstanding the Assembly’s Bounty, have left us near Two Hundred Pounds in Debt to our Printer and others, and I know [not] how we shall get clear, unless the Public nurse us a little farther.
Dr. Bond has communicated your last Letter, with the Letters and Presents of Books from Mr. Ludlam, Mr. Foster and others; all which shall be soon answered. Mr. Ludlam does us great Honour by his kind Notice and generous Applause of our Humble Labours. Be so good as acquaint him that Mr. Rittenhouse and myself are appointed to write to Him.
I am afraid we have not the proper Titles and Address of some of the foreign Societies, and we had not Time to consult such Books as would [have] given them to us; but perhaps by interlining a Word in any that may be deficient you may set all right. I had drawn up the little Letter for the Blank Leaf before the Title Page in Latin; but on further Consultation, we thought as our Book was in English, the Letter should also be English; since whoever could understand the one would understand the other. It was thought also by some that, as a Society, it woud be below our Dignity to use any but our own Language, as the French write always in theirs, and we think ours equally good, and that, among the Literati, it is becoming equally universal. I am Sir Your most obedient humble Servant
William Smith

P.S. The Acad. Naturae Curiosorum, is that in Germany, but in what Town I do not remember, as Dr. Kuhn who gave the List of German Societies, is not to be found before I must close this; but I believe the Society is at Nuremberg.

The Society have received a Letter from Mr. White, Treasurer I think he is of the Foundling Hospital, with some curious Prints of Animals, part of a great Work he is carrying on, entitled Musaeum Britannicum, and desiring some Assistance from the Society, with respect to American Animals. Please to send him the enclosed after sealing it, with one of the 9 Copies of Transactions sent to yourself, as the Box was sent on board, before the Society ordered the Book for Mr. White. We cannot make out from the Subscription to his Letter whether his Name is John or Thomas, that is J. or T. White.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Whitehurst, 21 May 1772
From: Whitehurst, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Derby 21 May 1772
Perceeiving you were not quite Sattisfied with the Account I gave you of the Clock I made for you, I have now made another with a round Dial. The hour hand of which performs one revolution in 24 hours. Concentric to that, is a hand to Shew the time of high and low water, the hours of flood and ebb. Under the foot of the hour 12, is wrote highwater, at 6 Low water, in Strong characters. I am in hopes Sir that the Simplicity of this method will please you.
If you should approve this Clock the Dial is circular and 13 Inches diameter.
If the London Artist make a difficulty in Executing the Case, I will Send one along with the Clock. In the Clock now made, Ive made a provision for Seconds, therefore please to Say, whether you choose Seconds or not, as the whole is compleated, and going.
I have Sent Mr. Fitzmaurice a Wheel Barometer, and could wish it to remain unfix, till I come to Town the begining of July as could like to fix it up.
A friend of Mine wants to dispose of an Estate in Virginia. Pray Sir by what means Must it be done? The Estate is left by will. At Your leasure I Shall esteem it favour to receive a line of information. Who am Sir Your Most Obedient Servant
John Whitehurst

Addressed: To / Benj: Franklin Esqr / Craven Street the Strand / London


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Dorothea Blunt, 23 May 1772
From: Blunt, Dorothea
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Dear Sir
Saturday May the 23d [1772]
Tho you had never done anything with a design to give me pleasure I shou’d love you for that constant disposition everyone that knows you know you feel to give pleasure to all your fellow creatures. But you have My honour’d friend often given it to me in the very Manner and thing adapted to gratify, and make truly thankful for it. The Piano Forte I ask’d you to lend me and when I did so fully intended answering your wish both by playing on it myself and hearing it play’d on by others; but as I shall not do either in the place it now occupies I came hither this day to ask your permission to have it remov’d to Streatham, where I spend more time, see more Company, and shall oblige the Brother I am with when there, by the addition of an Instrument so well adapted to his house. As I propose being in London next Tuesday, I would not trouble you to write to me before, for if you do I shall not receive it till then. Adieu my dear Sir and believe me Your much esteem’d and oblig’d Humble Servant
D: Blunt

