for using it.* These are all now printing in the Transactions of our Philosophical Society, of which I hope soon to send you a copy. My grandsons present their compliments. The eldest is very busy in preparing for a country life, being to enter upon his farm the 25th instant. It consists of about six hundred acres, bounding on navigable water, sixteen miles from Philadelphia. The youngest is at College, very diligent in his studies. You know my situation, involved in public cares; but they cannot make me forget, that you and I love one another, and that I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN. TO BENJAMIN RUSH. MY DEAR FRIEND, Philadelphia, March, 1786. During our long acquaintance, you have shown many instances of your regard for me; yet I must now desire you to add one more to the number, which is, that, if you publish your ingenious discourse on the Moral Sense, you will totally omit and suppress that most extravagant encomium on your friend Franklin, which hurt me exceedingly in the unexpected hearing, and will mortify me beyond conception, if it should appear from the press. Confiding in your compliance with this earnest request, I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately, *See Vol. VI. pp. 463, 505, 543. B. FRANKLIN.† "Agreeably to your reoration, but I cannot bear Dr. Rush replied to this letter as follows. quest, I have suppressed the conclusion of my to think of sending it out of our State or to Europe without connecting it with your name. I have therefore taken the liberty of inscribing it to you by a simple dedication, of which the enclosed is a copy. And. TO MRS. MARY HEWSON. Humorous Account of a Letter received from her. MY DEAR FRIEND, Philadelphia, 6 May, 1786. A long winter has past, and I have not had the pleasure of a line from you, acquainting me with your and your children's welfare, since I left England. I suppose you have been in Yorkshire, out of the way and knowledge of opportunities; for I will not think that you have forgotten me. To make me some amends, I received a few days past a large packet from Mr. Williams, dated September, 1776, near ten years since, containing three letters from you, one of December 12th, 1775. This packet had been received by Mr. Bache, after my departure for France, lay dormant among his papers during all my absence, and has just now broke out upon me, like words, that had been, as somebody says, congealed in northern air. Therein I find all the pleasing little family history of your children; how William had begun to spell, overcoming, by strength of memory, all the difficulty occasioned by the common wretched alphabet, while you were convinced of the utility of our new one; how Tom, genius-like, struck out new paths, and, relinquishing the old names of as you have never in the course of our long acquaintance refused me a single favor, I must earnestly insist upon your adding to my great and numerous obligations to you the permission, which I now solicit, to send my last as I did my first publication into the world under the patronage of your name."- March 11th, 1786. The discourse here alluded to, On the Influence of Physical Causes on the Moral Faculty, was delivered before the American Philosophical Society, February 27th, 1786, and published soon afterwards. the letters, called U bell, and P bottle; how Eliza began to grow jolly, that is, fat and handsome, resembling aunt Rooke, whom I used to call my lovely. Together with all the then news of lady Blount's having produced at length a boy; of Dolly's being well, and of poor good Catherine's decease; of your affairs with Muir and Atkinson, and of their contract for feeding the fish in the channel; of the Vinys and their jaunt to Cambridge in the long carriage; of Dolly's journey to Wales with Mrs. Scott; of the Wilkeses, the Pearces, Elphinstones, &c.;- concluding with a kind of promise, that, as soon as the ministry and Congress agreed to make peace, I should have you with me in America. That peace has been some time made; but, alas! the promise is not yet fulfilled. I have found my family here in health, good circumstances, and well respected by their fellow citizens. The companions of my youth are indeed almost all departed, but I find an agreeable society among their children and grandchildren. I have public business enough to preserve me from ennui, and private amusement besides in conversation, books, my garden, and cribbage. Considering our well-furnished, plentiful market as the best of gardens, I am turning mine, in the midst of which my house stands, into grass plots and gravel walks, with trees and flowering shrubs. Cards we sometimes play here, in long winter evenings; but it is as they play at chess, not for money, but for honor, or the pleasure of beating one another. This will not be quite a novelty to you, as you may remember we played together in that manner during the winter at Passy. I have indeed now and then a little compunction in reflecting that I spend time so idly; but another reflection comes to relieve me, whispering, "You know that the soul is immortal; why then should you be such a niggard of a little time, when you have a whole eternity before you?" So, being easily convinced, and, like other reasonable creatures, satisfied with a small reason, when it is in favor of doing what I have a mind to, I shuffle the cards again, and begin another game. As to public amusements, we have neither plays nor operas, but we had yesterday a kind of oratorio, as you will see by the enclosed paper; and we have assemblies, balls, and concerts, besides little parties at one another's houses, in which there is sometimes dancing, and frequently good music; so that we jog on in life as pleasantly as you do in England; anywhere but in London, for there you have plays performed by good actors. That, however, is, I think, the only advantage London has over Philadelphia. Temple has turned his thoughts to agriculture, which he pursues ardently, being in possession of a fine farm, that his father lately conveyed to him. Ben is finishing his studies at college, and continues to behave as well as when you knew him, so that I think he will make you a good son. His younger brothers and sisters are also promising, appearing to have good tempers and dispositions, as well as good constitutions. As to myself, I think my general health and spirits rather better than when you saw me. The particular malady I then complained of continues tolerable. With sincere and very great esteem, I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN. P. S. My children and grandchildren join with me in best wishes for you and yours. My love to my godson, to Eliza, and to honest Tom. They will all find agreeable companions here. Love to Dolly, and tell her she will do well to come with you. TO MRS. MARY HEWSON. DEAR POLLY, Philadelphia, 30 May, 1786. I have just received your kind letter of April 2d, which made me some amends for your long silence. By the last ship from hence I wrote to you acknowledging the receipt of some very old letters, when 1 was sorry I could mention none of later date. I have, however, no right to complain, being so bad a correspondent myself. But my last was a long one, and I hope you have received it. You seem now inclined to come over, if you could meet with a captain, that you know and like. We mentioned it to Captain Falconer. He goes no more to sea, but strongly recommends Captain Willet, who carries this letter, as a good man and excellent seaman. His ship is the Harmony, which lately brought over Mr. and Mrs. Bingham. Mr. Williams will hardly, I doubt, be with you in time this year to assist in your embarkation; but, if you apply to Messrs. Johnson and Company, American merchants, to whom I write, I am persuaded they will make the bargain for you, and assist you with their advice in every circumstance. Temple, who presents his respects, has, however, no hopes of your coming. He says you were so long irresolute and wavering about the journey to Paris, that he thinks it unlikely you will decide firmly to make the voyage to America. I enclose a truer state of affairs in our country, than your public prints will afford you, and I pray "God guide you." This family are all well, and join in love to you and yours with your affectionate B. FRANKLIN. |