state of health. He should make a long journey, or take a sea voyage. I wish he would come to London for the winter. Mr. Henry's Register, which you communicated to me last year, is thought a very ingenious one, and will be published here, though it has long been delayed. I have not seen Mrs. Dowell. I suppose she is not yet come to town. At least I have not heard of her being here, though possibly she might while I was in France. 1 Our friend W——,1 who is always complaining of a constant fever, looks nevertheless fresh and jolly, and does not fall away in the least. He was saying the other day at Richmond, (where we were together dining with Governor. Pownall,) that he had been pestered with a fever almost continually for these three years past, and that it gave way to no medicines, all he had taken, advised by different physicians, having never any effect towards removing it. On which I asked him, if it was not now time to inquire, whether he had really any fever at all. He is indeed the only instance I ever knew, of a man's growing fat upon a fever. But I see no occasion for reading him the lecture you desired, for he appears to me extremely temperate in his eating and drinking. His affairs here are I think in a good train, but every thing to be transacted in our great offices requires time. I suppose he will hardly be able to return before the spring. By a ship just sailed from hence, (the captain a stranger, whose name I have forgotten,) I send you a late French treatise on the management of silkworms. It is said to be the best hitherto published, being written in the silk country by a gentleman well acquainted with the whole affair. It seems to me to be, like many other French writings, rather too 1 Thomas Wharton. — ED. much drawn out in words; but some extracts from it, of the principal directions, might be of use, if you would translate and publish them. I think the bounty is offered for silk from all the colonies in general. I will send you the act. But I believe it must be wound from the cocoons, and sent over in skeins. The cocoons would spoil on the passage, by the dead worm corrupting and staining the silk. A public filature should be set up for winding them there; or every family should learn to wind their own. In Italy they are all brought to market, from the neighbouring country, and bought up by those that keep the filatures. In Sicily each family winds its own silk, for the sake of having the remains to card and spin for family use. If some provision were made by the Assembly for promoting the growth of mulberry trees in all parts of the province, the culture of silk might afterwards. follow easily. For the great discouragement to breeding worms at first is the difficulty of getting leaves and the being obliged to go far for them. There is no doubt with me but that it might succeed in our country. It is the happiest of all inventions for clothing. Wool uses a good deal of land to produce it, which, if employed in raising corn, would afford much more subsistence for man, than the mutton amounts to. Flax and hemp require good land, impoverish it, and at the same time permit it to produce no food at all. But mulberry trees may be planted in hedgerows on walks or avenues, or for shade near a house, where nothing else is wanted to grow. The food for the worms, which produce the silk, is in the air, and the ground under the trees may still produce grass, or some other vegetable good for man or beast. Then the wear of silken garments continues so much longer, from the strength of the materials, as to give it greatly the preference. Hence it is that the most populous of all countries, China, clothes its inhabitants with silk, while it feeds them plentifully, and has besides a vast quantity both raw and manufactured to spare for exportation. Raw silk here, in skeins well wound, sells from twenty to twenty-five shillings per pound; but, if badly wound, is not worth five shillings. Well wound is, when the threads are made to cross each other every way in the skein, and only touch where they cross. Badly wound is, when they are laid parallel to each other; for so they are glued together, break in unwinding them, and take a vast deal of time more than the other, by losing the end every time the thread breaks. When once you can raise plenty of silk, you may have manufactures enough from hence. With great esteem, I am, my dear friend, yours affectionately, B. FRANKLIN. 510. TO BARBEU DUBOURG DEAR SIR, (A. P. S.) London, Sept. 22, 1769. With this you will receive some Sheets of the Piece now printing, and which I am promis'd shall be finish'd in a few Days. I am afraid it is not so correct as it should be; But as I have been advis'd not to publish it till next Month, most of our Gentry being yet out of Town, there will be time for you to send me the Errata which may be printed at the End. I send you also Dr Priestly's Essay on the first Principles of [Government] lately published, in which you will find some [mutilated] & free Sentiments. I wrote to you two or three Weeks since by M. Lettsom a Quaker Physician, recommending him to your Civilities.1 — I can now only add, with my best Respects to good Madame Dubourg, that I am as ever, Dear Sir, 2 Your affectionate Friend, & most obedient humble Servt. Be so good as to present my respectful Compliments to M. Beaumont, for whom I have the highest Esteem, and to Mr Dupont. Please to acquaint the latter, that Dr. Templeman3 had done nothing in the Subscriptions, the Society having been in Vacance; - and the good Gentleman, is, I am afraid, now dying. 511. TO THOMAS-FRANÇOIS DALIBARD DEAR FRIEND, (A. P. S.) London, Sept. 22, 1769— Having this Opportunity by M. Le Roy, I embrace it to thank you most heartily for the many Civilities & Marks of Friendship I received from you & Mad. Dalibard, while in Paris; & to express my sincere & cordial Wishes for your 1 "London August 30, 1769 "This letter will be forwarded to you by Dr. Lettsom, a young American physician of much merit, and one of the peaceable sect of Quakers; you will therefore at least regard him as a curiosity, even though you should have embraced all the opinions of the majority of your countrymen concerning these people. "B. FRANKLIN. "To M. DUBOURG." 2 See letter to Samuel Cooper, April 14, 1770. ED. Dr. Peter Templeman (1711-1769), Secretary of the Society of Arts, died before this letter was written (August 23, 1769). — ED. Health & Prosperity: in which I am join'd by my Friend Sir John Pringle. As I cannot soon again enjoy the Happiness of being personally in your Company, permit my Shadow to pay my Respects to you. 'Tis from a Plate my Son caus'd to be engrav'd some Years since. With the greatest Esteem & Respect, I have the honour to be, Dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant B. FRANKLIN. 512. TO SAMUEL COOPER (B. M.) London, Sept. 30, 1769. DEAR SIR, 2 1 Your favour of Augt 3d has given me great Pleasure. I have only time now to acknowledge the Receipt of it, but purpose to write fully by the next Opportunity. I am just returned from France, where I found our Dispute much attended to, several of our Pamphlets being translated and printed there, among the rest my Examination 1 and the Farmer's Letters, with two of my Pieces annex'd, of which last I send you a Copy. In short, all Europe (except Britain) appears to be on our side the question. But Europe has its Reasons. It fancies itself in some Danger from the Growth of British Power, and would be glad to see it divided against itself. Our prudence will, I hope, long postpone the Satisfaction our Enemies expect from our Dissensions. With sincere and great Esteem, I am, dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Serv 1 Examination before the House of Commons. — ED. B. FRANKLIN. 2 Written by John Dickinson, and published in London, with a Preface by Dr. Franklin. — ED. |