Addressed: Doctor Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Dorothea Blunt, [24 May 1772]
From: Blunt, Dorothea
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Streatham Sunday 2 o Clock [May 24, 1772]
I promis’d you to meet your agreable friend on Tuesday in Craven Street, and myself the pleasure of seeing both you and that Lady, but an express arriv’d this day from Odiham with the disagreable news of My Brother Walters little James being ill of a sore throat and fever. My Brother set out to go to him before I cou’d conquer some scruples that held my tongue when I wish’d to say I will accompany you, but the moment it became impossible I overcame them and immediately resolv’d to set out in the machine tomorrow Morning. I shou’d rejoice that it suited you to go the same road so soon, not only because I shou’d like to go with you, but shou’d be inform’d of some little remedy that I might prevail on his father to administer tho not prescrib’d by Dr. Mentrik [?] nor approv’d by him. Do you know where some more of the same sort of american bisquits that you sent to Sir Charles, are to be procured because I am requested to send to a friend in the country? If you do I shall be much oblig’d to you to send Miss Henckell word, who will be in Fenchurch Street. Remember me to Mrs. Stevenson and the family belonging to her and believe me dear Sir your affectionate and oblig’d friend
D: Blunt

Addressed: Doctor Franklin / Craven Street / Strand


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from a Committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 28 May 1772: résumé
From: Library Company of Philadelphia
To: Franklin, Benjamin

<Philadelphia, May 28, 1772: They enclose a draft on John Whitmore for £125 from Stocker & Wharton & John Wilcocks at thirty days’ sight, dated May 26 in favor of and endorsed by Josiah Hewes, to pay for the books ordered through Sparks for the Library Company. If the amount is insufficient, they will discharge the balance. In a previous letter they had spoken of remitting by Falconer, but the election of directors, the settlement of accounts, and other business prevented them. The letter is addressed to Franklin by Capt. Hood, via Bristol, and is signed by Samuel Rhoads, Josiah Hewes, and Robert Strettell Jones.>


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Dawson, 29 May 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Dawson, Richard

This letter marked the start of an investigation that engaged Franklin’s attention intermittently for months to come, and embroiled him in one more dispute about the behavior of electricity. The problem was how best to protect the royal powder magazine at Purfleet against lightning. The magazine was new, and replaced the old one at Greenwich; transfer of powder from one to the other had begun in 1763 and been completed in 1768. A year later a disaster in Italy underlined the danger to all such arsenals: lightning struck the magazine at Brescia, and the resultant explosion destroyed much of the town and killed more than a thousand people. Parliament responded in 1771–72 by passing two gunpowder acts, which established strict supervision of the manufacture and storage of powder in private hands; the government, by implication, would supervise its own establishments.
It began to do so just when the second bill was becoming law. At some time before the beginning of May the Board of Ordnance requested Benjamin Wilson to examine the Purfleet magazine and recommend ways of protecting it. His report, dated May 4, suggested among other things the installation of conductors with blunt tops. The Board, apparently not satisfied, must have asked Franklin for his opinion, because he gave it in the letter below; his recommendation was conductors with pointed tops. This conflict of experts no doubt confused the Board, which on July 1 appealed to the Royal Society for a definitive opinion. By the 14th the Society had appointed a committee, including both Franklin and Wilson, to examine the question and bring in its report.

Sir,
Cravenstreet, London, May 29. 1772
Having yesterday at your Request view’d the Magazines of Gunpowder at Purfleet, in order to consider of their Preservation from Danger by Lightning, I am of Opinion
1. That all the Bars of Iron passing down through the Arches of the Roofs towards the Powder, be taken away, as at present they do, with the Copper Hoops on the Barrels, form an imperfect Conductor, more or less compleat as the Piles of Barrels happen to be higher or lower, but such an one as may tend to draw down among the Powder any Lightning that shall happen to strike the Roof, and are therefore dangerous.

2. That [the] Building which has a Coping of Lead all along the Ridge from End to End, may be secured by a Pointed Iron Rod erected near each End, communicating with that Coping, and extending down thro’ the Chalk Rock on which the Buildings are founded, till it comes to Water. The Rod may be of at least an Inch Diameter (that it may last the longer as well as afford a freer Passage to the Lightning thro’ its Substance) and painted to prevent its Rusting. Its upper End should extend ten feet above the Top of the Roof, tapering gradually to a sharp Point; the last six Inches (the better to preserve Sharpness) to be of Copper as less liable to be blunted by Rust. If the Rod cannot conveniently be made all of one Piece, the Lengths of which it is compos’d should be strongly scrued together or into each other by a close Joint, with a thin Plate of Lead between the Shoulders to exclude Moisture (which might occasion Rust) and to make the Joining or Continuation of Metal more perfect.
From all the Electrical Experiments I have made with this View, and all the Instances I have yet known of the Effect of Lightning on these Conductors, it appears to me equally safe (when they are good and compleat down to Water or very moist Earth) whether they are apply’d close to the Wall, and steadied by Staples driven into it, or supported by a Pole or Mast fix’d in the Ground at some Distance from it. The first Method is most convenient, as the Rod may so be bent for avoiding Doors and Windows that are directly under the Pitch of the Roof. Yet as it may be more satisfactory to some Apprehensions, if the Rods are supported in the latter Manner, I should have no Objection to it, provided they can be conveniently posited so as to obstruct no Passage, and are so firmly fix’d as that the Wind may not, by shaking them, break the Iron or Leaden Communication between the Side of the Rod and the Lead that Covers the Ridge.
3. The other four Buildings being, as I understand, to be new-roofed in the same manner with that just mentioned, the same Method will serve for them when so finished. But if it be required to secure them in the mean time, then, as their present Roofs are of a different Form, being hipped at the four Corners, and their Hip-joints as well as Ridges Cop’d with Lead extending down to the Eaves, I would advise the immediate boring or digging, near the Ends of each Building, the proposed Passages down to Water, and fixing in them that part of each Conductor which may reach upwards from the Water to the Height of the Eaves: From the Top of this I would extend two Iron Arms reaching to the Corners of the Eaves, where the Leaden Copings of the Hips must be connected with those Bars; and on the Joining of the Hips with the Ridge I would erect Rods nine or ten feet high, pointed as before directed, which, as any Roof is altered may be used as the upper Part of the more upright Conductor. I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin

P S. Leaden Pipe may be used for the underground Part of the Conductors, as less liable to Rust.
Captain Dawson

Notation: 29 May 1772 Ordered that Capt. Dawson cause the same to be executed as above proposed H.S.C. [In another hand:] Letter wrote Copy sent.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Samuel Rhoads, 30 May 1772
From: Rhoads, Samuel
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Friend
Philada: May the 30th 1772
Loxly going early in the Morning to Morrow for London, gives me the Opertunity of Acknowledging thy Favour per Falconer, which with several Canal Papers and Pamphlets came safe to Hand, and I hope will be usefull as I find the Reports of the great Engineers, Smeaton Brindly &ct concerning the Scotch Canal, contain a great deal of Instruction to us unexperiencd Americans. I confess my self much Oblig’d to them, and find by thy sending these Papers, and so far adopting the Project, Canalling grows more into Credit among us, at first it was look’d on as a wild Chemerical Project which all the Strength of America could never execute. Now it is hoped for in time to come. I should have made this Acknowledgment by Falconer, but was then out of Town with the Ingenious David Rittenhouse on an examination of the Ground in order to Judge of the Practicabillity of a Canal between Sculkill and Susquehann to save our Western Trade from total Loss. As he was taken sick on the Road, and I was not very well our discoveries are yet too Imperfect to communicate to thee, except that on Levelling the Waters of Schullkill we find that River to Ascend, or the Bed of it to rise, near sixty feet in less than twenty Miles, and suppose it to Continue the same Ascent upwards to Reading. As from its course it approaches the Susquehann, nearer at Reading by twenty Miles than at Philada. and by its Rise approaches the Height of the Middle Ground perhaps more than one hundred feet, Query may it not be best to make it part of the Passage to the back [country] or will the Difficulties of this Navigation, [subject to all] the Inconveniencies of Innundations and [torn] Ice, be greater than the Expense of Locks Digging [torn] glad [?] of thy Opinion in this Matter and remain [torn]
Sl Rhoads

Addressed: To / Benjamin Franklin Esqr: / Agent for Pennsylvania / in / London / per Capt Loxly


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Walsh: Two Notes, [before June 1772?]
From: Walsh, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

The two brief notes below appear insignificant, but they belong to a scientific correspondence that continued intermittently for at least a year, and that chronicled a major advance in the knowledge of animal electricity. The writer, John Walsh (1726–95), was a man who developed his experimental bent late in life. He was the cousin both of Lord Clive and of Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, and moved as he grew older from the world of India to that of science. After serving to good purpose as Clive’s secretary in Bengal, Walsh returned home in 1759 with a considerable fortune; in 1761 Worcester returned him to the House of Commons, and continued to do so for almost two decades. But his heart was not in politics. By 1770 he had enough scientific reputation to be elected to the Royal Society, and two years later he was absorbed—for reasons that are as obscure as they are intriguing—with the subject of research that made his name. This was the torpedo fish.

The significance of the research lies in a particular gift of the fish. Torpedo marmorata, a sea ray that frequents European coastal waters, is like other members of its family capable of producing at will strong electric shocks from organs on each side of its head. This phenomenon, long attributed to evil spirits, first attracted serious scientific attention in the seventeenth century. A Tuscan physician, Stefano Lorenzini, whose writings were the subject of Walsh’s second note below, concluded that the numbing shocks are due to minute particles that pass from the strange organs of the fish into its victim’s body. René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757), the physicist and naturalist, subsequently amended this hypothesis by substituting for particles the extremely rapid, if equally supposititious, motion of the muscles that compose the fish’s organs. Neither theory explained why a fisherman, holding a wet pole or other conductor that came into contact with the torpedo’s body, was as effectively numbed as if he had touched it.
The burgeoning of electrical investigation in the mid-eighteenth century brought with it speculation that the shocks from some fish were akin to the discharge from a Leyden jar. Edward Bancroft, the subject of Walsh’s first note, carried out a number of experiments with the torpor-inducing or “torporific” eel of Dutch Guiana, and demonstrated that its shocks were indeed electrical. The same had to be true of the torpedo, he argued, unless its physiology was markedly different from the eel’s. This was the challenge that Walsh took up. By early 1772 he had met Franklin, who was interested in the problem to the point of borrowing from him Lorenzini’s book. In June, Walsh left for France, the supposed northern limit of the torpedo’s range, to search for specimens. He found them off La Rochelle, and proved beyond question that the fish generated an electric charge; its muscles, he concluded, functioned like a Leyden jar. His findings were embodied in a letter to Franklin in 1773 and published in the Royal Society’s Transactions, and furthered the growing European and American interest in animal electricity. The significance of the torpedo was recognized, and the physiology of its peculiar organs was exposed. Only one mystery remained for later scientists to investigate—how the fish could renew its charges—and this investigation eventually played a part in the discovery of current electricity.
These two notes are impossible to date. Both were written before Walsh’s journey to France, and probably not on the eve of departure, because he was still gathering information to prepare himself for his research. Just when he left England is not known, but it must have been early in June; his letter of the 21st, below, suggests that by then he had been in Paris for some weeks. Hence we can only assign the notes to the period before the journey.

Chesterfield Street, Sunday morning [before June?, 1772]
Mr. Walsh presents his Compliments to Dr. Franklyn and requests the favour, if Mr. Bancroft is now in England, to know where he resides, as Mr. Walsh is very desirous of making some enquiries concerning his Torporifick Eel.

Addressed: To Benjamin Franklin Esqr / Craven Street

Chesterfield Street, Thursday [before June?, 1772]
Mr. Walsh presents his Compliments to Dr. Franklin and shall be glad, if Dr. Franklin has no further occasion for Laurenzini, to have it return’d, as he wishes to look into it for some particulers. Mr. Walsh hopes for the favour of seeing Dr. Franklin at Coffee on Friday.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 2 June 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, Deborah

My dear Child,
London, June 2. 1772
This just informs you I am well and received yours by the April Packet. I shall write fully to you and all Friends by Osborn. My Love to Sally, Mr. Bache, the Child, and all that love us. I can now only add, that I am ever Your affectionate Husband
B Franklin


Title: Toleration in Old and New England, 3 June 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

To the Printer of the London Packet.
Sir,
I Understand from the public papers, that in the debates on the bill for relieving the Dissenters in the point of subscription to the Church Articles, sundry reflections were thrown out against that people, importing, “that they themselves are of a persecuting intolerant spirit, for that when they had here the superiority they persecuted the church, and still persecute it in America, where they compel its members to pay taxes for maintaining the Presbyterian or independent worship, and at the same time refuse them a toleration in the full exercise of their religion by the administrations of a bishop.”

If we look back into history for the character of present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practised it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England, blamed persecution in the Roman church, but practised it against the Puritans: these found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England. To account for this we should remember, that the doctrine of toleration was not then known, or had not prevailed in the world. Persecution was therefore not so much the fault of the sect as of the times. It was not in those days deemed wrong in itself. The general opinion was only, that those who are in error ought not to persecute the truth: But the possessors of truth were in the right to persecute error, in order to destroy it. Thus every sect believing itself possessed of all truth, and that every tenet differing from theirs was error, conceived that when the power was in their hands, persecution was a duty required of them by that God whom they supposed to be offended with heresy. By degrees more moderate and more modest sentiments have taken place in the Christian world; and among Protestants particularly all disclaim persecution, none vindicate it, and few practise it. We should then cease to reproach each other with what was done by our ancestors, but judge of the present character of sects or churches by their present conduct only.
Now to determine on the justice of this charge against the present dissenters, particularly those in America, let us consider the following facts. They went from England to establish a new country for themselves, at their own expence, where they might enjoy the free exercise of religion in their own way. When they had purchased the territory of the natives, they granted the lands out in townships, requiring for it neither purchase-money nor quit-rent, but this condition only to be complied with, that the freeholders should for ever support a gospel minister (meaning probably one of the then governing sects) and a free-school within the township. Thus, what is commonly called Presbyterianism became the established religion of that country. All went on well in this way while the same religious opinions were general, the support of minister and school being raised by a proportionate tax on the lands. But in process of time, some becoming Quakers, some Baptists, and, of late years some returning to the Church of England (through the laudable endeavours and a proper application of their funds by the society for propagating the gospel) objections were made to the payment of a tax appropriated to the support of a church they disapproved and had forsaken. The civil magistrates, however, continued for a time to collect and apply the tax according to the original laws which remained in force; and they did it the more freely, as thinking it just and equitable that the holders of lands should pay what was contracted to be paid when they were granted, as the only consideration for the grant, and what had been considered by all subsequent purchasers as a perpetual incumbrance on the estate, bought therefore at a proportionably cheaper rate; a payment which it was thought no honest man ought to avoid under the pretence of his having changed his religious persuasion. And this I suppose is one of the best grounds of demanding tythes of dissenters now in England. But the practice being clamoured against by the episcopalians as persecution, the legislature of the Province of the Massachusets-Bay, near thirty years since, passed an act for their relief, requiring indeed the tax to be paid as usual, but directing that the several sums levied from members of the Church of England, should be paid over to the Minister of that Church, with whom such members usually attended divine worship, which Minister had power given him to receive and on occasion to recover the same by law.
It seems that legislature considered the end of the tax was, to secure and improve the morals of the people, and promote their happiness, by supporting among them the public worship of God and the preaching of the gospel; that where particular people fancied a particular mode, that mode might probably therefore be of most use to those people; and that if the good was done, it was not so material in what mode or by whom it was done. The consideration that their brethren the dissenters in England were still compelled to pay tythes to the clergy of the Church, had not weight enough with the legislature to prevent this moderate act, which still continues in full force, and I hope no uncharitable conduct of the church toward the dissenters will ever provoke them to repeal it.
With regard to a bishop, I know not upon what ground the dissenters, either here or in America, are charged with refusing the benefit of such an officer to the church in that country. Here they seem to have naturally no concern in the affair. There they have no power to prevent it, if government should think fit to send one. They would probably dislike, indeed, to see an order of men established among them, from whose persecutions their fathers fled into that wilderness, and whose future domination they may possibly fear, not knowing that their natures are changed. But the nonappointment of bishops for America seems to arise from another quarter. The same wisdom of government, probably, that prevents the sitting of convocations, and forbids, by noli prosequi’s, the persecution of Dissenters for non-subscription, avoids establishing bishops where the minds of people are not yet prepared to receive them cordially, lest the public peace should be endangered.
And now let us see how this persecution-account stands between the parties.
In New-England, where the legislative bodies are almost to a man Dissenters from the Church of England,
1. There is no test to prevent Churchmen holding offices.
2. The sons of Churchmen have the full benefit of the Universities.
3. The taxes for support of public worship, when paid by Churchmen, are given to the Episcopal minister.

In Old England,
1. Dissenters are excluded from all offices of profit and honour.
2. The benefits of education in the Universities are appropriated to the sons of Churchmen.
3. The clergy of the Dissenters receive none of the tythes paid by their people, who must be at the additional charge of maintaining their own separate worship.
But it is said, the Dissenters of America oppose the introduction of a Bishop.
In fact, it is not alone the Dissenters there that give the opposition (if not encouraging must be termed opposing) but the laity in general dislike the project, and some even of the clergy. The inhabitants of Virginia are almost all Episcopalians. The Church is fully established there, and the Council and General Assembly are perhaps to a man its members, yet when lately at a meeting of the clergy, a resolution was taken to apply for a Bishop, against which several however protested; the assembly of the province at their next meeting, expressed their disapprobation of the thing in the strongest manner, by unanimously ordering the thanks of the house to the protesters: for many of the American laity of the church think it some advantage, whether their own young men come to England for ordination, and improve themselves at the same time by conversation with the learned here, or the congregations are supplied by Englishmen, who have had the benefit of education in English universities, and are ordained before they come abroad. They do not therefore see the necessity of a Bishop merely for ordination, and confirmation is among them deemed a ceremony of no very great importance, since few seek it in England where Bishops are in plenty. These sentiments prevail with many churchmen there, not to promote a design, which they think must sooner or later saddle them with great expences to support it. As to the Dissenters, their minds might probably be more conciliated to the measure, if the Bishops here should, in their wisdom and goodness, think fit to set their sacred character in a more friendly light, by dropping their opposition to the Dissenters application for relief in subscription, and declaring their willingness that Dissenters should be capable of offices, enjoy the benefit of education in the universities, and the privilege of appropriating their tythes to the support of their own clergy. In all these points of toleration, they appear far behind the present Dissenters of New-England, and it may seem to some a step below the dignity of Bishops, to follow the example of such inferiors. I do not, however, despair of their doing it some time or other, since nothing of the kind is too hard for true christian humility. I am, Sir, your’s, &c.
A New-England-Man.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwalader Evans, 3 June 1772: extract
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Evans, Cadwalader

London, 3 June, 1772.
I have at length purchased Stringfellow’s right for you, or for you and Mr. James, as you settle it between you. As it was he that immediately recommended the business to me, I have sent the writings to him by this packet. The rights cost £110, and the charges were £5 15s. 6d. There is a letter of the Proprietary to Mr. Tilghman, which it is supposed will remove all difficulties in the office, and I hope the purchase will prove advantageous. Be so good as to acquaint the Silk Committee, to whom I wrote fully by the last packet, that I have since received the bounty from Boydell the broker. The whole sum from government was £35 19s. 6d.; the charges were £5 11s. 6d.; so the net sum received by me was £30 8s. 0d. This, with the £121 5s. 0d., which I am to receive on the 10th instant, will make the whole £152 13s. 0d., subject to the orders of the Committee.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Abel James, 3 June 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: James, Abel

Dear Friend,
London, June 3. 1772
Agreable to your Request when in London and what you wrote to me from Bristol relating to the Purchase of Stringfellow’s Right, I have attended to the Affair from time to time with Mr. Wheeler, who has been very assiduous in it, and taken a great deal of Pains to bring it to a Conclusion. We could not obtain the Right for less than £110 besides the Charges of Conveyance, and Proof before the Lord Mayor, &c. which amounted to £5 15s. 6d. more, I was obliged to pay the Money down. The Deed is to our common Friend Dr. Evans: But as there is mention in his Letter to you, of which you sent me a Copy, that the Purchase may be for either of you or both, I suppose that to be amicably settled between you, and I send the Writings to you, thro’ whom alone I became engag’d in the Business, not having heard any thing from the Doctor immediately concerning it. For greater Safety I took two Setts, lest one should miscarry in the Passage; the other remains with me. I found it was most agreable to Mr. Wheeler that I should leave it to you to satisfy him for his Trouble. Enclos’d you have a Letter from the Proprietary to Mr. Tilghman, a Copy of which, taken by Permission before it was seal’d, is annex’d to the Writings. I hope the Purchase will prove beneficial, as we have done our best. Enclos’d is also a List of the Papers and Letters relating to the Right, which have been deliver’d to me, and shall be sent to you by Osborne, they being bulky and not of immediate Importance. It will be agreable to me to receive the Money I have paid, viz. £115 15s. 6d. Sterling by a Bill as soon as may be. With great Esteem, I am ever, Dear Friend, Yours most affectionately
B Franklin
Abel James Esqr

Notation: London 3rd June 1772 Dr Benjamin Franklin to Abel James


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Joseph Priestley, 13 June 1772
From: Priestley, Joseph
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Leeds. 13 June 1772.
You make me very happy by the near prospect of seeing you and Sir John Pringle at Leeds. I shall be intirely at liberty to receive you, and I hope you will contrive to stay as long as possible in this town and neighbourhood. I thank you for the Native of New England. I had casually seen the same paper, and was particularly struck with it, without having any suspicion of Poor Richard being the author of it. I am obliged to you for your advice with respect to the dedication, and shall comply with it, but some other alterations, besides what you noted, must be made in it, if it be addressed to Lord Sandwich only.
I am intent upon the prosecution of my experiments on air; and since I wrote to you have observed several remarkable appearances. That very extraordinary kind of air, which Dr. Hales got from Walton Pyrites, and which I had despaired of procuring; I get from all the metals I have yet tried and by means of spirit of nitre. It is quite transparent, but a mixture of it and common air is red for a considerable time, in which the whole quantity is greatly reduced in bulk. A mixture of this and fixed air is not turbid. This air alone is reduced above one half by a mixture of iron filings, and brimstone standing in it, whereas common air is diminished only about one fifth by the same process. When I have the pleasure of seeing you I shall acquaint you with some other remarkable properties of this new kind of air. In the mean time, you will do me a very important service by procuring me, and bringing along with you a little of highly concentrated marine acid. There is none to be got here; and using a weaker sort in the solution of gold (in order to observe what kind of air came from it) I was obliged to apply a considerable degree of heat, the consequence of which was that the acid menstruum suddenly boiling, my hands, face, clothes, and the walls of the room have been great sufferers by it, as, I am afraid, I shall be able to show you. A penny-weight of gold, which I had bought for the purpose, was also lost. As a reward for this damage, I preserved about three ounce measures of air extracted from gold, which, I believe, was never seen before, and have the prodigious satisfaction of finding that it has the very same properties with that which is produced from copper. If I had studied poor Richard in time, I should not have indulged myself in these expences, but bad habits are not easily corrected. If, however, the passion be not kept up by considerable success, frugality, and an attention to a growing family will, at length, get the better of experimenting, and then I shall write nothing but Politicks, or Divinity, to furnish the bishop of Landaff with more quotations for his future invectives against the Dissenters.
The French translation of my History of Electricity I borrowed of M. Walsh; but as it will be of some use to me in a future edition of my work, I think to purchase it. In the mean time, M. Walsh will have no objection to your having it for what time you please, and I can give it you when you are here.
I am suprised that the French electricians should not have been able to provide themselves with better machines. I am confident that plates will never answer so well as globes or cylinders. I am, with my respectful compliments to Sir John Pringle, Dear Sir, yours sincerely
J Priestley.
I wish you could bring Dr. Price with you.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Matthew Boulton, [15 June 1772]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Boulton, Matthew

Monday morng. [June 15, 1772]
Dr. Franklin presents his Compliments to Mr. Bolton, and having heard last Night by the Marquis Grisella of Mr. B’s intended Call in Craven Street at Ten this Morning, is sorry he cannot be at home to receive him, being oblig’d to be early at Westminster Abby in order to get in. Wishes Mr. Bolton would favour him with his Company at Dinner this Day at 4, or to-morrow if that better suits him. Requests Mr. Bolton would peruse the enclos’d, and add a Line of Permission to Dr. F’s Friend L’Abbé Morellet to see his Wonderful Works at Soho.

Addressed: M Bolton
Endorsed: Note of Dr: Franklin —— (no date)


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Harvard College, 16 June 1772: résumé
From: Harvard College
To: Franklin, Benjamin

<June 16, 1772: The President and Fellows vote to extend their thanks to Franklin for the gift of Dr. Priestley’s History and Present State of the Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Colours (London, 1772), and to request Dr. Winthrop to forward a copy of their vote.>


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Francis Maseres, 17 June 1772
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Maseres, Francis

Sir
Cravenstreet, June 17. 1772
I thank you for the Pamphlet proposing to establish Life Annuities in Parishes, &c. I think it an excellent one. In compliance with your Wish, pag. 25, 26 I send it back with a few Marginal Notes (perhaps of no great Importance) made in Reading it, requesting it may be return’d to me.
In page 118 of Dr. Price’s Book on Annuities, 2d Edition, you will find mention made of an Institution in Holland. He had that Information from me. Those Houses are handsome neat Buildings with very comfortable Apartments, some form the sides of a Square, with Grass Plats and Gravel Walks, Flowers, &c. and some have little separate Gardens behind each Apartment. Those for Men are called Oude Mannen Huyzen, for Women, Oude Vrouwen Huyzen. I think the different kinds sometimes make different Sides of the same Square. There is a Chappel for Prayers, a common Kitchen, and a common Hall in which they dine together. Two Persons such as best like one another, and chuse so to associate, are generally lodg’d in one Apartment, tho’ in separate Beds, that they may be at hand to assist each other in case of sudden Illness in the Night, and otherwise be mutually helpful. The Directors have also a Room to meet in, who form Rules for the Government of the House, hear Complaints, and rectify what is amiss. Gentlemen are Directors of the Oude Mannen Huys, Ladies of the Oude Vrouwen Haus. A Committee of Two are chosen every Year; who visit often, see the Rules observed, and take care of the Management. At the End of the Year, these are thank’d off, and as an honourable Memorial of their Service, their Names with the Year they served are added to the Gold-letter List on the Walls of the Room. All the Furniture is neat and Convenient, the Beds and Rooms kept clean and sweet by the Servants of the House; and the People appear to live happily.
These Institutions seem calculated to prevent Poverty which is rather a better thing than relieving it. For it keeps always in the Public Eye a State of Comfort and Repose in old Age, with Freedom from Care, held forth as an Encouragement to so much Industry and Frugality in Youth as may at least serve to raise the required Sum, (suppose £50,) that is to intitle a Man or Woman at 50 to a Retreat in these Houses. And in acquiring this Sum, Habits may be acquired that produce such Affluence before that Age arrives as to make the Retreat unnecessary and so never claimed. Hence if £50 would (as by your Table) entitle a Man at 50 Years of Age to an Annuity of £19 3s. 6½d., I suppose that in such a House, Entertainment and Accommodations to a much greater Value might be afforded him; because the Right to live there is not transferrable, and therefore every unclaim’d Right is an Advantage to the House, while Annuities would probably all be claimed. Then it seems to me that the Prospect of a distant Annuity will not be so influencing on the Minds of young People, as the constant View of the Comfort enjoy’d in those Houses, in comparison of which even the Payment and Receipt of the Annuities are private Transactions.
I write this in hopes you will after Consideration favour me with your Opinion whether (in Addition to your Plan, which will still have all its Advantage for small [sums?]) one or more such Houses in every County, would not probably be of great Use in still farther promoting Industry and Frugality among the lower People, and of course lessening the weight of the Poor Tax?
I enclose a little Piece I wrote in America to encourage and strengthen those important Virtues, of which I beg your Acceptance, and am, with great Esteem, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr Maseres.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Henly, [June?] 17, [1772?]
From: Henly, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Worthy Sir
Wednesday [June?] 17th. [1772?]
Having Received an Account from Dr. Priestley that he could not verify my Experiment of ascertaining the direction of the Electric Matter in its passage through flame, I took the Liberty to call at your House with my Apparatus, in order to shew it you both positively and negatively, but I found you was gone into the Country. I then call’d and shew’d it to Mr. Nairne who signed a short Account which I drew up before him, that he was perfectly well satisfied with the Experiment both negatively and positively, and that it was a full and Convincing demonstration of the truth of your Hypothesis, this attested Account I transmitted to Dr. P. I shall be glad of an Opportunity to shew it you at your own House, as I have no Machine. I will not take up more then 10 Minutes of your time—only do me the favour to tell me what day and Hour I shall wait on you, and I will certainly be with you at your Appointment. I hope to get my Cyllender replaced soon, when the Honour of your Company will greatly oblige Sir your most Obedient and Humble Servant
W Henly

P.S. I was not aware of your going into the Country so soon.

Addressed: To / Dr: Franklin / Craven Street / Strand